In the first of a series of three articles for Credit Today discussing communication in debt recovery, Paul Nield, director of Complete Communication Solutions, assesses post-virus need for a timely
digitalised revamp.
CURRENTLY there is a joke circulating amongst the digital community. What led to the digital transformation of your company? A) CEO B) CTO or C) COVID-19?
Digital transformation was on everyone’s long-term radar, but there was always another project ahead of it. Perhaps it was the cost or implementation timescales that delayed the journey, but COVID-19 highlighted that organisations that were to continue with minimal disruption needed a full digitalisation strategy.
Eighty-nine of all consumers suggest they prefer to communicate with a business via messaging.
Currently, only 48% of businesses are equipped to do so. Those with the ability to do so are, in the majority, consumer retailers/brands.
Generation Y – aka Millennials – born between 1980 and 2000 are forecasted to make up 50% of the workforce by 2020, rising to 75% of the workforce by 2025. Anecdotal evidence should tell you that they hate talking on the phone. A recent survey undertaken by O2 highlighted using a mobile phone for voice calls was only the fifth most popular application. No 1= “Messaging”.
Top 3 methods when communicating with a business are:
Native SMS 47%
Facebook Messenger 21%
Whatsapp 18%
Researcher OVUM surveyed 1,000 internet users, evenly split between Germany and the US. Nearly half (44%) of respondents said that one of the reasons they preferred to send a text to a business was because it was less time consuming & more convenient than using the telephone.
The challenge for businesses is how do you manage all of these “Omni “Channels to ensure each of your customers are given the very best service, without having to operate several different communication portals.
Our next article will address those challenges.
