Close to nine out of ten customers in the Asia-Pacific region want businesses to deliver faster service without compromising on quality, and SMBs are being urged to act on this trend now.
A recent BDO Global report Service 2020: Megatrends for the Decade Ahead found 87 percent of clients from Asia-Pacific companies expect faster service than they did five years ago due to the increasing role of technology.
The advance in social networking and communication devices has caused customers to become more demanding about the quality and speed of service.
“Today’s need-it-now online society has sharply changed perceptions of customer service. Increasingly, customers don’t want it tomorrow – they want it now, with the same level of quality.” BDO National Retail Sector leader Eric Passaris said.
This means many businesses will now have to look into new ways of delivering faster service while still maintaining the same level of quality.
“Companies will need to have a greater focus on mobile devices, social media and instant messaging over traditional channels like in-person sales forces, telephones and mail.” Passaris said.
The BDO Global report found a range of ‘megatrends’ will define service and the change the way service is delivered over the next decade.
Some of the ‘megatrends’ uncovered in the report include global competition, service standards and speed, use of social media, personalising service, good service with technology as an enabler and evolving with new technologies.
