March of last year saw us publish the findings of a major study that, among other things, touched on the coronavirus’ effect on business. In “Digital Transformation Investment in 2020 and Beyond: Factors in the Success or Failure of Technology Investments in the Post Pandemic Era” we revealed organizations’ plans to invest in digital transformation technologies in automation, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and more. 

Since then, we’ve continued to analyze the impact of COVID-19 across a range of different sectors: from automotive and aviation to consulting and construction.  And, we have summarized what was also one of our first key customer responses to the pandemic: the roll out of our remote assistance product to 200 staff within two weeks. 

But this time, we’ve gone into a new level of depth and detail. Based on a global study of more than 1,700 executives and 12,500 consumers, our new report reveals the business opportunities to have emerged in the wake of COVID-19 and how the broad range of respondents have reacted to these opportunities so far. The results may surprise you. 

What did we investigate in the study?  

At the heart of the study lies our belief that to thrive in today’s climate, shifting to outcome and service-based business models is key. Or, as German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, neatly put it in a 2020 interview with the Financial Times: 

“It’s no longer enough to merely sell a product. One also needs to develop new products from the data on these products.” 

Businesses need to use this data not just to develop new products, but to launch new services that enable them to extend the relationship with the customer, while simultaneously boosting revenues and enhancing the customer experience. 

In the study, we examine how a range of businesses have experienced moving to the service model. The customer experience is key to the new business landscape and we discovered that companies generally do not hold back when investing in customer experience evaluations. But such evaluations are next to useless unless they are acted upon. So, the interesting question is: how successful are companies in addressing the problems they’ve gone to great lengths to identify? And what should a company do if they find they’re struggling with this? In the report, we get to grips with important conundrums such as these. 

Most would agree that any serious attempt to improve service delivery will look at the entire value chain of a company: from sourcing materials and packaging a product to delivering it to the customer. This is because it’s when everything that goes on in your organization—the myriad decisions, processes, and people—comes together successfully that customers are enjoying the best of your business. The various inflection points that contribute to these moments of service are critical to business success. Our working hypothesis before the study was that problems with these inflection points are all too frequently ignored. The report reveals the extent to which we found this to be true and some of the steps that can be taken. 

Learn more 

Our CEO, Darren Roos recently noted: 

“The past year has been a time of reckoning for businesses. In the wake of unprecedented turbulence, companies across the world have accelerated transformation strategies and developed new business models. But as enterprises look to the future, they must evolve further to meet new customer demands. Business models focused on products are no longer fit for the digital economy. Instead, organizations need to shift to selling outcomes and services.” 

This post has provided a brief snapshot of our investigation into that phenomenon. In the full report, we dive further into results of the study and suggest measures that businesses can take to adapt and thrive in these turbulent times. 

To learn more, download the full report today.