DBS: Singapore Leads the Pack in Digitalising Customer Experience
by Fintech News Singapore January 10, 2023There is widespread enthusiasm among companies to digitalise customer experience and engagement but they faced significant challenges in achieving success, according to a search by DBS.
The research revealed that 64% of businesses globally carried out a structured approach to customer-facing digital transformation with a further 33% pursuing ad-hoc upgrades.
Nonetheless, just 17% said their activity in this area had been very effective, and about four in 10 (39%) said their transformation efforts had either failed or were underwhelming.
Singapore companies (70%) led their global peers in taking a strategic, consistent or radical approach to digitalising customer experience and engagement.
Their key priorities for digital transformation were increasing efficiency (47%) and improving collaboration across functions and teams (37%).
The research found that shared adoption of a strategic vision was most important (41%) from a corporate culture perspective to support successful digital transformation.
Meanwhile, unclear organisational strategy (45%) and gaps in talent (40%) were the top barriers preventing organisations from achieving faster progress in transforming digitally.
However, even though Singapore has made clear progress in transformation overall, it prioritises efficiency over customer engagement.
Lim Soon Chong
Lim Soon Chong, Group Head, Global Transaction Services at DBS said,
“Besides investing in technology, the market leaders in digital transformation understand that new skills are needed for a more digital future.
The market leaders act to build a strong talent pipeline and to inculcate a partnership mindset across teams.”
Tan Su Shan
Tan Su Shan, Group Head of Institutional Banking at DBS said,
“Teams need to be aligned on a north star with a clear strategic vision.
To be successful, they must also be open to learning by doing, accepting that there could be some failures, be quick to learn from them and continuously improve.”
She added that digital transformation is a continuous journey for organisations that are willing to take the leap of faith.
To stand out, she advised companies to adopt more customer-centric transformation and embrace radical innovation to advance in digital transformation.
The findings were based on a global survey of 1,225 executives from commercial and finance/treasury teams across 22 markets in APAC, Europe and the United States.
