Recent economic data has offered a mixed picture to leaders in business and politics. As Wednesday saw UK inflation reach its highest level in nearly 12 months, the unemployment rate conversely recorded its lowest level in more than a year, while growth also surpassed expectations just last week. As boardrooms across the country await the Chancellor’s Budget next week, it’s clear planning for the future still hasn’t got any easier.
Against this backdrop, The Institute’s latest research, “Long Live Customer Experience: How to Prepare for a Disruptive Future”, explores how the operating environment and customer behaviour are likely to change in the decade to 2035, and the effects this will have on customer service more broadly.
Predicting the future may be a fool’s errand. But strengthening your organisation’s resilience and agility against potential shocks remains essential.
Trust makes organisations resilient
Our research looks at a range of possible future scenarios and how they might affect the customer service environment: from a collapse in trust in our digital infrastructure, to the impact of the climate crisis, prolonged geopolitical conflict affecting supply chains, a backlash against hyperpersonalisation, and a rise of aggressive short-termism which leads CEOs and shareholders to focus excessively on immediate profitability over long-term sustainable growth.
I’d urge you all to consider each one carefully, as well as the very real impact if a number happened at once!
Across our findings, trust came through time and again – something which matters more as uncertainty grows. No organisation can confidently predict what form disruption will take, but it can take measures to shape whether its customers and staff trust it to respond effectively when any inevitable disruption comes.
This starts with deep understanding and then reassurance, which can only be delivered through transparent and detailed planning – and by stress-testing our plans. That means systems being equipped to pre-empt issues with service delivery, and when disruption is unavoidable, consistent and clear communication with customers, that demonstrates the organisation ‘gets it’ and has considered any unintended consequences.
Trust is built first and foremost by people, so we also need to ensure they have the right information, tools and data and are steeped in the right culture.
Preparedness is no longer a 6-monthly tested business continuity plan that sits on a shelf. It comes from a culture that encourages colleagues to exercise sound judgement and act quickly, with purpose. We know that speed will be of the essence, as shown just this week with the PHP vulnerability issues.
That culture is one where colleagues spot issues beyond their direct purview and flag that “this just doesn’t look right” – and take action to address it. While data should help us anticipate and respond to disruption, it needs to be interpreted properly. To do this, we need to stay curious and have the confidence to question what our data is telling us. Most importantly, we need the judgement to recognise when our gut instinct is picking up something the numbers might be obscuring.
It’s also a question of mindset. When something isn’t right, do your people walk past it, or do they lean in and fix it? If your people are considering only the parts of the process for which they are directly responsible, you will struggle when disruption hits. The most resilient organisations operate as a genuine collective, where colleagues look out for one another, take ownership beyond the boundaries of their own role, and act for the greater good of customers and the organisation.
Trust must pass the test of an increasingly AI-driven world
AI also casts a long shadow across the research. Its transformative nature is already known, but the technology will only deliver lasting value if customers trust how and where we choose to deploy it.
Preparing for the future will require readying staff, data and technology – and connecting them so we can improve customer outcomes and earn and retain their trust.
Key to this is responsible governance which, if it doesn’t keep pace with AI deployment, will cause trust to falter. This is why service leaders must be clear with their staff, their investors and their customers on the purpose behind their AI systems, what AI will and won’t do, and the safeguards in place.
This week’s headlines will not be the last test of UK plc’s resilience – the future will bring more challenges. But for those who put customer trust at the heart of every business decision, whether in tech rollouts, ensuring continuity of service or responding to a crisis, the opportunities needed to grow and thrive as an organisation will come too.
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