Digitalizing PH to enable business growth

The Philippines is undergoing transformation, especially in the adoption of digital technologies.

Digitization efforts of the private sector in the Philippines are primarily led by telco operators, business process outsourcing (BPO) and the banking sectors. In the next three to five years, BPO companies will implement automation and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to increase cost efficiency and productivity to stay competitive. Companies will also focus on upskilling employees to acquire capabilities in developing software and apps, managing of critical information and analyzing data.

The fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, is changing the dynamics of the Philippine economy, both locally and globally. It promises increased productivity, quality of products and reduced costs.

There is an increasing demand for services that are simple, fast and provide greater engagement with companies through multiple devices. The shift toward connected technologies is providing new opportunities for companies to engage with customers and to move their business toward data-driven services.

The journey toward digitization

Filipino companies today face many challenges resulting from increased economic and competitive pressures, changing customer expectations and intense competition from regional players and global multinational corporations (MNCs).

According to the Avaya-IDC Philippines Enterprise CX survey, digital transformation is a priority for three out of five Philippine organizations. Emerging technologies such as AI will play a greater role in customer experience, with bots and scripts being seen by Filipino companies as the most important, particularly to serve messaging, chat and social media channels.

Interactions through digital channels are also set to increase 20-fold from 2015 to 2025, according to the Avaya-IDC study conducted globally. In the Philippines, we expect a variety of communication channels to expand to allow companies to serve the omni-channel customer.

It is clear that Philippine businesses understand the importance of digital transformation, yet they are faced with the challenge of executing their digital transformation strategy and meeting diverse customer expectations. They are struggling with the evolution from legacy hardware to an integrated services-based ecosystem across all channels that support digital drivers like cloud, mobile, big data analytics, and social.

But change they must.

It is no longer about people communicating with people. Now, machines are communicating with other machines, machines are communicating with people, and apps are communicating with everything. In the smart digital world, experience is everything. The key to growth, innovation and profitability lies in companies’ ability to enhance customer experiences to be seamless, personalized and tailored to the customer’s expectations.

Understanding customer experience

A company’s innermost values and beliefs drive customer experience. Companies must know the personality, culture and vision that lies behind the brand to best engage and retain its customers. It is key to understand each customer, their unique behavior, expectations, and preferences. For businesses to stay relevant, they must deliver personalized services that empower customers with autonomy and engage on an individual account level.

Additionally, customers interface with the entire organization, yet executing customer experience is often isolated within one or two departments. This should not be the case, as customer experience is ongoing and continually evolving, so the system has to be integrated across the business.

Companies that realize the importance of the customer experience are those that become successful. A customer-first approach creates greater value, provides a key differentiator, and allows companies to understand and prepare to meet the expectations of future clients.

One example is Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) specializing in business process outsourcing (BPO) and has operations worldwide including the Philippines. The BPO services provider was faced with the challenge of providing a high performance contact center platform while driving down costs of setting up the solution. The team has been seeking improvements in efficiency and effectiveness of its operations since 2003.

Partnering with Avaya, HGS implemented a full suite of advanced Unified Communications and contact center solutions, and achieved speed and performance in its contact center operations as a result. With innovation, the BPO was able to improve call handling times with AI and speech analytics. For example, when the system recognizes that a caller has said a certain trigger word, it provides the relevant screen prompts to agents to better serve the caller.

Today, the global BPO provider has over 15,000 voice-based contact center seats in the Philippines, with the capability to expand its offerings cost-effectively—saving an estimated 30-40 percent per seat, actively driving sales for the business. Ultimately, HGS was able to deliver what the customer asked for.

Continuous effort

Filipino companies are increasingly harnessing digitization to boost productivity, with an eventual boost to the economy.

Customer experience is not a one-time effort but an ongoing and continually evolving process. The ability to engage with customers through personalized service is a key success factor. The ability to deliver context-driven, end-to-end customer engagement is what produces real value and tangible return. Emerging technologies provide the means to deliver this. AI, data analytics allow companies to provide personalized customer service in real-time.

The digitization journey is crucial for Filipino companies to deliver greater value to the population, their business and position the country as a digitally enabled member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. —CONTRIBUTED