Five years in the future
Imagine the world in 2024 where you need to deliver a brilliant customer experience, day or night. Immediate responses. The ability to self-serve. The demand to delight. Think of the impact of 5G. Deliveroo and Uber, the children of 4G and 5G, could bring a next generation who make their predecessors look like dinosaurs.. And what role will newly achievable AI or VR play?
While you’re sleeping, competitors will be stealing your business. It’s crucial to examine what the CX environment will look like, and how brands can start to prepare.
However, the CX of the future doesn't start with the customer. It starts with your business and a focus on four main internal improvements.
The hidden partners
By 2024, our day to day experiences will be led by a select few consumer-facing brand names: ‘hidden partners’ with massive influence. Every time your 5G kettle boils, Mark Zuckerberg will gain another data point.
It sounds like an episode of Black Mirror, but our daily lives are already entwined with platforms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. Thousands of retailers currently trade through Amazon’s customer interface, and our news is delivered by social feeds. If Facebook has its way, even currency will be under the control of the hidden partners.
While consumer facing brands will continue to develop ever deeper relationships with their customers, they’re unlikely to own or build all of the technology enabling them to do so.
The brands of 2024 will need to ask whether to partner or replicate to keep up. Some will want to bring disruptors on board as a ‘plug and play’ solution to meet new customer expectations, while others may be better off simply adapting their existing service.