New Research Uncovers Customer Service Inflection Point Sparked by Pandemic Challenges

According to new research by Pegasystems, businesses risk losing customers due to inconsistencies in the efficiency and quality of service across channels. The global study, conducted by research firm Savanta, surveyed 12,700 business leaders, agents, and customers to understand how the pandemic is impacting the current and future states of customer service. Businesses are making progress by adding more digital service channels to keep up with customer demands; however, this progress often comes at the expense of service quality by creating more inconsistencies and increasing customer frustration.

For many businesses, the pandemic created extraordinary challenges that exacerbated longstanding customer frustrations, such as having to repeat the same information to multiple agents and being passed to different departments to resolve a single issue. Bad service can be so irritating that nearly 27% of consumers surveyed felt it had ruined their day and even caused one in 10 to cry or nearly cry. But their most consequential reaction is often expressed through their wallets: 77% of customers said they would take their business elsewhere if they received poor service.

The survey identified three areas that will be a priority as organizations continue to strive for optimal customer service:

•          Service needs to offer final resolution on all channels: The main issue with service today is the lack of consistency; 67% of customers think businesses need to improve service quality on non-traditional channels, such as web, mobile app, and chatbot/intelligent virtual assistant. This lack of consistency results in customers repeating information across channels (the top frustration amongst surveyed customers and agents) and resorting to less desirable channels, such as the phone, to achieve final resolution – half of customers cited a phone call as the only way to solve an issue.

•          Self-service is gaining in popularity, but mainstream approaches fall short: The desire for self-service is stronger than ever – 45% of customers surveyed are more likely to use self-service today than before the pandemic. And while 82% of consumers are willing to use self-service, almost half (46%) still don’t expect it to work. With 75% of customers wanting businesses to improve self-service and 56% visiting a business’ website before calling, there is a massive opportunity for business leaders to improve self-service capabilities.

•          AI and automation are crucial to achieving high levels of service: Once life begins to return to normal, customers will still expect the same – if not better – levels of service, which require the right infrastructure and tools. Eighty five percent of businesses expect to invest in AI technology in the next few years, while 57% will increase investments in self-service and automated customer service technology within the next two years. Additionally, 53% of business leaders plan to use technology to proactively monitor customer data to predict problems before they arise, and almost two-thirds of customers agree companies should provide this service. These investments will help enhance both agent-assisted and non-agent-assisted channels for faster resolution – sometimes even before a problem arises.

Indian Startups Raises $7.8 Billion in First Four Months of 2021

Startups have raised total investments of $7.8 billion in the first four months of this calendar year, which is almost 70% of the overall corpus of $12.1 billion raised in entire 2020 and more than 50% of $14.2 billion raised in 2019, data from US-based research firm PitchBook shows.

The average funding size has increased to $25.21 million so far in 2021, up from $14.94 million in 2020 and $18.41 million in 2019, as per data exclusively sourced by ET. There have been 402 funding rounds during January-April against 1,114 deals in 2020 and 1,036 in 2019.

This is one of the highest average deal sizes in the last five years. An increasing number of companies are raising larger rounds on the back of positive sentiments around the digital economy as the pandemic has forced companies and institutions across the world to speed up digital adoption. Increased global liquidity has further accelerated the pace of investments.

Bijak Launches Network of Logistic Services for Agri Supply Chain Trading

The agritech B2B marketplace Bijak that connects sellers and buyers Pan-India has launched logistics services in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh with an aim to provide easy trading of commodities across the country. The agri-traders of these states can avail this service directly through the Bijak application for interstate and Intrastate trading. The service ensures affordable and timely dispatch of the commodities.

With the launch of its new service, Bijak aims to target 25,000 traders in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Bijak is currently present in 27 states and 916 regions and trades over 110 commodities through its platform. The motive of Bijak is to bring flexibility, convenience, cost-effectiveness and market linkages to all sellers and buyers in the agri supply chain. Aligning to the company’s vision, Bijak has taken a step forward to facilitate transparent trading and offer services such as credit, payments/escrow and logistics.