Growth-focused businesses continue to invest in IT to improve ‘customer care’

Growth-focused businesses continue to invest in IT to improve ‘customer care’
Despite tight economic times, IDC says New Zealand firms are still using technology to ‘keep customers happy’...


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August 27, 2009 – Analyst firm IDC’s Asia/Pacific Advanced Customer Care and Retention 2009 poll of New Zealand companies has found that although most are reducing or freezing their investments in IT during this economic downturn, 37% will still invest in technology solutions that can help them increase earnings or save costs.

IDC says companies that are focusing on growth are significantly more likely to explore the more advanced areas of “customer care”.

Nearly half of the respondents saw the main value of customer care as being a way to generate revenue, and many are ready to go beyond traditional customer relationship management.

“NZ companies see customer care as essential to keeping customers happy, drive top line revenue and giving them a competitive advantage over their competition in times like these,” says Linus Lai, associate research director for IDC.

“New advanced customer care tools such as customer analytics, customer database management and new web-based tools, are much more on the agenda for these types of companies. They tend to appreciate the value of customer targeting and engagement more than companies with a more reactive approach,” Lai says.

“These solutions can make a huge difference to how companies position themselves for the future and may be the most important IT investment a company can make in today's economic climate.”

Despite the impact of the economic downturn, IDC’s poll showed that the top business priority of more than half the companies surveyed was to increase earnings over cost control.

As organisations move out from the downturn they shift their focus from cost reduction to earnings capability.

At the same time, nine out of 10 companies said they had increased their focus on the customer because of the economic downturn.


http://www.istart.co.nz/index/HM20/AL210753/AR212432