100 Stats On Business Transformation

This is a great read from Blake Morgan that I found on Forbes with 100 interesting stats on business transformation and customer experience. This was written pre-covid so some will no longer be relevant, that said it’s still an interesting article.

Digital transformation and customer experience go hand in hand. These 100 statistics show the growth and importance of digital transformation, its impact on customer experience and digital challenges and opportunities for the future.

Growth of Digital Transformation

• 70% of companies either have a business transformation strategy in place or are working on one.
• 21% of companies think they’ve already completed digital transformation.
• 40% of all technology spending in 2019 will go towards digital transformation.
• Companies will spend a total of more than $2 trillion on digital transformation in 2019.
• Most digital transformations are driven by growth opportunities, followed by increased competitive pressure and new regulatory standards.
• Executives say the top benefits of digital transformation are improved operational efficiency (40%), faster time to market (36%) and the ability to meet customer expectations (35%).
• 60% of companies that have undergone a digital transformation have created new business models.
• 55% of startups have adopted a digital business strategy, compared to 38% of traditional companies.
• 89% of all companies have already adopted a digital-first business strategy or plan to do so.
• The top industries for digital-first business strategies are services (95%), financial services (93%) and healthcare (92%).
• 39% of executives believe their companies will get the most value from digital transformation initiatives in three to five years.
• Nearly 77% of companies say their relationship with technology is average or above average.
• 65% of companies are positive about their ability to adapt to technological disruption over the next three years.
• 44% of companies have already started a digital-first approach to operations and customer engagement.
• Only 7% of companies have fully implemented their digital transformations.
• By 2020, more than 40% of all data analytics projects will involve customer experience.
• 27% of companies say digital transformation is a matter of survival.
• 87% of companies think digital will disrupt their industry, but only 44% are prepared for a potential digital disruption.
• 71% of digitally mature companies say they can attract new talent based on their use of data, compared to 10% of early-stage digital companies.
• 55% of marketers are prioritizing more effective audience segmentation and targeting.
• 52% of marketers around the world say driving growth through digital transformation is their top strategic focus.
• Of companies that haven’t started a digital transformation, 59% fear it might be too late.
• 55% of companies without a digital transformation believe they have less than a year before they start to lose market share
• Nearly half of all companies say improving customer experience and customer satisfaction were the leading influences to start a digital transformation.
• 45% of executives don’t think their company has the right technology to implement a digital transformation.

Digital Transformation Success

• Companies that earn $1 billion a year earn an additional $700 million over three years by investing in customer experience.
• 56% of CEOs say digital improvements have led to increased revenue.
• Digitally mature companies are 23% more profitable than their less mature peers.
• More than 50% of digital transformation efforts fizzled completely in 2018.
• 39% of outperforming companies have a fully integrated digital-physical strategy.
• Digital-first companies are 64% more likely to achieve their business goals than their peers.
• Just 19% of companies have a customer experience team that helps bridge gaps in the business.
• Fewer than 30% of a company’s technology vendors are actively involved in their digital transformations.
• Of the $1.3 trillion spent on digital transformation in 2018, an estimated $900 billion was wasted when initiatives didn’t meet their goals.
• 70% of digital transformations fail, most often due to resistance from employees.
• Digital transformation and a focus on customer experience can generate a 20-30% increase in customer satisfaction and economic gains of 20-50%.
• Only 16% of employees in one survey said their company’s digital transformations have improved performance and are sustainable long term.
• Employees at companies with less than 100 employees are nearly three times more likely to say their digital transformation was a success than employees at companies with more than 50,000 employees.

Impact of Customer Experience

• 62% of companies view customer experience delivered by a contact center as a competitive advantage.
• Two-thirds of a company’s competitive edge comes from its customer experience.
• Consumers who have an emotional connection with a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value.
• The most common experience metrics tracked by executives are overall revenue (24%) and Net Promoter Score (23%).
• 67% of consumers will pay more for a great experience.
• 74% of business buyers say they’ll pay more for a better B2B experience.
• Loyal customers are five times more likely to buy again and four times more likely to refer the brand to family and friends.
• 76% of consumers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations.
•  Only 31% of companies are actually experience-led.
• Experience-led companies have 1.6 times higher customer satisfaction rates and 1.9 times higher average order value.
• 79% of U.S. consumers only consider brands that show they care.
• 70% of the buying experience is based on how the customer feels they are treated.

Omnichannel Experience

• Companies with the strongest omnichannel experiences retain 89% of their customers on average, compared to 33% retention for companies with weak omnichannel customer experience.
• 89% of customers get frustrated when they have to repeat their question to multiple customer service agents.
• The percentage of companies investing in omnichannel experience has increased to more than 80% from 20%.
• 83% of consumers say they want the ability to move between channels when talking to a brand, but only 50% of companies support cross-channel interactions.
• 74% of marketers say it is important to have a cohesive omnichannel experience.
• 73% of shoppers use more than one channel during their shopping journey.

Growing Technologies

• 84% of customer-centric companies focus on the mobile customer experience.
• Just 36% of contact centers use any kind of cloud technology.
• 93% of companies consider innovative technologies as necessary to reaching their digital transformation goals.
• 60% of businesses in North America use public cloud platforms, a five time jump from the number that used them five years ago.
• 60% of executives believe connected technology and the Internet of Things will play an important role in their company’s digital strategy.
• 68% of global business leaders believe the future of business involves humans and AI working together.
• 70% of businesses will use a multi-cloud strategy in 2019, up from less than 10% in 2017.
• By 2022, your personal device will know more about your emotional state than your own family.
• 34% of marketing leaders believe AI will lead to the biggest improvement in customer experience.
• 80% of companies have already adopted AI chatbots or have plans to do so by 2020. 
• By 2020, the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse.
• 84% of customer-centric companies prioritize their mobile customer experience.
• 76% of companies are investing in emerging technologies.
• 86% of companies believe cloud technology is critical to digital transformation.

Transformation Leadership and the Workforce

• 25% of CIOs will take more control of digital transformation initiatives in 2019.
• 28% of digital transformations are led by the CIO, and 23% are owned by the CEO.
• 71% of leaders say the workforce is important in supporting their digital transformation strategy.
• 70% of companies say their CEO has an adequate or above average practical understanding of new technology.
• CEOs and senior executives say digital transformation risk is their top concern in 2019.
• Around 40% of companies have dedicated digital transformation teams in place.
• 37% of companies say digital transformation helped them create new jobs.
• 20% of employees said their company’s leadership doesn’t know what to do with digital transformation.
• A survey of employees found the most common obstacle for digital transformation was the CEO at 35%.
• 80% of companies say their digital transformation efforts involve multiple business units or the entire company.
• Companies with an engaged Chief Digital Officer are 1.6 times more likely to report a successful digital transformation.
• 55% of digitally maturing companies say they need new leaders in order to succeed in the digital environment. 
• 81% of employees at digitally mature companies say innovation is a strength of the company, compared to just 10% of employees at early-stage digital companies.

Customers and Technology

• Intelligent systems will drive 70% of customer interactions by 2022.
• 63% of customers are happy to get service from a bot as long as they have the option to talk to a human agent if needed.
• 54% of consumers contacted brands by email in 2018, making it the most commonly used customer service channel over voice.
• Customers who have a bad experience with a website are 88% less likely to return.
• 61% of consumers won’t return to a mobile site that had trouble accessing.
• 40% of consumers end up visiting a competitor’s website if they have trouble accessing a company’s mobile site.
• By 2020, an estimated 25% of all customer service operations will use virtual customer assistants.
• 92% of customers are satisfied using live chat services, making it the support channel that leads to the highest customer satisfaction.
• Nearly half of global contact center leaders predict their contact centers will grow by 5-10% in the next year.
• 75% of online customers expect a response within five minutes.
• 60% of companies think they have a good mobile experience, but only 22% of customers agree.
• 78% of consumers use mobile devices to connect with brands for customer service. The number jumps to 90% of Millennials.
• Around half of all consumers use mobile messaging apps to connect with customer service.
• 65% of consumers research a product online before going to a physical store.
• 30% of U.S. consumers say they find customer service chatbots very effective at resolving issues, and 12% said chatbots aren’t at all effective.
• 60% of American consumers say they prefer digital self-service tools for customer support, such as an online knowledge base, app or chatbot.
• Nearly 80% of Millennials are more willing to purchase from brands that have a mobile customer service portal.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker and the bestselling author of the new book The Customer Of The Future. You can sign up for her weekly newsletter here.

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