Asia-based companies prioritise customer care to get through downturn
ConvergenceAsia staff
08/06/2009

Results from research company IDC’s Asia/Pacific Advanced Customer Care and Retention (ACCR) 2009 poll of Asia-based companies indicate that although most are reducing or freezing their investments in IT during this economic downturn, 20 per cent of the respondents will still invest in IT solutions that can help them increase earnings.

Companies with growth ambitions despite the current crisis are exploring more advanced options than companies that hope to get through the downturn by cutting costs, said Claus Mortensen, Principal for IDC Asia/Pacific Emerging Technologies Research Group.

The poll shows 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.

“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. 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,” added Mortensen.

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. In fact, less than 25 per cent said that they were focusing more on cost reduction. At the same time, nine out of 10 companies said they had increased their focus on the customer because of the economic downturn.

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