They suggested that consumers are progressively shifting their emphasis away from products and services and toward the quality of the experience they receive. Meeting these new criteria will require firms to demonstrate unflinching commitment.

They said this during a webinar organised by CWG Ghana and DigiD, themed ‘Digital Customer Experience: A profitable Journey’, where the industry leaders discussed how to engage the digital customer.

Group Chief Information Officer at I & M Bank-Kenya, Rohit Gupta, stated as businesses digitise their operations, in keeping with the times, they must also carry their employees along.

He said, as businesses adopt technology, the staff must be technologically enabled for the skill sets needed for interacting with digital customers.

Mr Ramesh Kannan, Founder of Digid, a digital onboarding, and identity verification system, said the financial services industry and other businesses must concentrate their effort on improving services through digitisation.

“In the previous 5-7 years, the internet purchasing experience has reached a mature stage. Online customers are now able to enjoy an immersive shopping experience that was previously only available in-person.  Customers wanting to get financial services and products should also be provided with a comparable experience. They should be able to purchase their services from any location, at any time, and using any device,”he said.

“A handful of the manual/semi-manual work processes that financial services companies are now using are unsustainable and needs immediate attention,” Mr Kannan said.

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) at First National Bank Ghana, Samuel Dakurah, said as technology advanced, it presented opportunities, which several industries could leverage for growth, explore advancement and improve on customer experiences.

MrDakurah advised that, in the quest to satisfy the needs of the digital customer, businesses especially banks, must also ensure that they keep an eye on cyber security threats.

Comfort Armoo, Head of Customer Experience at Fidelity Bank Ghana, said that all services must be relevant to the needs of the customers. She said that when it comes to digital services, and digital services “systems must be built client-centric.”

“In general, every world-class service must be reliable and responsive, empathetic, have a great Ambience, and provide Assurance.  In order for us to proclaim a positive customer experience, service providers must make every effort to make all digital journeys and processes smooth and seamless, timely, emotionally rewarding, and successful.  When all four of these critical imperatives are present, one had definitely engineered a powerful panacea for growth and customer loyalty, while improving organisations own efficiency,” she said.

For his part, a digitalisation expert at OSPBA NOVAT, BismarkOwusu-Prempeh, said insurance companies, whose services he described as ‘sensitive’, must foster transformative and customer-centric cultures if they are to meet the demands of the new normal.