How to prepare business for five post-pandemic trends

One of the biggest changes emerging from the global pandemic has been to business operations, as an increasing number of workers worldwide embraced hybrid working environments. And as remote and hybrid work create less formal business environments, the lines between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) experiences have blurred.

As a result, there’s been a shift to a more personalised way of doing business and new trends for B2B customer experience have emerged.

Businesses should review how they can better meet clients’ expectations to remain relevant into the future. Five trends have started to appear for the post-pandemic economy and businesses must prepare to meet each one head-on.

Five post-pandemic trends

1. Increased expectations for personalisation

   The need for B2B organisations to invest in greater personalisation for their customers is rising. Customers expect companies to provide a more individualised and relevant approach, recognise their preferences, and anticipate their needs before they realise it themselves.

   How to prepare: vast amounts of customer data are needed to enhance hyper-personalisation, combined with automation and analytics tools and technologies. Businesses must invest in high-quality business intelligence and data and analytics tools that leverage real-time data to better predict customers’ needs, letting them remotely identify and solve issues before they impact the customer’s business.

   To augment this, organisations should recognise the value in social media. For example, 84% of senior executives use social media to support purchase decisions and more than 90% of B2B buyers are now active and involved in social media.

   By harnessing insights gained through social media, businesses deliver deeper levels of personalisation to further enhance the customer experience.

2. Continued popularity of self-service

   Self-service has continued to grow in popularity for business customers. In many cases, B2B customers prefer the ability to problem-solve quickly and efficiently using web-based tools, even for complex products and services. And, according to a recent McKinsey study, 97% of B2B buyers were comfortable with making business purchases worth US$50,000 ($69,900) or more through an end-to-end, digital self-serve model.

   How to prepare: the pandemic created challenges around in-person customer service as restrictions and health advice meant servicing customers in person was not always preferable or possible. As a result, self-service will continue to play a significant role in the customer experience. It has become increasingly important for organisations to invest in online tools that help their customers solve problems quickly, such as how-to videos. This also subsequently frees up time for technicians to focus more on complex issues or provide more general customer care.

3. Continued value for online meetings and events

   Face-to-face meetings and events will never entirely be replaced because they can help accelerate professional relationships and build trust. However, digital alternatives will also continue to augment in-person events, with many organisations turning to a hybrid solution.

   How to prepare: while most organisations have already invested in video collaboration tools and technologies to facilitate remote interactions, returning to in-person events and meetings may create new challenges post-pandemic.

   To help maintain health and safety at future in-person interactions, companies should invest in visitor management policies and processes as well as solutions that will help maintain security at events.

4. Contactless services to continue

   Contactless services, such as telehealth and contactless delivery, will continue to be popular post-pandemic. In many cases, efficient contactless processes will permanently replace their manual counterparts.

   How to prepare: companies should invest in solutions that support contactless services. For example, digital visitor management systems and contactless visitor sign-in can be easier, error-proof, and more effective than manual registration with visitor logbooks, while simultaneously reducing the need for reception staff to manually sign in visitors, letting them focus on other priority tasks.

5. Rising expectations for emotional intelligence

   Emotional intelligence is emerging as a crucial component of doing business. Throughout the health crisis it has been absolutely critical and, post-pandemic, will remain essential for companies to maintain sensitivity and empathy when engaging with customers.

   How to prepare: the pandemic emphasised the need for businesses to recognise customers’ changing needs and their individual situations. Companies should continue to act responsibly and proactively post-pandemic, responding quickly and sensitively to customer needs while simultaneously adding the value that makes every customer interaction matter.

   While it is challenging to predict how the business environment will change post-pandemic and what the long-term effects will be as a result, trends are beginning to emerge that indicate how the customer experience is changing. Businesses need to review how they can best respond to these changes to ensure they remain relevant and well-positioned to interact with customers on their terms for a more effective customer experience.