Wendy Johnstone , SVP & COO APAC , discusses trends in APAC finance , new customer expectations , and why messaging is the future of customer experience
“ The Asian finance industry is currently seeing unprecedented changes : digital disruption , shifting customer expectations , and obviously the very challenging economic environment presented by the pandemic ,” says Wendy Johnstone , SVP & COO APAC , Zendesk , in reference to the company ’ s recently released Customer Experience ( CX ) Trends Report 2021 . “ Customers have stepped back , re-examined what their priorities are , and adopted new behaviours . They want to connect in a more convenient , conversational , and personal way with brands , and that ' s really been driven by messaging .”
A leading provider of customer service software , Zendesk ’ s mission has always been to democratise customer service software to help foster better customer relationships . It ’ s an important mission , particularly at such a turbulent time of change in the finance industry and socio-economic upheaval , and that ’ s exactly what Zendesk has been helping StashAway to do . “ We started working with StashAway back in 2017 , when it was looking to improve both its customer engagement and its customer service agent efficiency ,” Johnstone explains .
“ We ’ ve helped StashAway deliver the world-class omnichannel customer experience it ’ s known for ,” continues Johnstone . “ Customers can use a variety of channels and with a completely unified view , StashAway ’ s agents don ' t need to waste precious time manually synching customer data across disconnected systems .”
Furthermore , Johnstone noted that “ messaging has very quickly become the preferred channel for customers to engage with businesses ,” drawn by its convenient , fast and personal nature . StashAway was among the first to deploy Zendesk ’ s WhatsApp integration when it was launched , and doing so enabled the company to dramatically reduce their first response time to just 30 minutes - significantly lower than the industry benchmark of 24 hours . Shortly following its introduction , she relates that it has quickly become a strong customer favourite .
StashAway ’ s focus on its customers and view of CX as a strategic differentiator has placed it in good standing to address the changing needs of its customers . “ It ’ s a fantastic partner of ours and the relationship has really grown and deepened over the years . A big reason for this has to do with the team ,” Johnstone concludes . “ StashAway is a digital native , and these are the organisations who we see disrupting the norm and driving the transformation in financial services . It ’ s taking a very open minded approach to trying lots of new initiatives ; Zendesk is very honored to be StashAway ’ s partner and support its growth .”
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