Technology vendor Lightico has revealed the findings of a March study on the impact of COVID-19 on digital lifestyles and emerging customer perceptions and expectations.
The study found that digital remote interaction has rapidly risen up the agenda with more than 70% of customers saying they now use digital channels to get things done, 73% using digital channels for remote work and 63% more inclined to try new digital offerings than before the crisis. Predictably, the youngest cohort of customers (18-24) were over a third more likely (35%) to be using digital tools than the oldest cohort of customers (55-75), but even in the oldest age groups almost 6 out of 10 customers are now making use of digital offerings.
Lightico says the vast majority of customers (84%) expect companies to provide continuity of service via digital offerings, but emphasises it’s vital that this is still done securely. “What’s essential is that companies use digital equivalents to the checks and verifications they’d previously have performed in-person in their bricks-and-mortar shops,” says Jake Levant, VP at Lightico. “Customers expect business-as-usual, but that includes being able to authorise new services and changes to existing services. They may want to do things remotely, but they also want to do them securely – making digital forms, consent, ID submission and verification more important than ever.”
The company says the current situation is likely to result in sustained changes to the way people work and interact with companies. Its study found that 74% of customers think the transition to a more digital environment will be a lasting trend even after the current crisis is resolved.
Lightico is an Israel-based SaaS vendor whose platform delivers key functions to support digital, remote customer interactions, such as the ability to sign documents digitally, complete forms, share documents and identification, see images and videos, and process payments securely during an interaction with a customer service representative. Founded in 2014, the company has 250 large financial institutions, telcos and insurance companies as customers, including Salesforce, BT and GlaxoSmithKline.
Lightico surveyed 1,000 customers on 15 March 2020 to discover their attitudes to the new remote lifestyle that has been mandated as a result of the coronavirus crisis. The full findings of its study can be found here.