NTT Ltd, a leading IT infrastructure and services company and parent company of Dimension Data, has launched its 2023 Global Customer Experience Report, which reveals that customer experience (CX) remains a top management priority, with 91% of organizations now having a named an executive responsible for this business area.

At the same time, employee experience (EX) has risen in importance to become a top-3 priority for CEOs. The report found that most organisations agree that improvements in CX (94%) and EX (93%) will directly affect their net profit.

However, there is room for improvement, as almost 75% of organizations agree that CX and EX are currently a weak link for them, leading to a negative impact on their business.

The data reveals that top-performing organizations are almost twice as likely as others to be in an advanced state of digitalization. Cloud-based technologies and AI, automation, and machine learning feature prominently in these top performers’ CX and EX strategies.

Globally cloud technology tops the list of solutions that will reshape future CX capabilities, ranked ahead of AI (in second place) and predictive analytics, the report says, adding that top performers are already prioritizing AI, whereas it remains part of a three-year plan for most other organizations.

Only 60% of organizations say their CX strategy is fully aligned with their business strategy, and 44% report full alignment for their EX-strategy (compared with 74% and 58% of top performers, respectively).

In MEA, over two-thirds (71%) of CX interactions will still require some form of human support in the near future, reemphasizing the importance of EX in enabling employees with the right tools and knowledge no matter where they work.

The report reveals that 98% of MEA organizations agree – 44% strongly – that evolving work and employee engagement models are driving new technology demands. Top performers are nearly three times more likely than underperformers to fully involve their cybersecurity teams in CX and EX technology decisions.

“Over the last few years, we have witnessed an increasing link between CX and EX, and the need for them to be addressed through technology,” said Amit Dhingra, Executive Vice President, Managed Network and Collaboration Services at NTT Ltd.

“Our data shows that companies that invest in technologies to improve CX and EX are significantly more likely to stay ahead of the curve, not just in financials but also in customer and employee satisfaction.”