Digitalisation is one of the top business priorities
Businesses are increasingly focusing their attention on digitalisation. In Experian’s latest research, conducted by Forrester, and published in the 2022 Business and Consumer Insight Report, 72% of Australian and New Zealand business respondents surveyed said that investing in the digitalisation of their core business processes was a critical or high priority.
An effective digital transformation is essential for businesses to achieve some of their critical top priorities –investing to improve protection against fraud and growing through new customer acquisition. Moving from a manual process to a digital one can help businesses protect their customers against increasingly sophisticated fraud threats and allows them to deploy dynamic workflows that prevent a slow and inefficient application process. These factors are highly relevant, with 54% of Australian and New Zealand consumers surveyed abandoning an application in the last year and 60% concerned about fraud when interacting online.
Improve internal efficiency
Consumers want to be reassured that they can trust brands with their hard-earned money at a time of financial uncertainty. The simplicity of the application process is becoming a more important factor for consumers in the decision process when getting a loan or credit.
We are living in the convenience economy where consumers are often frustrated by having to wait. According to our study, a simple process was more important than the speed of access to funds, security of the provider, and even more than ensuring they could afford the repayment plan. This is significant, and shows that businesses, who have a simple application process should be actively promoting this to consumers.
For businesses looking to stay ahead of the competition, digitalisation is key and is clearly indicated by the 54% of Australian and New Zealand businesses surveyed that have increased their budgets for the digitalisation of internal user tools and processes over the next 12 months.
By introducing more automation into operational activities businesses can streamline workloads and reduce manual intervention. As investment in technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and cloud-based software increases, it’s important that businesses partner with trusted AI/ML experts that can handle the complexity of this technology and help them maximise the potential benefits.
Improve external efficiency
As mentioned earlier, improving fraud prevention and growing through new customer acquisition are in this year’s list of top priorities for businesses over the next 12 months. Finding the balance can be difficult, however, with more robust fraud prevention tactics often leading to a more cumbersome and time-consuming application process. With consumer expectations around speed and convenience arguably at an all-time high, this is a difficult balance to get right.
When you consider that 54% of Australian and New Zealand consumers surveyed abandoned an application in the last year because it took too long, or there was too much information to complete, it becomes clearer how digitalisation can benefit both consumers and businesses. A fully digital onboarding process can create a smoother, more personalised, and quicker experience that also reduces the risk of fraud.
The future is fully digital
The reality of our modern world is that we expect convenience more than ever before, this is especially true when applying for a credit card, loan, or mobile phone contract. We expect to complete a simple application and see the results within minutes rather than days or weeks.
Businesses that prioritise investment in this digital transformation have a much greater chance of meeting these expectations. By implementing the latest digital tools for both their internal and customer-facing processes they become more appealing to consumers and better equipped to prevent fraud. The end result is more convenience, simplicity and security – all powered by digitalisation.
If you’d like to know more about how digitalisation, including AI and ML, are impacting businesses and consumers, view the interactive summary and download Experian’s latest report for an in-depth analysis.
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