Companies today collect and manage more customer data than ever before across a wide array of channels, yet skyrocketing customer expectations demand swift issue resolution.

A new report has revealed the impact that disjointed communications technologies have, not only on employee productivity and morale, but also on customer satisfaction and the bottom line.

Global enterprise cloud communications provider, RingCentral, released the report - ‘Overcoming the Digital Disconnect: How Disjointed Communications Technologies Are Letting Customers Down — and How to Solve It’ based on a global survey of 2,000 customer-facing employees by CITE Research, including 500 in Australia.

The data found that poor customer service resulting from disjointed communications technologies is to blame for the loss of both customers and employees from Australian organisations.

According to the report, Australia is the country least tolerant of poor customer service; and the situation in Australia is much worse than in the US or UK. 

The research indicates that poor customer service experiences results in global customers dropping four brands per year on average. In Australia, the number is higher, with consumers dropping a product or service on average six times in the past year due to bad customer service experience. 

The research also reveals that employee and customer engagement are closely linked — and therein lies the solution. Ninety-one percent of employees believe a seamless platform that lets them navigate between all the ways they communicate and collaborate with coworkers and customers would make customers happier, which in turn would drive greater employee job satisfaction and happiness.

Silos of customer data hurt the company bottom line

The research shows clearly that managing siloed customer data has created friction: frustrated employees and unhappy customers ultimately affect the company bottom line.

Seventy-nine per cent of Australian customer-facing employees say they can’t effectively service customers due to disjointed communications technologies that make it difficult to collaborate with coworkers, hindering productivity, and making them unhappy at work.

In fact, Australians are most likely to say disjointed communications tools make them want to quit their jobs (26 per cent vs 18 percent in the UK and 11 per cent in the US).

On the other side of the equation, customers increasingly expect to connect with companies over the digital channels of their choice — and lose patience if issues are not resolved quickly.

Eighty-eight percent of global customers hate having to repeat themselves via multiple different channels.

Twenty-eight percent of Australians said they contacted customer service between 5 and 10 times in the last year, compared to 19 percent of consumers in the UK and 20 percent in the US.

The employee and customer engagement equation

Employees seek to ease communication with colleagues and resolve customer issues swiftly, and customers seek rapid resolution on the channel of their choice. An integrated communications platform delivers this seamless experience, improving both employee and customer engagement and increasing the bottom line.
 
Nearly all employees globally (92 per cent) agreed that an integrated communications platform would enhance both the employee and customer experience, and improve customer satisfaction scores.

Australians are the most likely to agree that when companies deliver a positive customer experience with communications technologies, the employees benefit (92 percent).
 
“Delivering the experience customers demand today requires addressing the friction that results from fragmented employee and customer communications across various channels,” said Kira Makagon, EVP of innovation, RingCentral. “Technology has a vital role to play in breaking down these communication workflow silos. This survey confirms that employee engagement has a direct impact on customer engagement — and dramatically boosts customer retention and business profitability.”

More from The Business Conversation:

Report finds businesses face rising staff turnover rates

Australian millennials losing confidence in business

Are your customers engaged in your retail promotions or are they losing interest?