Salesforce Research Reveals Customer Retention and Artificial Intelligence Dominate Priorities of Asian Companies

SINGAPORE, July 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, today unveiled findings from Innovation: All Eyes on Asia, a research report on how businesses in Asia view innovation. The study gathered responses from key business and IT decision makers across eight countries in Asia.

Key findings:

• 70% said customer retention is their key priority for the next 12 to 24 months and more than half (53%) are likely to adopt new innovation to achieve this goal.
• Asia (77%) is being viewed as the region to lead innovation globally in the next five years, with America at a close second (64%).
• Japan, Korea and China are the top three Asian countries seen to be driving the trajectory.

Asian companies likely to invest in innovation to boost customer retention

In Asia, innovation is seen as the process of creating new and novel solutions to fulfil unmet customer needs. Asian businesses prioritize innovation that empowers them to retain their customers (70%) and more than half (53%) are likely to adopt innovation that achieves this goal. Companies in India (93%), Singapore (88%), Philippines (88%) and Malaysia (82%) are most likely to invest in technology to boost customer retention. Technology is viewed as a valuable tool in accelerating productivity (62%) and providing better customer support (38%). These findings underscore a focus on customer centricity that is driving the trajectory to innovation in Asia.

Asian companies rank Enterprise Apps, CRM, Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence as top innovation priorities

Enterprise Apps (83%), Cloud Computing (82%) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are the top three strategic investment priorities for Asian businesses. Additionally, when presented with capabilities of a CRM platform powered by artificial intelligence (A.I.), 78% say they are likely to adopt. Singapore businesses find the concept appealing (84%) and relevant (76%) but only 68% are likely to adopt. India (90%), Indonesia (83%), Vietnam (85%), Philippines (84%) and Thailand (84%) are most likely to adopt while Hong Kong is least likely to (63%).

Culture Multiplies Innovation

The positive impact of a culture that empowers employees to be innovative is evident in the 77% who agree that innovation has transformed their company operations favourably, with 80% of this group prioritizing innovation within their organization in the next 12 to 24 months. This group of Asian companies are more likely to invest in technology regardless of economic outlook and 79% said they will increase their technology spend even in an underperforming economy where 84% of them view technology as a long term revenue driver.

Knowledge gap hindering pace of innovation

Costs, complexity of technology and lack of talent are the three key hurdles that are holding Asian companies back from adopting innovation. One in three Asian companies believe that future innovation will be driven by public-private partnerships.

Comments on the News

• "This research shines a spotlight on the innovation landscape in Asia and reaffirms our vision for customer-centricity. The mobile-first culture of immediacy has its roots here in Asia and shapes the new business imperative for Asian companies," said Robert Wickham, Regional Vice President, Innovation & Digital Transformation, APAC, Salesforce. "The appetite for artificial intelligence by Asian companies is continuing to grow. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us, and companies that harness the predictive prowess of A.I. are well-placed to address challenges in this dynamic region."
• "This report is insightful and we are encouraged by how aligned we are with our customers here in Asia. Placing customers at the center of our business has been the driving force at Fonterra and we are even more inspired now to continue our journey with Salesforce in building a customer-first experience," said Caitlin Nguyen, Global Digital and CRM Lead, Fonterra.

Connect with Salesforce

• Like Salesforce on Facebook at http://facebook.com/salesforce.
• Follow @salesforceapac on Twitter.
• Learn to Get In the Zone with Innovation Basics and how to innovate with the Aloha spirit on Trailhead.

¹ Respondents are presented with the following statement and asked (1) if the concept is appealing, (2) if the product is relevant to them and (3) if they are likely to adopt.

Imagine there is an artificial intelligence powered CRM platform that allows companies to connect with their customers and prospects in an innovative way. The key features of the platform will enable companies to: 

• capture real-time customer signals (e.g. customer's support request)
• analyze every customer data point across multiple sources
• predict the best next sales, marketing, or service interaction for each customer
• automate everything from routine tasks to real-time customer engagement

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

To understand how innovation is perceived by Asia's movers and shakers within the IT field, Salesforce commissioned YouGov in December 2016 to conduct a survey among 707 respondents across eight countries/regions of Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in the region. A soft quota of 50/50 was set to enrol an even split of CTOs, CIOs and IT decision makers from general businesses and enterprises within the sample; all 707 respondents were recruited via YouGov's proprietary panel and surveyed over a week-long period between 21-28 December 2016. The survey asked questions about the respondents' perceptions of innovation, as well as their attitudes and behaviours towards adoption of innovative technologies. The findings compiled from the study were instrumental towards the development of a clearer view as to how innovation is viewed in Asia.

About Salesforce     

Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.

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