It doesn’t seem too long ago that the introduction of interactive voice response (IVR) received a rocky reception with many customers citing that they preferred to speak to a ‘real human’.

There can be no doubt the pandemic has altered the emotional make-up of society. Collectively, we are now much more aware of the suffering of others – and how could we not be after seeing lives turned upside down and businesses upended with no sense of rhyme or reason or equity.

You have a problem. Someone else has been talking to your customer. The likes of Amazon, Apple, Nordstorm – and the other gods of customer service have been educating your customer in what excellent looks and feels like.

The pensions industry is in the race to get data right, to make sure everyone is where they need to be on the non-negotiables of data quality and data security.

Customer loyalty is the holy grail of brand. Less than a decade ago, consumers told marketing research company IPSOS MORI that they trusted certain household brands (Heinz, John Lewis, Walmart) more than the Government.

A popular online brokerage prided itself on building a customer experience that made trading stocks as easy as swiping right or left to purchase a book online.

As the rate of change increases, large established companies must be able to innovate at pace and scale, to keep one step ahead of start-ups and large technology companies that are moving into new sectors and markets.

Businesses today are more inventive, creative and bold than they have ever been before. They’ve had to be. We are living in a moment where there is no ‘playing it safe’ – and where doing nothing is often the worst possible option.

With so much of our lives spent engaging through digital channels and consuming digital media, it should be no surprise to know that I see this as a critical element in delivering the next generation of Capita’s pensions and benefits services.

In this episode of our podcast series Tomorrow’s Organisations, the spotlight is on the opportunities this sector has to recover and transform.