Deloitte Partner: Customer-centric engagement must shape digital transformation agenda

Peng mentioned that businesses need to ensure that their digital efforts are at pace to customers’ needs.

Dorothy Peng is Partner, Customer Strategy & Design at Deloitte Southeast Asia, where she advises clients across the region for customer strategy and design matters. She has over 17 years of experience leading teams across innovation, digital, brand, products and services, and marketing and communication.

She has also previously led a global innovation consultancy across Asia, including markets in Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and China.

Peng is part of the esteemed panel of judges for the Asian Experience Awards 2024. Speaking with the awards programme, she shares her thoughts on how customer engagement shapes digital transformation agenda, trends in customer expectations, the importance of brand messaging in shaping customer experience, as well as practices leaders should adopt to ensure this is attained.

Given your experience advising on digital strategies across Southeast Asia, how do you see digital transformation shaping the future of customer engagement in the region?

In my opinion, the opposite should be the case. Customer-centric engagement should shape the digital transformation agenda, giving us clues as to what and how to design and create for greater business impact. As customers’ preferences change with every generation and over time, businesses need to ensure their digital efforts keep pace and are relevant to what customers’ needs are.

As markets across Asia are diverse in culture and technology adoption, what trends have you observed in evolving customer expectations, and how should businesses adapt?

Customers across Asia are all increasingly enjoying greater connectivity, greater access to information, and have an increasing acceptance of data sharing with businesses. Whilst they are more aware of the importance of data privacy, they are also more willing to part with data if it adds value to their lifestyle and needs. For example, they are generally willing to share their personal data to manage their health conditions, receive tailored well-being insights or personalised product recommendations.

With that, customers have increasing expectations from businesses, wanting greater and better attention from them, expecting businesses to shift from being reactionary to anticipatory in the way they design customer experiences. Customers are also expecting greater automation, better integration and smarter solutions like pre-filled data and personalised experiences. In fact, Deloitte’s research found that nearly three in four consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that deliver personalised experiences.

Therefore, having the right solutions in place to capture customer data and intent is important.

How important is coherent brand messaging in shaping customer experiences, and what advice would you give businesses struggling to align their brand with customer expectations?

I am a big believer that what you say and what you do should be in sync. The audio must match the visual and behavioural. If a brand says that they champion sustainability, it is not enough for them to just speak about it; the business should ensure it is enabling sustainability – such as by investing in carbon offsetting, or implementing appropriate office upgrades, to name a few examples.

A brand’s narrative cannot live on walls and in screens – it needs to be broken down into actionable initiatives that impact the customers, employees and stakeholders alike – it needs to actually create real impact.

From your leadership experiences in global markets, what key practices should leaders adopt to ensure their teams are focused on delivering superior customer experiences?

I would advocate for constant listening to what customers are saying, and how they are getting influenced by changes happening through technology and culture.

Reflecting on your role as a judge at this year’s Asian Experience Awards, what specific criteria are you using to evaluate the nominees, particularly in the areas of innovation and customer engagement?

Whether it is customer-led or technology-led. The best experiences out there are those shaped around what a customer’s needs and aspirations are, leveraging smart technology solutions to enable a seamless experience. It should bring some magic to the logic behind it. After all, humans are emotional beings and enjoy being inspired!