KPMG’s annual CEE report

UAE solidifies its position as a technology leader, as AI's role in CX expected to grow

Dubai, 23 April 2024: KPMG’s annual Customer Experience Excellence (CEE) report has found that UAE brands are increasingly adopting AI and digital technologies to drive customer satisfaction, with Emirates retaining its leadership position for the third consecutive year, followed by ADCB, Etihad Airways, and IKEA. The study, which spanned 104 brands across the UAE, also found that Air Arabia, HSBC, and Deliveroo have registered a 3% increase in the CEE metric, largely due to their efforts in minimizing customer effort while enhancing their experience and creating frictionless processes.

Despite this success, the CEE metric showed a general downward trend (-3.8%) across most markets, including the UAE, which registered an overall drop in the CEE metric (-1.5%) compared to last year. This highlights a global declining trend in customers’ perceptions of their experiences with some brands. The report identified a growing mismatch in expectations as companies implemented technology that led customers to low-cost and low-satisfaction channels that lacked empathy and the human touch.

Goncalo Traquina, Partner, Head of Customer Advisory and Management Consulting for Financial Services, KPMG Lower Gulf, said, “Our CEE report reinforces the fact that the new-age customer has little tolerance for substandard experiences. They are keenly aware of service, support, and how organizations demonstrate their purpose, relevance, and long-term impact on the environment and society. UAE customers, in particular, want more personalized experiences, value for their dirham, and seamless, omnichannel processes.

“Brands are turning to AI to build customer-focused business models to meet this demand. This includes using AI to analyze customer data and deliver tailored experiences that align with individual preferences and behaviors. This approach enhances the quality of customer interactions, improves CX metrics, and adds significant business value—as demonstrated by leading brands in this study.”

Financial services have made a strong comeback in the top-ranked organizations, driven by improved digitized capabilities, wider and rewarding service offerings, and more humanized customer service support. Most organizations already have a workforce for the advancement of AI or are heavily investing in bringing such people on board. Chatbots are also becoming very popular with financial services organizations, and many are leveraging data-driven AI capabilities to identify credit fraud and improve fraud prevention, including money laundering.

Moving forward, UAE brands will need to prioritize the six pillars that are essential characteristics needed to drive superior customer results, including empathy, personalization, time and effort, expectations, resolution and integrity. Encouragingly, the UAE Government has shown foresight in adopting AI and demonstrating its ability to improve customer interactions and streamline operations. Brands will now need to take this forward and refine their AI strategies to remain competitive and deliver outstanding customer experiences.

To read the full report, please visit – https://kpmg.com/ae/en/home/insights/2024/04/uae-cee-report-2023.html

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