PwC Partner: Management must have appropriate risk management policies as business backbone

There have been continued disruptions in several industries brought by technological advancements.

With the customer experience landscape shifting towards a more technology-driven and unique nature, businesses are compelled to embrace the changes brought about by digital transformation in their respective industries to ensure that customer needs are met. It is also necessary for companies to make sure that whilst these changes are taking place, they are still making every experience more personalised for customers.

For Loretta Fong, Sustainability Deputy Leader, PwC Mainland China and Hong Kong, this should also urge companies to create new delivery models that see to the ever-changing customer experience.

With over 25 years, Fong holds an extensive experience in public accounting serving clients of various sizes, including conglomerates engaged in a variety of industries such as retail, TMT, logistics, as well as start-ups and entrepreneurs.

She currently serves as a General Committee Member of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries amongst her many other external appointments.

Speaking with Asian Experience Awards as part of its distinguished panel of judges for the 2024 edition, the Partner sheds light on how reality technologies influence industries nowadays, best practices to ensure data safety amidst increasing use of automation, creating a positive employee experience in spite of different challenges, and how companies can improve their customer experience strategies.

How do you foresee AI, AR, VR, and the metaverse influencing industries like retail, TMT, and logistics, and what opportunities and risks should these sectors be prepared for?

These new technologies definitely cause disruptions in the industries.  Companies need to stay focused and create new delivery models to suit the ever-changing needs of their customers.  New products and new experience are providing vast opportunities to keep the customers being continuously engaged; whilst these evolutions may drive out players who are unable to catch up with the trend.

What best practices would you advise for ensuring data safety with the increasing use of automation in customer experience initiatives, and what challenges should companies be vigilant about?

Cybersecurity is posting continuous threats; and companies need to put this as a number one priority to protect its reputation, as trust can be destroyed by just one single incident and is difficult to be rebuilt.  Management needs to have the appropriate risk management policies and procedures as a backbone of its business.

How can organisations create a positive employee experience amidst workforce challenges like The Great Resignation, and what measures can ensure employees feel heard and valued?

Listening to employee needs is essential; proper channels of communications, whether formal or informal, are important for increasing employee engagement, which will translate to better customer experience and higher efficiency at work.

What advice would you offer to companies looking to improve their customer experience strategies, and what key elements should they focus on?

Innovation, Technology, Workforce, are the three key elements that I would recommend focusing on when looking into improving customer experience strategies. Continuous customer feedback and these three elements will co-create an ecosystem which generates new business models and experience, which suit best the customers’ needs.

As a returning judge for this year’s Asian Experience Awards, what new trends or innovations in customer experience are you most excited to see, and what criteria will you focus on when evaluating nominees?

I would be most excited to see how the entrants this year are making use of new technologies to create demand and offer new experience to recurring and new customers, in a secured and safe environment.