One of the rare good news about the current crisis is how well the internet has worked. The confinement decreed to avoid contagion has not completely isolated us. “Technology has served as a bridge to keep us in touch”, he congratulated himself MarÃa Josà © Romero San Josà ©, Director of Electronic Commerce and Digital Experience at Minsait, the technology consultancy of Indra. “But, at the same time, a change in consumption habits has been induced” and now we have to see which ones are consolidated and “which have served to overcome the pandemic” and disappear with it.
To discuss the changes that this dizzying 2020 has brought and how they affect business models, energy NaturgyOn November 27, Actualidad Económica and Expansión convened the round table “Clients in the new environment: digitization and other challenges”, in which, in addition to Romero San Josà ©, they spoke Carlos Vecino, Naturgy Marketing General Manager; Isaac Hernández, head of Google Cloud;Margarita López Acosta, CEO of Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, and MarÃa Monzo, Client Director of the Suez water treatment company.
One finding on which all agreed was the progress in digitization. “Many technological innovations have been available for years,” Monz observed. “The only thing missing was the willingness to use them.”
The introduction of trends such as teleworking or electronic commerce “has accelerated,” agreed Vecino, “and presumably contact with the customer through the digital channel will last, forcing a dual provision of services, simultaneously in person and remotely “.
And what will be the right balance point? In the specific case of Suez, Monzó explained that during the pandemic “measures were taken to guarantee the service and accompany clients in the midst of limitations.” This entailed a transformation of its model, more multichannel, but a 100% virtualization will never be achieved. “Not all people have the same level of digitization”, warned, and cited the specific case of “the elderly or vulnerable groups.”
In the health sector, López Acosta also highlighted how interaction with the client “has radically changed” at Sanofi. Before, it was almost exclusively face-to-face, but it has been necessary to learn to maintain it “through multiple channels” and this has allowed telemedicine to be put to the test for the first time, with encouraging results. “It has been confirmed that it generates efficiency and works, which will contribute to making the health system sustainable in the future”, although the physical distance involves” an emotional challenge “.
It was precisely this emotional bond that was revealed as another key to the new era. Vecino explained that, in an environment with little direct contact, the brand becomes more relevant. Has become the “soul” and keeping it alive requires exquisite care, because the experience of poor care can be devastating. “Today,” Vecino recalled, “Clients have the last word, they repudiate or reward you, and an episode of repudiation has a very wide echo”.
Hernández agreed with Vecino that “brands matter” and that technology can be an ally when it comes to increasing the level of commitment, as long as they strive to be “more local, close and useful”.
This utility should not be understood in the most immediate, narrow and personal sense. “The big companies,” Vecino said, “must collaborate in the sustainability of the system. They have to underline the essential values of their products or services, but also what they contribute to society. ”
“In an emergency,” Monzó said in this same line, “you have to make a effort to promote mechanisms of social action “.
Big time
In addition to crisis, the word that was loudest at the round table was opportunity. For Vecino, once assumed that change “has become a necessity”, we must take advantage of it and, in that sense, he recalled that the 140,000 million that Spain is going to receive from the Next Generation EU program is a historic occasion, since “the investments to be made must be sustainable and, in addition to generating activity, will allow ¡N improve society. ”
“There are reasons to think big,” concluded Hernández. “Digital has fewer borders than physical and covid has taught us that it can operate much faster than we thought we were capable.”
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