In today's technology-driven world, customers and consumers have made the experience they receive from a brand a crucial aspect of any engagement or customer journey. Rapidly changing customer expectations, and the new set of requirements brought about by millennials about the experiences they want, the way in which they want to engage with businesses, and with whom they want to do business, requires organizations to rethink customer engagement. To thrive in today's marketplace, brands will be competing for customers and their loyalty based on the strength of their empathetic relationships. To this end, they must become what IDC terms "Empathetic enterprises" and deliver empathy at scale – Developing deep relationships with customers at scale by understanding a situation from their point of view and acting accordingly.

Asia/Pacific: Future of Customers and Consumers service looks at how technology is playing a key role in customer experience and the digital transformation of that experience. Organizations should leverage technologies such as AI, connected devices, ubiquitous services, and an underlying foundation of trust to understand customers’ needs and address them dynamically. This service analyzes the necessary changes required across business and IT functions providing actionable recommendations on how to thrive in the next normal.

• Customer and consumer digital transformation – how, why, and when customers and consumers adopt technologies in a transformative way
• Taxonomy and use cases for customer experience technologies
• Growth and proliferation of customer experience driven by digital technologies, online behavior, and tech-enabled consumption
• Impact on traditional players: retail, travel, media, telecommunications, and so forth
• Opportunities and threats for technology buyers and vendors — driven by emerging sales, marketing, and commerce trends in device-based commerce, immersive media, experiential shopping, and consumer behaviors
• Vendor profiling

• Asia/Pacific Market Analysis Perspective: Future of Customers and Consumers
• Technology buyer strategies and plans (survey based)
• Case studies and buyer conversations
• Elements of customers empathy and drivers and technology enablers
• Digitally-enabled conversations, interactions, and engagements
• The shift to digital-first engagements, customer journeys, etc.
• Data-driven customer experiences, customer context, and customer intelligence
• Insights-driven customer satisfaction, sentiments, and trust
• IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Customers and Consumers 2021 Predictions — APEJ Implications

In addition to the insight provided in this service, IDC may conduct research on specific topics or emerging market segments via research offerings that require additional IDC funding and client investment.

1. How is digital transformation driving change to customer expectations, preferences, and buying behavior?
2. What is customer empathy and why does it matter?
3. How can organizations become empathetic enterprises?
4. How mature are Asia/Pacific organizations in their CX journeys?
5. Which priorities they have and what challenges are they facing?
6. What are the new and emerging technologies that enable organizations to deliver empathy at scale?
7. Which organizations are providing empathy at scale, and how are they doing it?