April 2023 Market Update
Of course, customers want quality products and services; however, more is needed to attract, keep and grow customers at a margin that makes the exercise worthwhile.
For many years, "customer satisfaction" became the pinnacle of success, with billions invested in ensuring customers were satisfied with their purchase, the company, after-sales, support and other facets of their business relationship.
Behind the scenes, though, analysis repeatedly supported the premise that while satisfaction was desirable, it was not the primary driver of customers' positive or adverse behaviour. Satisfied customers were not loyal, and dissatisfied customers did not defect to the competition. Sure, it played a part, but satisfaction was not the great motivational driver it purported to be.
Market Outlook 2023: For decades, the commercial world has moved from a fixation with "total quality" to customer behaviour.
Consultants and contractors under pressure and APS to step up
The government recently announced a big push to reduce the reliance on consultants and drive up investment in APS capability. This presents an additional pressure on the jobs market for consultants and contractors but the big question is how will the work get done?
The idea and concept makes sense, but it will be a very long journey with significant reform required. For consultants and contractors that are in ICT delivery there will continue to be wide opportunities for the right talent and commitment. The capacity and capability in the APS across ICT is not there to meet the demand. We do however expect some pressure on contract terms and rates and there to be more competition in the market for roles and opportunities.
Opportunities in Customer/Citizen Data and Experience
Amongst all the doom and gloom some opportunities arise. There continues to be opportunity across the customer, data and ICT projects environment with organisations across Australia looking at their cyber, ICT and customer data environments following the data breach crisis of Optus and Medibank.
Boardrooms and Government Departments are assessing their current risk profile and driving more investment into cyber now. This needs to be a much more broader conversation about customer data, privacy, process, people and the technology that enables this which presents big opportunities ahead for organisations that see the full customer data picture beyond just cyber!
We have invested into the customer data platform institute for this very reason and organisations and departments will have the opportunity to become a member in 2023 and help drive their organisational capability in data governance, platforms and people. More to follow in the coming months.
Doing more with less (an agile way)
Agile has been a long established term within the public sector, but 2023 will test the capability more than any year prior. The doing more with less approach, will force agile methods and processes further, throwing away the long-term schedules and big projects that governments have become known for.
Practised Agile practitioners including Scrum Masters and Agile Product Owners will see more opportunities to practise Agile delivery in its true sense next year. Cue-X started offering training in these fields in 2022, and we intend to keep it up in the new year. For those that are also experienced in more agile systems including cloud based technology such Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, SAP, Pega and more the opportunities, rates and projects will continue to present.
Outlook for the year ahead
2023 will be a different year. For those that can see the opportunities and make changes to meet the different needs of the market will continue to grow and build in a very difficult and challenging market next year. The opportunities in customer, data and ICT delivery are there and will continue to grow for those smart enough, fast enough and bold enough.
Enjoy your break with family and friends and look forward to talking more in 2023.
Dan Marks
CEO CUE-X Group, Canberra, Australia
Dan Marks interviews Graeme Boorer about the year that was, what leaders should be anticipating and, most importantly, what they should be looking to invest in during 2023.
About CUE-X
CUE-X has a team of experienced consultants and contractors that work across many of the major federal government agencies. CUE-X specialises in the advice, delivery, management, recruitment, training and development of ICT programmes, voice of customer, customer data, business transformation, programme management and organisational change. CUE-X is a gold partner of the Customer Data Institute with a team that has deep expertise in customer relationship management, data platforms, governance, privacy and security. Dan Marks is the Chief Executive Officer of CUE-X and has more than 20 years experience across government, Australian and global organisations. Dan is based in Canberra and works in government across major ICT program delivery. For more information go to www.cue-x.com
