"People's expectations of businesses are changing. We're used to being able to talk to our friends and family anywhere in the world, from any device, at any time of day. And people now are expecting that of businesses. 

They don't want to sit on hold for an hour at lunchtime. They want to be able to buy a product while they're sitting on the sofa watching the kids or whatever it might be.  

If we're not addressing those needs, we see consumers looking elsewhere. The move to digital accelerated through the pandemic, but it's a trend that's been coming for a while. A lot of the services that people need are easier to consume digitally."

''We're not trying to change consumer behavior; that's a notoriously hard thing to do... what we're saying is to meet customers where they are, like WhatsApp; that's how they talk to friends and family. If we can tap into that, we can give them a better experience.

People may be following social media influencers, watching reels and virtual product launches, and joining virtual events and calls where products are released and announced. And if we're not reaching customers on these channels, we're probably not addressing that part of the market."

''It's easy to want to take an existing customer journey and turn it into a digital one, and that's not always the right way to approach a situation. Digital journeys allow you to create different or sometimes richer experiences.

Rather than replacing a process, think about how you can improve [it]. When you land in a new country or on business, on holiday, you'll often [an] SMS to say, 'You've changed data carriers. Here are the rates.'  

Why wouldn't you get a WhatsApp message that says, 'Do you know if your credit card will work here? What are your debit card charges? Do you know how to find an ATM... or a local branch? Do you need holiday insurance?' There are a lot of new things that we can do [that] add value to the customer outside of replacing existing conversation flows."