Top OPEX trends in APAC for 2023

PEX Network’s annual, global state-of-the-industry survey gathers insights from a wide range of process excellence industry professionals and reveals the trends developing across the globe. Ahead of the release of PEX Report 2023, we have highlighted what is currently happening in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

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Customers are a top focus for process improvement work

It was noted in PEX Network’s Trends and predictions in process excellence 2022 report that customers were going to be a key driver for process improvement in 2022. This is proving true in the Asia-Pacific region. A total of 55 percent of survey respondents describe operational excellence (OPEX) as “a way to improve customer satisfaction through better quality and efficiency”.

Customer acquisition and retention is in the top three measure of success for OPEX in the region (7.5 percent), while customer-centric process management is in the top five focuses for process improvement for the next 12 months at the time of writing (32.3 percent).

At a time where the majority of offerings and communications are digital, it is easier than ever for customers to switch providers, making it essential for companies to ensure the experience is seamless.

Companies are looking for holistic solutions

Of all the solutions they could choose, respondents have picked digital transformation as the top area to invest in over the next 12 months (50 percent). It is followed by artificial intelligence (AI, 41.2 percent) and data analytics/business intelligence (35.5 percent).

It seems companies are focusing on overall transformation, fuelled by data-driven insights. AI will be in the mix to either provide algorithm-based recommendations from the data collected or improve customer experience via chatbots.

Read PEX Network report: Boosting customer experience with attended automation

Culture will be key over the next 12 months

Survey respondents are focusing on culture over the next 12 months. Of all the choices they could pick as the focus for process improvement work, the top two were “creating a culture of transformation” (44.1 percent) and “change management strategy” (41.2 percent).

Read PEX Network report: Mastering change in hybrid-work models

This makes sense as nearly half of respondents (47.5 percent) are undergoing an enterprise-wide transformation, which means the efforts must be coordinated and managed throughout the entire organization.

Are these trends in line with what you see in the region? Let us know in the comments below.