Digital performance company Riverbed has revealed its findings from key local research. According to the report, 85% of Middle East companies believe that positive end-user digital experiences have a "significant" role in driving business growth.
The power of positive digital experiences
Elie Dib, regional vice president, EMEA Emerging Markets, Riverbed commented on the shift. “Business models are rapidly changing as digital services make it possible for users to engage with organisations at any time, and from anywhere," he said.
"When properly delivered, this 24/7/365 service availability and exposure can enhance customer experience, engagement and loyalty," Dib stated. He added that this also contributes to "higher productivity and satisfaction among employees."
“On the other hand, if the performance and usability of digital services cannot be assured, it could have a significant and long-lasting impact on the brand. The digital experiences of the user – whether an employee, customer, partner or citizen – is therefore crucial to businesses and governments in the Middle East,” Dib concluded.
Inability to monitor digital experiences
Overall, 63% of respondents said that they were currently facing readiness issues. According to the findings, the growing number of applications and services has left many company networks overwhelmed.
The research also found that respondents were struggling to monitor and measure their end-user experiences. In fact, 62% of respondents were unable to gauge how the performance of apps is affecting users on end-point devices.
This failure could in part be due to the fluctuation of customer expectations when it comes to using digital services. However, 49% of respondents said that their perception of availability and reliability are key metrics to consider when assessing the performance of applications.
Traditional metrics are not enough
The report found that companies currently employ well-established metrics to measure their performance. 44% cited average response time as a key metric, while 31% said that they monitored throughput and bandwidth.
On the other hand, just 24% of respondents said that they could measure actual end-user experience. As a result, end-user complaints of poor performance actually came as a surprise to 68% of the respondents.
Dib said that "today's multi-layered application delivery models" are incredibly complex. As a consequence, it is "monumentally challenging" for companies to improve their end-user experiences.
Many companies are unable to rectify their mistakes "without the ability to pinpoint and understand the issues users face." Traditional tools are unhelpful in this way, as they "monitor the network and applications by ‘looking out' from the data centre resulting in a visibility gap."
Rather, the "ideal scenario" involves measuring the end-user experience from their perspective. As Dib highlights, this approach provides "clear insights into how customers are consuming applications, what their digital experience is like, and how that experience impacts their main business KPIs.”
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