Business
New Channels, New Powers: Are You Up to Speed with Customer Communications? (By Tushar Vashnavi)
Consumers have more power than ever, and businesses will need to accept and embrace this to attract and, more importantly, retain them
DURBAN, South Africa, June 22, 2023/APO Group/ —
By Tushar Vashnavi, Director of Strategic Planning, Canon EMEA
Not all the changes of the past two years are here to stay. But one area that has transformed is customer communications.
Every output from every customer communications management system is a customer experience, and each of those experiences is part of a customer journey – and that journey has changed. A digital-first, personalised approach is expected, and the ‘new’ ways of working are no longer new. Consumers have more power than ever, and businesses will need to accept and embrace this to attract and, more importantly, retain them.
Not only that, much of the digital transformation that took place at the beginning of the pandemic were short-term measures. In a world of unpredictability, businesses now need to look at removing these sticking plasters and replacing them with future-proofed solutions.
Digital first, not digital only
The circumstances surrounding the pandemic prompted a digitisation of business processes, including customer communications. Indeed, digital transformation was accelerated by several years[1]. Customers accepted a digital-first approach and now expect it, along with a high level of personalisation; both consumers and B2B buyers have an expectation that businesses know their specific needs[2].
Essential to personalisation is channel preference. There was a massive shift of communications spend to digital in the two years pre-pandemic[3], but that potentially overlooks the power of print. Studies have found that print is the most highly trusted medium available to marketers today, while website advertising, particularly through social channels, is the least trusted[4].
When planning their customer communications strategy, businesses should also bear in mind generational differences. Younger generations typically prefer digital-first methods such as text and live chat to phone and have embraced self-service and chatbots[5]. The pandemic has pushed older generations towards digital too, but organisations should be supportive and understanding of these new adopters as well as those who remain offline. In England, for example, this is nearly half of those aged over 75[6] – a significant proportion of a potential customer base who risk being lost via a digital-only strategy.
It’s not just missing the mark in terms of channel that could lose an organisation customer. Research by Quadient, a specialist in customer experience management software, found that 70 per cent of UK consumers would blacklist a company for failures in their customer communication, ranging from basic personal information errors, to using the pandemic as an excuse for delivering poor customer service, to sending spam[7]. One-third said they have stayed with businesses which offered poor customer service during the pandemic but will be moving to competitors when things return to normal.
Futureproofing for success
So, the customer communications landscape has changed, consumers have newfound power and organisations need to get up to speed quickly. But how do they adapt and achieve cut-through?
The key is a strategic, holistic approach that spans every line of business, ensuring each element is customer centric. Budgetary silos can mean organisations are not aligned across departments, resulting in a failure to meet expectations. For instance, if a customer calls the billing department to report a change of address, they will assume that change would be made across marketing and sales too. If it isn’t, they could be switching to a competitor. Customer communications solutions that do not replicate changes throughout the data flow, or do not automate such tasks, have the potential to create more problems than they solve.
Many organisations who made knee-jerk purchases prompted by the pandemic are now finding they are not fit for purpose long-term. Businesses may need to reconfigure or entirely replace them – otherwise they are simply a stopgap solution that could ultimately fail.
To be fully future-proofed, look also to the cloud. Traditionally customer communications solutions have been on-premises, but businesses should invest in a solution that is both on-site and accessible via the cloud with the ability to switch from one to the other – an approach that meets the needs of a hybrid workforce.
Hybrid working is now the norm across many parts of the globe[8]. It’s clear that for staff to complete customer communications work efficiently and effectively they need seamless access wherever they are located. As well as affecting customer relations, mistakes here could risk losing employees. ‘The Great Resignation’ reflects a greater ability for people to leave jobs which don’t meet their personal needs[9], or where they encounter obstacles to their productivity in their chosen location.
The uncertain future
Customer communications solutions typically have a lifespan of ten, and in some cases, up to 20 years. That’s a weighty consideration for anyone charged with the responsibility of making such investments. And, if the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that nothing is certain.
However, we can make some forecasts. Quadient predicts customer services will continue to fragment and multiply in volume and reiterates that meeting fast-evolving customer expectations isn’t possible unless organisations are joined up internally from a process and technology perspective[10]. Lines of business need to work together and consolidate data from different stages of the customer journey, making every aspect customer centric.
With that in mind, organisations should look at the changes that need to be made now. How can accurate personalisation be assured? How can departments work more efficiently together? What are the issues in the current workflow? Answer those questions today to invest in a successful tomorrow.
[1] https://apo-opa.info/3NIsOMI
[2] https://apo-opa.info/46jRhyU
[3] Canon Insights report 2020 ’Creating Customer Value’
[4] https://apo-opa.info/3PqhGFu
[5] https://apo-opa.info/46i1H1Z
[6] https://apo-opa.info/4454Ws4
[7] https://apo-opa.info/3JOFLST
[8] https://apo-opa.info/3NFx9jG
[9] https://apo-opa.info/3CJ3Lma
[10] https://apo-opa.info/3CJnPVu
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA).
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Tony Elumelu Foundation Selects Seven North African Entrepreneurs in 2026 Cohort
Seven North African entrepreneurs in technology, education, professional services and agriculture selected from 265,000 applications at historic Abuja ceremony
Hope is not just a feeling — it is a system we can build
- 7 North African entrepreneurs selected from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt
- 51% of the 2026 cohort are women, all selected purely on merit, without any quota in place
- 3,200 total entrepreneurs selected from 265,000+ applications across 54 African countries
- USD 5,000 in non-refundable seed capital for each selected entrepreneur
- Selection conducted independently by Ernst & Young
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) (www.TonyElumeluFoundation.org), the leading philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs, announced on Sunday, 22 March 2026 the 12th cohort of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme at a ceremony held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. The announcement was made by Founder Tony O. Elumelu, C.F.R.
Among the 3,200 entrepreneurs selected from 265,000 applications received from all 54 African countries: seven from North Africa. Three from Tunisia, two from Morocco, two from Egypt. Spanning technology, education, professional services and agribusiness, they represent a generation of North African founders building businesses that address the urgent needs of their communities. Their selection, which was conducted independently by Ernst & Young, places them among the most rigorously assessed young entrepreneurs on the continent.
This year’s cohort carries a historic signal: 51 percent of the 2026 entrepreneurs are women. They were selected purely on merit, without quota. Across hundreds of thousands of applications, women distinguished themselves through the strength of their ideas, the clarity of their business models and the ambition of their vision.
In 2026, the Foundation is empowering a total of 3,200 entrepreneurs across all its entrepreneurship programmes:
- 1,751 entrepreneurs through Heirs Holdings Group: Heirs Energies, Transcorp Power, Transcorp Hotels, and United Capital;
- 1,049 entrepreneurs in partnership with the European Commission, OACPS, BMZ and GIZ;
- 100 entrepreneurs in partnership with Sèmè City Development Agency;
- 100 entrepreneurs in partnership with DEG, the German Development Agency;
- 100 entrepreneurs in partnership with the IKEA Foundation, UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited and the Dutch Government; and
- 100 entrepreneurs in partnership with UNDP and the Rwandan Ministry of Youth and Arts.
Each selected Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur will receive USD 5,000 in non-refundable seed capital, access to world-class business management training on TEFConnect, one-on-one mentorship, and entry into a powerful network of investors, partners and fellow entrepreneurs.
In his annual letter (https://apo-opa.co/4uOFepM), “A Story of Hope,” Tony O. Elumelu, C.F.R., Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, shared a powerful message to the new cohort:
“For a long time, I believed luck was something that simply happened to you. Then I came to understand: luck can be engineered. Opportunity can be democratised. Hope is not just a feeling — it is a system we can build.” — Tony O. Elumelu, C.F.R., Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation — 2026 Annual Letter
The Tony Elumelu Foundation has empowered over 2.5 million young Africans with access to business management training on TEFConnect (https://TEFConnect.com), and disbursed over USD 100 million in seed capital to more than 24,000 selected entrepreneurs.
Collectively, these entrepreneurs have generated USD 4.2 billion in revenue and created more than 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs. Through its support for African entrepreneurs, TEF has lifted 2.1 million Africans above the poverty line and positively impacted more than 4 million African households, with 46% of supported entrepreneurs being African women. Eighty percent of TEF-supported businesses survive and scale, against a global average of ten to twenty percent.
The announcement ceremony was broadcast live in English (https://apo-opa.co/3PWLiML), French (https://apo-opa.co/3PWLiML), Portuguese (https://apo-opa.co/4t4Y7Da) and Arabic (https://apo-opa.co/4bYHlQl).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Tony Elumelu Foundation.
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