Zendesk + StashAway: Scaling support in a conversational era
“The Asian finance industry is currently seeing unprecedented changes: digital disruption, shifting customer expectations, and obviously the very challenging economic environment presented by the pandemic,” says Wendy Johnstone, SVP & COO APAC, Zendesk, in reference to the company’s recently released Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report 2021. “Customers have stepped back, re-examined what their priorities are, and adopted new behaviours. They want to connect in a more convenient, conversational, and personal way with brands, and that's really been driven by messaging.”
A leading provider of customer service software, Zendesk’s mission has always been to democratise customer service software to help foster better customer relationships. Johnstone joined the company in May 2020 following a long career working at some of the world’s largest tech brands, “I love the transformational impact that technology can have on not just our companies, but also on our lives.” Passionate about helping companies embrace digital adoption, she has been driving operational excellence across the APAC region, connecting with customers and understanding the key areas for market growth.
It’s an important mission, particularly at such a turbulent time of change in the finance industry and socio-economic upheaval. In such an environment, it’s vital to understand where the wind of prevailing customer sentiment is blowing, and that’s exactly what Zendesk has been helping StashAway to do. “We started working with StashAway back in 2017, when it was looking to improve both its customer engagement and its customer service agent efficiency. StashAway wanted a solution that could scale as the company itself grew,” Johnstone explains. The digital wealth management platform subsequently adopted a host of Zendesk’s solutions, including email support, help centre, knowledge management, analytics, reporting and more.
“We’ve helped StashAway deliver the world-class omnichannel customer experience they’re known for,” continues Johnstone. “Customers can use a variety of channels and with a completely unified view, StashAway’s agents don't need to waste precious time manually synching customer data across disconnected systems,” a useful capability, particularly as the company continues its expansion into new markets like the Middle East, Thailand and Malaysia.
Linking back to the findings of Zendesk’s CX Trends 2021 report, Johnstone noted that “messaging has very quickly become the preferred channel for customers to engage with businesses,” drawn by its convenient, fast and personal nature. StashAway was among the first to deploy Zendesk’s WhatsApp integration when it was launched, and doing so enabled the company to dramatically reduce their first response time to just 30 minutes - significantly lower than the industry benchmark of 24 hours. Shortly following its introduction, she relates that it has quickly become a strong customer favourite.
StashAway’s focus on its customers and view of CX as a strategic differentiator has placed it in good standing to address the changing needs of its customers. “It’s a fantastic partner of ours and the relationship has really grown and deepened over the years. A big reason for this has to do with the team,” Johnstone concludes. “StashAway is a digital native, and these are the organisations who we see disrupting the norm and driving the transformation in financial services. It’s taking a very open minded approach to trying lots of new initiatives; Zendesk is very honored to be StashAway’s partner and support its growth.”
