Digital Transformation in Professional Services

Moving from professional services to serving

professionals’ needs

So why focus on digital?

“One third of UK business leaders are concerned about a significant new competitor

from the technology sector”

PwC Annual Global CEO Survey

Empowering customers to have it their way (In return for their data)

New models in lookalike sectors…

Q2 2015: eToro raising an additional $12million The total investment volume raised among the investors amounted to $39 million. Funding circle fund £623,610,260 worth of loans so far

Are forcing incumbents to evolve or be superseded

“Nutmeg targets 100k users by Q2 2015” The group raised £19m from investors including Schroders

“Investec to launch a rival to Nutmeg” Wealth manager is setting up a discretionary investment platform later this year. Wednesday 06 May 2015

“Barclays plans D2C offering for 2015” Monday 07 July 2014

“Hargreaves to launch D2C discretionary service to plug advice gap” Wednesday 03 September 2014

Revolution is coming to your cyberspace very soon!

Timing (years)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

0 1 2 3 4 5

Imp

act

(% c

han

ge

in b

usi

nes

s)

Realestate

Professional services

Finance

ICT and media

retail trade

Arts and recreation Government services

Utilities

Recruitment and cleaning

Transport and post

Health

Education

Agriculture

Mining

Manufacturing

Construction

Wholesale tradeAccommodation and food services

Short fuse, Big Bang

Short fuse, Small Bang Long fuse, Small Bang

Long fuse, Big Bang

32% of the economy 33% of the economy

18% of the economy17% of the economy

So why focus on the digital customer?

We all expect digitally enabled personal service…

• Our expectations are higher – if we don’t have a good experience, we’ll move to a competitor.

$83bnIs lost each year in poor customer experiences

(IBM)

HMWIs spend this many hours online per week, on 4 devices

48hrs

Your clients are even more sophisticated and demanding

Ref: LinkedIn

By 2015, “digital natives” will hold the majority of buying power in the economy, and by 2025,

they will dominate the UK.

– PWC

Your target audiences want

Authenticity and simplicity

• More retail focus to content

• Features and benefits • Peer to peer advice • Educational tools • Experts as

personalities

Hyper-convenience

• Digital self-service • Multiple media types • Responsive and

adaptive • Specific touch points

for specific tasks

Accessible expertise and the inside track

• Audience specific portals

• Thought leadership hubs

• Advice centres • Access to experts

More relevance

• Needs-based navigation

• Personalisation • Content syndication

Understanding client needs is what sets you apart

The ideal relationship is the lawyer who is closest to being a member of the in-house legal team, someone who understand

our values, culture, style and our business.

You tend to find with the major [engineering] consultants that they’re all pretty close to each other. What matters is their

understanding of client needs.

– NISUS Consulting

So what’s stopping this experience being the norm?

But what you offer is complicated!

Take of the logo and they could all be the same

Take of the logo and they could all be the same

Some move towards client challenges

But the experience is generally hard work

Suggested next steps after reading the page

Highlight the service leader contact details and information

Contextual crosslink between services and industries

Related content at the bottom of the page to increase engagement and provide guidance in finding relevant information

1. Not responsive

2. Sites, apps and social destinations aren’t organised by the challenges your customers are facing

3. USPs are not clear

4. Useful sections and thought leadership hidden

5. Inflexible template structures

6. Confused navigation, repeated items

7. Outdated, passive and informational content that isn’t nuanced for different audiences

8. Poor tagging and linking of related content

Top issues

So where to begin?

Personalisation / segmentation

Page layouts that work across different layouts

Personal, differentiated

Variety of content types

Video Infographics

Think beyond your peers• Clear information hierarchy

• External as well as internal-focused organisation

• Categories that drive users to self select

• Dedicated experiences for each journey

• Good tagging of deep-lying content to key themes

• Strong visual identity for each service and challenge

• Flexible page layouts

• Focus on contextual content tone and messaging

Self identification – BT

Life stage navigation – HSBCBusiness websitePersonal website

Need based and mobile first – Adobe

Data visualisation - Nutmeg

Talking to different users… differentlyRoyal Mail: Corporate audienceRoyal Mail: Personal audience

• Primary CTA addresses core personal user need• Clear path to top personal user tasks • Quick links

• Primary CTA focuses on offline interaction• Tools are business-focused• Explanatory/persuasive text – sales pitch

Talking to different users… differently

• Educational tone• Sober imagery, headings in question format• Video for clear, reassuring explanation

British Heart Foundation : FundraisersBritish Heart Foundation: Users with health worries

• Conversational, jocular tone• Fun imagery• ‘Order a fundraising pack’ CTA (off page)

Closing thoughts

Need based strategies in the digital world are a 3 way street

Market and industry trends

Audience needs, expectations, pain points

Business needs

A successful strategy aligns these competing needs

So ask yourself

Do you have a digital strategy and objectives?

Have you defined the audience goals you are trying to meet to deliver

these objectives?

Does it align with your organisation’s

business objectives?

Do you reallyknow how your

suspects, prospects and clients use digital in

their relationship with you?

Does each new initiative look to meet at least one audience and

business need?

Have you optimised the solution for the

device it will be consumed on?

Is your content tailored for the target audience and device

it will be used on?

Will you know if you’ve been successful?

Thank you

ormlondon.com@ormlondon