The integrated customer communications specialist, which was acquired by omnichannel communications specialist Opus Trust Communications last month, conducted research among 250 senior-level decision-makers to gauge current strategic thinking relating to customer communication management in the post-pandemic era.

80% of respondents said they believe that the customer experience is suffering because staff working remotely are not able to share information with colleagues quickly.

The new, free report, ‘Customer Communication Strategies in the new normal – pain-points, priorities and ambition’, also covers issues including communication cost-drains, strategic communication priorities, and barriers to digitisation.

72% of respondents said their businesses require a ‘complete overhaul or  significant improvement’ of processes in order to share accurate and up-to-date customer records with colleagues.

And while 44% of businesses expect digital processes to dominate customer communications in three to five years, 42% said the call centre and paper documents still sit at the heart of communication processes.

Opus Trust Communications CEO Tony Strong said: “This report is quickly out of the blocks to benchmark current attitudes to customer communication management in the new era. Remote working and dispersed workforces present a whole new set of challenges to businesses, and this is a key theme to emerge in the report.

“Additionally, the report reveals that despite a strong desire to embrace digital transformation, the anchor of legacy processes is thwarting integrated customer communication ambitions for many.”

Leicester-headquartered Opus Trust Communications became a £110m-turnover, 530-staff business after acquiring Adare SEC from its prior private equity owner Endless on 1 November. Adare SEC operates sites in Huddersfield, Redditch, and Nottingham.

The deal followed Opus Trust’s acquisitions of Critiqom in 2019 and DocCentrics in 2020.