Dive Brief:
- The modern customer experience tech stack is “evolving from a patchwork of tools into a cohesive, strategic priority,” according to a Twilio survey published last week.
- Investments in three technology solutions experienced significant year-over-year growth, including customer analytics, customer surveys and contact center solutions.
- However, almost half of businesses — 44% — report struggling to connect customer data across channels, sources and platforms. Nearly one-third claim inadequate technology is a “major roadblock” to learning more about their customers, according to Twilio.
Dive Insight:
Businesses are increasingly turning to first-party data to understand and engage their customers, but integrating customer relationship management software, surveys and other tools and technologies remains a challenge.
“As businesses fine-tune their tech investments to address these gaps, the real challenge is not simply adopting new tools, but ensuring they drive innovation without adding complexity,” the survey said.
The vast majority of businesses — 96% — plan to build custom CX solutions instead of buying them off-the-shelf, leveraging application programming interfaces to integrate new tools technologies.
“This DIY approach offers greater flexibility, enabling brands to create customized solutions — like CXaaS — that align closely with their unique business goals and customer needs,” according to Twilio.
However, while best-of-breed solutions offer businesses the opportunity to tailor their tech stack to meet their specific needs, they can pose greater integration and onboarding challenges than less specialized all-in-one suites, which are designed to work together harmoniously.
Businesses plan to use several technologies to improve data management, automation and communication. The top solutions businesses are investing in in 2025 are data management platforms, customer engagement platforms, customer data platforms, marketing automation platforms and communication platform as a service.
In addition, three-quarters of businesses plan to invest in rich communication services messaging in 2025 to “create more personalized, interactive, and trusted communication, with features like rich media content, custom branding, two-way interactivity, and enhanced security,” they survey says. More than 8 in 10 consumers prefer RCS to traditional text messaging.
“The brands that invest wisely — not just widely — will be the ones that win in 2025,” according to Twilio.
