By Joe Byrne, CTO Advisor, Cisco Observability
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital interactions, a new type of application user has emerged over the last two years – the ‘Application Generation.’ These users, have a heightened sophistication and demands for their use of applications and digital services, and are reshaping the expectations for organizations across industries. While these users actively pursue innovative, intuitive, and secure digital experiences, many brands find themselves at a crossroads, facing the challenge of meeting these elevated standards.
The growing gap between Application Generation’s expectations and the current digital landscape is becoming increasingly frustrating, causing serious trouble for organizations who fail to keep up.
The latest research from Cisco, The App Attention Index 2023: Beware the Application Generation, sheds light on this transformative group of global consumers ages 18 to 34 who are changing the criteria of what digital experience needs to be.
Consumers’ expectations for digital experiences skyrocket
According to the global research of more than 15,000 consumers, appetite for applications and digital services has remained strong in the two years post pandemic. However, today’s consumers feel they have more control of the applications they use and are more empowered to seek alternatives after poor experiences.
During the pandemic, applications and digital services were a lifeline for many. With enforced lockdowns, relying on digital platforms became the only viable option for shopping, accessing essential services, and staying connected with friends. Today, things are back to normal. People can once again meet up face to face, shop in stores and visit offices and bank branches. This return to regular or pre-pandemic activities has provided individuals with choices, significantly influencing their interaction with digital services.
A notable 59 per cent of Canadian consumers state their expectations for digital experiences are far higher now than they were two years ago. Additionally, 53 per cent feel some of the applications they relied on during the pandemic no longer meet their current expectations for digital experience. What was good enough during the pandemic is now inadequate. This evolving landscape underscores the necessity for digital platforms to adapt and exceed heightened user expectations.
Consumers are encountering more bad digital experiences
Alarmingly, while expectations for seamless digital experiences have reached new highs, as many as 94 per cent of the Application Generation globally report they have experienced performance issues when using digital services over the past 12 months. This figure is up from 83 per cent of consumers in 2021, when the App Attention Index was last published.
63 per cent of Canadian consumers report they are now less forgiving of poor digital experiences. This means people are deleting applications at an unprecedented rate, with a staggering 70 per cent of Canadian consumers reporting they have stopped using digital services or deleted applications from their devices because of performance issues over the last 12 months.
As well as banishing poorly performing applications, global consumers are also becoming far more vocal when they encounter issues – 67 per cent claim they are now more likely to warn people of applications that don’t perform than they were 12 months ago.
Application observability is key for brands to avoid consumer outrage
In order to retain and attract customers through their digital services, application owners need to consistently deliver seamless and secure digital experiences. But this is easier said than done. Rapid digital transformation has left IT teams struggling to manage a highly dynamic and dispersed application landscape. Many don’t have full visibility into cloud native technologies, and this is making it almost impossible to detect and fix issues before they impact end users.
Application observability provides a solution to this critical and growing challenge. It provides IT teams with full and unified visibility across their hybrid environments so they can rapidly detect issues and understand root causes. Additionally, by correlating application availability, performance and security data with key business metrics, teams can prioritize those issues with the potential to do the most damage to digital experience.
Application owners urgently need to recognize they can’t afford to maintain current levels of disruption and downtime to their applications and digital services. The Application Generation won’t tolerate anything less than the very best, most seamless and secure digital experiences.
Guest Post: The Application Generation is fed up as digital disruption rises across the world
Posted in Commentary with tags Cisco on March 7, 2024 by itnerdBy Joe Byrne, CTO Advisor, Cisco Observability
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital interactions, a new type of application user has emerged over the last two years – the ‘Application Generation.’ These users, have a heightened sophistication and demands for their use of applications and digital services, and are reshaping the expectations for organizations across industries. While these users actively pursue innovative, intuitive, and secure digital experiences, many brands find themselves at a crossroads, facing the challenge of meeting these elevated standards.
The growing gap between Application Generation’s expectations and the current digital landscape is becoming increasingly frustrating, causing serious trouble for organizations who fail to keep up.
The latest research from Cisco, The App Attention Index 2023: Beware the Application Generation, sheds light on this transformative group of global consumers ages 18 to 34 who are changing the criteria of what digital experience needs to be.
Consumers’ expectations for digital experiences skyrocket
According to the global research of more than 15,000 consumers, appetite for applications and digital services has remained strong in the two years post pandemic. However, today’s consumers feel they have more control of the applications they use and are more empowered to seek alternatives after poor experiences.
During the pandemic, applications and digital services were a lifeline for many. With enforced lockdowns, relying on digital platforms became the only viable option for shopping, accessing essential services, and staying connected with friends. Today, things are back to normal. People can once again meet up face to face, shop in stores and visit offices and bank branches. This return to regular or pre-pandemic activities has provided individuals with choices, significantly influencing their interaction with digital services.
A notable 59 per cent of Canadian consumers state their expectations for digital experiences are far higher now than they were two years ago. Additionally, 53 per cent feel some of the applications they relied on during the pandemic no longer meet their current expectations for digital experience. What was good enough during the pandemic is now inadequate. This evolving landscape underscores the necessity for digital platforms to adapt and exceed heightened user expectations.
Consumers are encountering more bad digital experiences
Alarmingly, while expectations for seamless digital experiences have reached new highs, as many as 94 per cent of the Application Generation globally report they have experienced performance issues when using digital services over the past 12 months. This figure is up from 83 per cent of consumers in 2021, when the App Attention Index was last published.
63 per cent of Canadian consumers report they are now less forgiving of poor digital experiences. This means people are deleting applications at an unprecedented rate, with a staggering 70 per cent of Canadian consumers reporting they have stopped using digital services or deleted applications from their devices because of performance issues over the last 12 months.
As well as banishing poorly performing applications, global consumers are also becoming far more vocal when they encounter issues – 67 per cent claim they are now more likely to warn people of applications that don’t perform than they were 12 months ago.
Application observability is key for brands to avoid consumer outrage
In order to retain and attract customers through their digital services, application owners need to consistently deliver seamless and secure digital experiences. But this is easier said than done. Rapid digital transformation has left IT teams struggling to manage a highly dynamic and dispersed application landscape. Many don’t have full visibility into cloud native technologies, and this is making it almost impossible to detect and fix issues before they impact end users.
Application observability provides a solution to this critical and growing challenge. It provides IT teams with full and unified visibility across their hybrid environments so they can rapidly detect issues and understand root causes. Additionally, by correlating application availability, performance and security data with key business metrics, teams can prioritize those issues with the potential to do the most damage to digital experience.
Application owners urgently need to recognize they can’t afford to maintain current levels of disruption and downtime to their applications and digital services. The Application Generation won’t tolerate anything less than the very best, most seamless and secure digital experiences.
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