Acknowledgment

Once again a leader in Digital Experience Services

For the second year, the Lünendonk market study “Digital Experience Services” names Reply a leading provider.

The study

The market study "Providers of Digital Experience Services in Germany" carried by the market research company Lünendonk acknowledges Reply again as one of the top three leading full-service providers for digital experience services (DXS).

The study analyses the service performance of the largest 26 IT and management consultancies and digital agencies that had significant revenue in 2020. The three categories observed were Digital Consulting, Digital Agency Services and Digital Technology Services. Both providers and users were surveyed for the study.

Reply's outstanding performance in the Digital Experience Service market

Lünendonk rates Reply as a leading Digital Experience Service Provider with an above-average broad and rich portfolio – and correspondingly high market relevance.

Reply also leads the sub-ranking of specialised providers for digital experience services with first place.

Key takeaways from the Lünendonk study

Companies invest in digitalisation of marketing and communication channels in response to Covid-19

The Corona pandemic has driven digitalisation. Two thirds of the study participants assume that digital progress will prevail in the company. In particular, companies have invested in the digitalisation of their marketing and sales channels as well as the organisational transformation towards an agile and cross-divisional organisation.

Providers of digital experience services (DXS) are optimistic about the future: DXS revenues are expected to increase by an average of 18.3% in 2022 and even by an average of 20.3% in 2023. Both digital agencies, IT service providers and management consultancies have recognised this trend and have therefore been investing in this area for several years – and are likely to continue doing so in the future.

Revenues from digital experience services to grow strongly in the next years

External service providers play an important role. This is reflected in the revenue trends of the service providers: the IT providers surveyed were able to increase their revenues by an average of 7.0% in 2020 – despite or precisely because of Corona. In order to secure the ability to deliver and skills for digital transformation, many user companies rely on preferred partners and involve service providers in digital projects from start to finish – from strategy development to implementation and operation.

The speed of digital transformation is increasing

Cloud-native applications and the linking of customer data to a unified view are already established

While the digital experience is recognised as a key element for customer acquisition and retention, the majority of companies (65%) see the quality of their digital experience as only “average" with the competition. Only every tenth company (9%) sees itself as a pioneer. The need and pressure to invest is therefore high.

Cloud-native applications and the linking of customer data to a consistent view are already often established. The use of virtual/augmented reality in marketing and sales, the real-time monitoring of processes and the use of AI-based technologies are still being developed by many companies.

Demand topics of the coming year

The increased use of digital channels and marketing of products via platforms (Digital Marketing & Sales), as well as the development of software-based products and services – for example in the form of embedded systems, are focus topics in 2021/2022. Processes are also to be automated (Digital Efficiency) and the customer experience is to be improved along all customer touchpoints (Customer Experience).

Lünendonk & Hossenfelder has been analysing European business-to-business (B2B) service markets since 1983. The market researchers focus on the following sectors: management and IT consulting, auditing, tax and legal consulting, facility management and maintenance as well as personnel services (temporary employment, staffing). For decades, the market research and consulting company has been publishing the "Lünendonk® lists and studies", which are regarded as market barometers.