Why Aramex’s ‘Answered’ Reflects a Bigger Industry Shift

In a world where customer expectations outpace traditional service models, a quiet transformation is underway—one where CX becomes as agile and on-demand as the digital economy it serves.

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  • Static, centralised service models don’t cut it anymore. A new approach is emerging. On-demand CX is agile, scalable, and tailored to match shifting consumer needs.

    One of the clearest signals of this shift comes from an unexpected player: Aramex, a logistics company that started ‘Answered’.

    Launched in 2024, ‘Answered’ is designed as a rapid-deployment CX model. It supports businesses with real-time, multilingual, human-plus-tech teams—only when and where they need them.

    It’s a move that reflects not just market opportunity, but changing customer behaviour: rising expectations for immediacy, personalisation, and empathy across every touchpoint.

    But this story isn’t just about Aramex.

    It’s about why companies like Aramex are stepping into CX and what it tells us about where customer experience is heading.

    The Pressure to Scale CX Without the Overhead

    In recent years, businesses across industries have faced a growing dilemma: how to deliver consistently excellent customer service in a world of unpredictable demand and rising expectations.

    For many, in-house customer support models are simply too rigid. The need for multilingual capabilities, real-time response, and peak-period scalability is colliding with cost pressures, talent shortages, and fragmented channels.

    That’s the context in which on-demand CX is gaining traction.

    Solutions like ‘Answered’ reflect a broader industry response: building CX capabilities that are flexible, cloud-enabled, and easily deployable.

    ALSO READ: True Transformation is More Than Upgrading Technology

    Customer Experience as a Strategic Differentiator

    What makes this trend notable is who’s leading the charge.

    It’s not just BPOs or digital-native startups. Legacy companies, from logistics to healthcare, are embedding CX deeper into their strategic models. Not as an add-on, but as a growth engine.

    For Aramex, the move from delivery to dialogue represents a larger brand evolution, one from logistics partner to experience enabler. For others, it’s about protecting market share in a world where customer loyalty is increasingly fragile.

    The common denominator? A recognition that CX is no longer a support function but a brand-defining capability.

    What This Means for Brands

    So what does Aramex’s pivot tell us?

    1. CX is becoming decentralised and modular. Companies want to scale service like they scale cloud infrastructure quickly, efficiently, and without long-term overhead.
    2. Non-traditional players are entering the CX space. As brands seek more holistic control of the customer journey, service becomes a differentiator, not just a cost center.
    3. Expectations have gone omnichannel and multilingual. Customers no longer tolerate long wait times or generic replies, especially in diverse, fast-moving markets.
    4. The definition of logistics is expanding. Delivery isn’t just about getting products from A to B but it’s about managing the moments after the delivery too.

    The rise of on-demand CX signals a broader transformation: experience design and delivery are moving closer to the edge of the enterprise where customer interactions actually happen.

    Because in this new landscape, customers aren’t waiting.

    Cary-Lawton

    We spoke to Cary Lawton, Director of CX at Aramex to give us more in-depth insights about this move into on-demand CX. 

    What was the catalyst behind this move and why was now the right time for Aramex to expand in this direction?

    We saw a clear opportunity to close the gap between Aramex and our clients by offering agile, tailored customer experience services. As customer expectations continue to evolve, especially in the Middle East and abroad, we recognised the need to go beyond logistics and provide a more integrated, end-to-end solution. ‘Answered’ allows us to do just that—delivering high-quality, scalable CX support that meets our clients where they are.

    How does this initiative align with Aramex’s broader CX and growth strategy?

    ‘Answered’ is a natural extension of our strategy to evolve from being a last-mile delivery leader to becoming a last-mile interaction partner. It strengthens our position as a customer-centric innovator, enabling us to support our clients not just with logistics, but with the full spectrum of customer engagement across voice, chat, social, and AI-powered channels

    Was this a proactive move based on opportunity, or a reactive one based on shifting customer expectations?

    This was both a proactive and strategic move to address a growing market need and a natural extension of Aramex’s existing strengths. With decades of experience managing global customer service operations, we already had the infrastructure, talent, and processes in place. ‘Answered’ was built to stay ahead of rising customer expectations, particularly the demand for flexible, multilingual, and tech-enabled CX solutions. Rather than waiting for these needs to become challenges, we chose to lead with a solution we were uniquely positioned to deliver.

    How did global or regional trends in customer logistics behaviour influence the timing?

    Across both global and regional markets, we’ve seen a surge in demand for faster, more personalised support. In the GCC in particular, the appetite for real-time, multilingual, and omnichannel customer service has grown significantly. That made the timing ideal for launching a solution like ‘Answered’—one that’s built for agility, scale, and regional relevance

    Since launch, what new customer behaviors or needs have emerged that surprised you?

    What surprised us most was the level of demand from sectors we hadn’t initially prioritised, especially government entities. While we expected and have seen a strong uptake from verticals like ecommerce and retail, the high demand from public sector organisations highlighted just how universal the need is for high-quality, cost-efficient CX solutions.

    ALSO READ: How to Repair Fragmented Touchpoints with Customer Journey Mapping

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