More than half of the people in Malaysia are significantly altering their life goals - Report

MORE than half of the people in Malaysia (MY: 68%) are significantly altering their life goals, prioritizing job stability and retirement more than marriage or getting a college degree, and another 36% of the people in Malaysia (MY: 36%) make plans for their lives less than 12 months ahead, or don’t plan at all, finds Accenture’s 17th annual Life Trends report.

This shift in mindset — brought on in part by the rapid advance of technology — is putting society in flux and creating a level of uncertainty and fragility for businesses as people are now deconstructing everything in their lives, as they try to figure out their place in the world.

“We’re heading into a decade of change influenced by shifts in consumer values, the explosive growth of AI, and more," said Azwan Baharuddin, Country Managing Director, Malaysia at Accenture. “Brands in Malaysia should adapt fluidly, capitalize on opportunities, and align with the dynamic choices customers are making to craft seamless experiences that challenge norms.”

These insights helped Accenture Song identify five global macro-cultural trends forecasted to revolutionize how businesses and leaders remain relevant to their customers while also accelerating growth.

1. The Customer is Always Right, Right? For years, the correlation between customer experience and revenue growth inspired organizations to hold the customer at the center of every decision. Now, economic considerations are forcing cuts at enterprises, driving friction between customers and brands across channels — in the form of price increases, reduced quality, an avalanche of subscriptions and poor customer service. Nearly half of customers feel less valued when facing difficulty reaching or talking to unsupportive customer service.

Quality or size reductions (‘shrinkflation’), declines in service (‘skimpflation’), customer service shortcomings and unwelcome subscriptions are adding up to a sense that brands are quietly reversing on their promises. At the center of this trend is a critical perception problem: where companies see actions for survival, some customers see greed.

The Great Interface Shift: With 80% of the people in Malaysia (MY: 80%) being familiar with conversational AI, this is a technology with mass cultural awareness. Generative AI is upgrading people’s experience of the internet from transactional to personal; large language models (LLMs) are being used to stage intelligent, two-way conversations, giving people solutions to “I want to” queries, rather than simply “I want a” requests.

More than half of the people in Malaysia (MY: 51%) would be comfortable using conversational AI like ChatGPT for product recommendations, completing tasks at work (MY: 57%) and wellness and healthcare advice (MY: 43%). This technology will eventually change most of the interfaces we use. Brands will try to use that understanding to shape hyper-relevant products, services and experiences, while smart brands will go beyond, into responsive brand development.

Is Creative ‘Meh-diocrity’ Looming?: The chief aim of creativity used to be inspiring an emotional response through imagination and human connection. Now that algorithms and tech often sit between creator and audience, it’s become about playing the game or risking going undiscovered, which influences the end product — sometimes for the worse. In entertainment, consumers are being fed a constant diet of film and franchise extensions. And broadly, 48% of the people in Malaysia feel app designs are indistinguishable across brands (MY 48%), a sentiment shared by more than 40% of 18-24-year-olds worldwide. A period of cultural stagnation appears to be with us.

This mediocrity challenge isn’t going to solve itself and might even get worse as generative AI becomes a bigger player in creative processes. Savvy businesses will see opportunity here: in a sea of familiarity, originality will always stand out — as will investing in creative talent.

Error 429: Human Request Limit Reached: People’s relationship with technology is at a critical juncture. A third of Malaysian consumers (MY: 33%) say that technology has complicated their lives just as much as it has simplified it. Tech feels like something that happens to them rather than for them, demanding too much and often failing to make a positive impact on well-being.

32% of the people in Malaysia (MY: 32%) say constant notifications control their use of personal tech; 27% (MY: 27%) say it's algorithms, while another 36% (MY: 36%) say it’s the draw of the endless scroll. In response, consumers are tightening the reins on their tech use: 31% of the people in Malaysia (MY: 31%) are removing notifications, 27% (MY: 27%) are putting on screen time limits and 26% (MY: 26%) are removing apps and devices altogether. This tension points to technology draining people’s resources and their desire to put their well-being first.

Organizations must be thoughtful about how their use of technology will fit in to people’s lives and what it will demand of them. Time? New skills? Brands that offer people greater choice in how they use (or don’t use) technology to interact with will become trusted partners, because customers will be able to regain a much-needed sense of agency.  

Decade of Deconstruction: Traditional life paths are being rerouted by new limitations, necessities and opportunities, significantly shifting demographics. People are challenging long-standing ideas, and shaping new ways of thinking, acting and living. It feels like a decade of deconstruction is beginning, and the impact on systems and services will be far-reaching.

For example, people are now living life less than one year at a time — 36% of the people in Malaysia (MY: 36%) make plans for their lives less than 12 months ahead, or don’t plan at all. In the past three years, we’ve also seen a drop in the value placed on traditional milestones including marriage where the numbers in Malaysia decreased slightly from 26% to 25% (MY: from 26% to 25%), graduating from college in Malaysia faced a staggering decrease from 26% to 18% (MY: from 26% to 18%) and moving out of the parental home is seen dipping slightly 14% to 11% in Malaysia (MY: from 14% to 11%).

These new mindsets will trigger different perspectives on products and services. Businesses that fluidly adapt, craft seamless experiences that challenge norms and support people’s unique paths will remain relevant to the evolving consumer.

Neeraj Gulati, Accenture Song's Malaysia lead, emphasized, “The value paradigm is changing at an astronomical pace and this creates space for brands to shift from being products & service providers to inspiration providers that look at customers through the lens of life-centricity. This is a pivotal point to help consumers live a life that is multi-faceted and fulfilling. Brands that craft experiences around this currency of new value system will grow in revenue and profits.”

To read this year’s Accenture Life Trends 2024 report, visit the link here or explore the findings in Accenture’s thought leadership app, Accenture Foresight.

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Research Methodology

The annual bellwether forecast identifies emerging digital trends and actions for businesses to take in 2024, via crowdsourced insight and intelligence from Accenture Song’s global network of designers, creatives, technologists, sociologists and anthropologists. Accenture surveyed 15,227 respondents across 21 countries in August 2023 to validate the trends.