Why GCC businesses are treating WhatsApp as a core channel
The regional context (messaging habits, language, and customer expectations) behind the shift toward WhatsApp as a primary business channel.
Across the GCC, WhatsApp is often the default way people communicate, with friends, family, and increasingly, with businesses. Customers who would hesitate to call a business, or who might not check email regularly, will often message on WhatsApp without a second thought.
That familiarity changes expectations. Customers expect a reasonably fast response, and expect to be able to ask a follow-up question in the same thread rather than starting over through a different channel. Businesses that treat WhatsApp as an afterthought (a number listed on a website but rarely checked) are increasingly out of step with how their customers actually want to reach them.
Treating WhatsApp as a core channel means giving it the same operational structure as phone or email: a team responsible for it, a system for tracking conversations, and a plan for what should be automated versus handled by a person.