Whilst the world of Customer Experience (CX) has gone through exponential transformation due to technological advancements, the changes CX AI will bring to overall customer satisfaction will be nothing short of game changing for organizations.
The days of consumers having to repeat themselves and share the same information again and again will be behind us. Instead, instantaneous information, smart self-service and prepared agents will be there to quickly and effortlessly resolve requests.
And siloes, the scourge of business organizations, will be broken down, creating an experience continuum for the consumer – wherever they land, whatever team they speak to and whatever their inquiry, their needs will be met.
The good news is that CX AI adoption is growing rapidly and businesses are investing in technological advances to improve efficiencies and customer satisfaction. Automated digitized transactions will likely rise as more organizations consider this booming technology a must-have, meaning consumers will benefit sooner than expected.
President of the CX Division at NICE.
A new definition of AI assistance
But what does this mean for the consumer? Imagine a highly personalized single point of contact for all inquiries, serving as an ‘AI Butler’ capable of dealing with multiple requests across not only different platforms, but also different businesses with whom they need to communicate.
This seamless experience will break down the friction of disjointed interactions, and allow customers to schedule a car appointment, swap out their latest clothes purchase for a different size and inquire about an insurance issue during one continuous, interconnected interaction.
With the demand for frictionless experiences increasing, this is the next level of customer experience and one of which both contact center workers and AI will be a vital part.
Smooth sailing across all interactions
The concept of the AI Butler stems from the ‘Experience Continuum’, where consumer interactions are fluid across multiple channels – for example, an online bot engagement could switch to a voice call, and the agent wouldn’t lose track of the consumer’s previous conversation. In this framework, contact center staff and AI work in harmony.
The current state of play
Although every interaction is unique – driven by different intents, relationships and expectations – they are also intrinsically connected when we understand the consumer. Currently, organizations are left with the responsibility of decoding each one – creating inefficiencies and economic costs in time and effort.
The consumer defines every interaction, and it’s the business’s job to determine what’s needed behind the scenes at each stage depending on whether or not the communication is synchronous (the conversation is live and both parties are present) or asynchronous (a consumer can send an email or chat message when the agent is offline, and wait for a response once they’re back online).
Customer service platforms need to be designed to handle complex communication, supporting businesses to turn a mediocre, or worse, bad experience into a great one. And in the future, this platform will evolve into a service specifically and uniquely for the consumer – a hyper personalised experience.
Making contact center roles more important than ever
The Experience Continuum and AI Butler eliminate the need to navigate fragmented systems, making it a simpler, more seamless experience for all involved. That means better experiences for contact center workers too.
An AI-powered unified cloud platform simplifies agents’ increasingly complex work, as well as supports and trains them to free up time and foster deeper connections with consumers. And because AI best handles low complexity, high-frequency tasks, it frees up employees’ time to take on more intricate cases.
For agents that can mean more job satisfaction, happier end customers and an overall increase in work-life balance. AI will provide more freedom not only in how they work but also where and when they work.
According to Omdia, 45% of agents work hybrid, with an even higher percentage (78%) reporting that they require flexible scheduling – having the choice of how one works is key. Having access to a platform that allows agents to work whenever they want, wherever they are gives employees autonomy, increases job satisfaction, and ultimately, leads to a happier business that is economically more efficient.
Multiple benefits across multiple channels... and multiple businesses
AI is transforming the world, and customer service is at the forefront of its evolution. The benefits of its use in customer experience are numerous: for consumers, it’s enhancing their journey by handling multiple requests across different platforms and businesses all at once.
For agents, the technology is empowering them by allowing them to take on human-centric roles and work symbiotically with AI – whether it’s being given the tasks best suited for people to handle, or accurately scheduling and forecasting for an optimal customer service experience.
And when it comes to businesses, the advantage is clear: managing all interactions in one place relieves them of the burden of system integration, accelerates innovation and fuels more powerful AI capabilities that are impossible in siloes, leading to greater productivity and profitability.
AI-focused platforms offer a seamless, omnichannel experience, and, one day, will power a one-stop-shop for consumers not only across multiple channels but multiple businesses. It’s also creating an enhanced workforce upskilled by the technology to excel in specialised roles. The future of CX is here. The question is: is your business ready and equipped to embrace it?
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