Building A CX Strategy That Embraces AI, Automation, AND People!

When I read about customer experience (CX) on LinkedIn or in the business journals that cover customer service and CX, the focus right now is always on the technology that is driving change in the industry. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Machine Learning, Voice Recognition, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), the list goes on. CX is largely focused on digital transformation using all these various technologies today.

But I feel that sometimes we are losing sight of what should be our real focus - the customer. Yes, all these technologies are important. In many cases the customer is demanding that brands use emerging technologies, but it is not the technology itself that creates a customer-centric approach to transformation.

I’m delighted to say that I will be discussing this issue at the CX Tech conference in London on October 12th. I’m looking forward to the panel discussion titled ‘A Customer Centric Approach To Digital Transformation’ to hear the discussion about how to build a modern CX strategy using emerging technologies, but without forgetting the needs of the customer.

I’m certainly not rejecting automation and other recent technologies. In fact, automation and AI should be a part of the customer journey, however the complete customer journey hugely benefits from the empathy, experience, and intuition that only a human can offer. AI and automation help to resolve many questions, but this cannot be a complete answer for a customer service solution because these systems cannot handle every situation.

I believe there are several key questions that executives planning a CX strategy should ask when they are considering how to blend their human customer support team with an automated system using AI:

1.     Can you segment your service requirements so you know the appropriate tools or channels to use in all situations?

2.     How will you develop your human contact centre agents? Can you use technology to support them, so they can do a better job more efficiently rather than considering the only use of technology is to completely automate?

3.     What opportunities would you lose if you reduce human contact?

4.     When would your customers prefer to interact with an automated system?

At the CX Tech event I hope the end result is that we more clearly define when automation is appropriate and when you should consider retaining the human touch in a customer service strategy.

For registration details and the complete event agenda please click here.