outputs originate and are incubated ahead of dispensing . Customer experience , marketing , and ICT need to work together towards successful deployment .
Outfits where digital customer interactions including social media communication and web chat facilities , are led by techies , who neither have the dispensation nor technical competence to deal directly with varied customer situations , have been doomed to fail from the start .
Brands need to be very careful about this pitfall and see how best to integrate efforts to combine the passion exuded by the technical team towards implementation of technological innovations , and the natural drive by the marketing and customer experience team towards providing solutions for customers .
The checks and balances provided by this two pronged approach will serve to ensure that all objectives are met , and that the customer remains at the centre of this technologically driven service . AI is great and will deliver amazing results . It needs to be powered though by a people centered system that then enables technology to deliver .
Technological advances in business are rapidly taking over and customer experience excellence is not being left behind . The added incentive of time saving efficiency and longer term cost cutting , underscore the need to implement AI for business .
Customer experience excellence being the driver of corporate success needs every help it can get to ensure smoother interactions ; and where the erratic and emotive nature of customer behavior can be better predicted and responded to , then the outcome can only be successful .
AI ultimately relies on human input and the need to really understand the customer from inside out remains the backbone of customer experience excellence . It is time for businesses to embrace change and as Nalina Athyantha of Salesforce so aptly puts it “ If AI has been a novelty in recent times , it looks set to become the new electricity – something all businesses depend on and few can do without .”
Carolyne Gathuru is the founder and director of strategy at LifeSkills Consulting . She has several years of experience in customer experience strategy development and training . You can commune with her on this or related issues via mail at : CGathuru @ life-skills . co . ke .