Five Ways Businesses Are Utilising Cloud Computing Today - Applications and Use cases

Artificial Intelligence or AI is one of the most disrupting technologies of the 2000s. Machines are getting smarter each day. While AI can create tremendous time and cost savings, it promises even bigger, more meaningful returns in another area: customer experience. 

Businesses across the world are discovering new ways to leverage AI and their enhance customer experience and engagement.

In recent research, Gartner indicated that “in a few years from now, 89% of businesses will compete mostly on customer experience”. 

In this post we will discuss some ways AI is already disrupting customer experience across the industries. 

Making self-service more efficient

Everyone knows how excruciating it can be to just stay on hold for several minutes when we call a customer care number for a simple issue. 

One of the most favourable aspects of AI is that it eliminates the need to put the customer “on hold” for the next available agent to help them with a simple problem like billing, booking or any trivial question.

AI allows companies to use chatbots to answer common customer service questions, and let customers resolve their trivial issues in a jiffy.

Back in 2011, Gartner predicted that by 2020, 85% of customer relationships will be managed without human interaction. 

Besides this, most customers don’t mind chatting with customer care chatbot. As long as they answer their question quickly, they leave as a happy customer.

Improving Personalisation for online services

Another important way AI is transforming the customer experience is by providing personalised content. Now a days we rarely have to search for the products that would fit our preferences. It’s so easy now to get a recommendation based on your past history.

For example: Audio & videos streaming services like YouTube, Netflix or Spotify or concerts and performances on Bands in Town. And anyone who has shopped on Amazon has seen products recommendations. 

It is now possible for products and services providers to use technology to make intelligent and accurate recommendations to their customers based on their past purchase or browsing history. 

Round-the-Clock Availability 

AI never needs to sleep. Similar to empowering customers via self-service, AI also offers customers 24/7 support — something most companies would not be able to afford or staff just a couple of decades ago.

What’s more, 24/7 support isn’t just “good CX”— the stakes are high in today’s market. Most customers are not willing to wait until you open your doors to get answers to their issues. AI makes that possible.

Automated day to day assistance

Many households now a days use Alexa to turn on music or dim the lights. But more and more, companies are using Alexa, Google Home and other robotic AI to make their customers’ lives easier.

E-commerce stores have started to link Alexa and Google Home to allow customers to order products using voice commands. People can also purchase movie tickets and pre-order snacks before they even leave the house. These are just a few ways the AI is transforming the customer experience.

It can save significant costs 

Our partner, Ubility AI recently supported two companies in France — DataSolutions & Retail Explorer in optimising their services using AI.

In the past DataSolutions and Retail explorer used to take all information in newspapers and magazines, scan them and identify prices and promotions from major retailers, enter it in their systems and then using the insights generated support their customers on how should they adjust their prices and offerings.

Until now this was a manual process. They used to scan all the pages and have people handling data entry manually loaded them into their system. This used to take on average 2-3 weeks costing EUR 50,000.

Using Ubility's image and text recognition they were able to automate 90% of the data entry tasks, which reduced the time required to do the job from weeks to days translating into EUR 40,000.00 savings per month.

Ubility AI is a leading provider of AI Solutions helping organisations optimise their work processes using technology.

Learn more about UBILITY AI 

Related: Meet the Experts: Khaled Dassouki, CEO, Ubility

As we can see, the entire goal of using AI to improve customer experience is to help your customers feel known and valued. Business should test the processes, re-test, and test again— from the customers’ viewpoint. The only thing worse than not using AI for CX today is using it inefficiently.

If you are a customer experience newbie, the world must seem overwhelming to you.

Learning customer experience from scratch is tough, but following the advice of experts who have successfully done it can really cut down on your learning time. 

There are far too many CX blogs, podcasts, and other resources to follow. You can tap into the expert’s advice without ever leaving your house.

The sheer volume of the available content out there makes finding legitimate resources a challenge in itself.

In this blog post, we’re taking a look at the top 10 customer experience influencers. 

Blake Morgan 

Twitter: @BlakeMichelleM

Blake is the customer experience futurist and one of the most passionate CX advocates.

Her vision of how high-tech solutions impact the future of customer experience is both intriguing and inspiring.

In her book, Blake shares tips on how to boost your customer service strategy and start offering “knock-your-socks-off customer experiences”.

In addition to writing amazing CX related content, Blake is a host of the weekly customer experience video series on YouTube and the podcast on modern customer service. 

Shep Hyken 

Twitter: @Hyken 

Shep is the Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations. He has used his knowledge and experience in customer service and helped businesses create amazing client and employee experiences.

Apart from that, Shep is also a public speaker. Thanks to his high energy and motivation, he is one of the most enjoyable, and inspiring presenters to listen to. Some of his books have appeared as bestsellers on New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and a few other prominent news agencies.

Annette Franz 

Twitter: @annettefranz 

Annette is the CEO and founder of CX Journey.

Her years of experience, particularly in developing reliable customer experience strategies, deservedly puts her on the CX pedestal.

Annette philosophy is that customer experience is a journey that never stops and there is always room for improvements. That’s why she decided to name her blog CX Journey.

With over 25 years of experience, Annette has spent a chunk of her time studying and analysing companies and their employees, and applying her knowledge to the optimisation of their customer experiences. According to Business Insider, Annette is one of the 100 most influential tech women today. 

For your weekly dosage of Annette’s CX related wisdom, check out #CXChat on Twitter.

Nate Brown 

Twitter: @CustomerIsFirst

Nate is the co-founder of CX Accelerator and director of customer service experience at UL EHSS. 

Nate advocates that happy customers is what makes the businesses successful.

He pays great attention to making businesses understand the journey of customers. Nate has been writing about CX disciplines, survey process, customer programs, employee engagement, journey mapping and more. You can follow his expert advice on his blog, CX Accelerator.

Jeanne Bliss 

Twitter: @JeanneBliss

Jeanne is the founder of Customer Bliss and co-founder of Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA). 

Recognised as one of the foremost experts in CX, Jeanne advises enterprises on how to implement the best customer experience strategy.

Jeanne is also a bestselling author, and has published I Love You More Than My Dog and, more recently, Would You Do That to Your Mother? Both of these books provide solid tips on how to earn the admiration and respect of your customers. 

Colin Shaw

Twitter: @ColinShaw_CX

Colin is CEO of Beyond Philosophy, a CX consultancy and training organisation.

Colin is recognised as a thought leader in customer experience. LinkedIn also named him one of the world's ‘Top 150 Business Influencers’. Brand Quarterly voted Colin one of the 'Top 50 Marketing Thought Leaders Over 50' for the last two years in a row.

Colin is also the co-host of a highly successful podcast, The Intuitive Customer, an accomplished keynote conference speaker and renowned best-selling author. 

Adam Toporek

Twitter: @adamtoporek

Adam Toporek is the founder of CTS Service Solutions. He is an internationally recognised customer service expert, keynote speaker, and renowned corporate advisor who helps organisations achieve customer service.

As the author of Be Your Customer's Hero, the founder of the popular Customers That Stick blog and the co-host of the Crack the Customer Code podcast, Adam regularly shares his customer experience and customer service insights with a global audience.

Barry Dalton, GSK

Twitter: @bsdalton

Barry is a customer experience strategy and technology leader with achievements in developing and implementing strategy across marketing, sales and service, with particular industry focus on consumer products, pharmaceuticals, retail and technology.

Bob Thompson, CustomerThink

Twitter: @Bob_Thompson

Bob Thompson has two decades of experience in customer-centric, sales, consulting and executive positions and another 15 years in customer management consulting, research and online community development.

He uses a collaborative platform to help business leaders understand how to create mutually beneficial customer relationships.

In his book, Hooked on Customers Bob reveals the five habits of leading customer-centric organisations. His other expertise include customer-centric business research, white papers and keynote speaking.

Peter Lavers

Twitter: @PeterLavers

Peter is a futurist for IBM. After spending nearly two decades in senior roles at Rolls-Royce and Bentley, Lavers has learned a great deal about CX. Today he is the director at WCL Customer Management, which helps companies find, engage, and satisfy customers.

His Twitter feed focuses on B2B and tech with advice on topics such as how blockchain tech is relevant to data science. He also writes for the IBM's Think Marketing blog on topics such as 3 behavioural mind-sets for accurate content personalisation.

Don't see you favourite CX Influencer here? Go ahead and nominate them.

Do you know a CX influencer who should be included in our next top picks? Message us on Twitter @ExceedersTeam to suggest your favourite influencer today!

In the 21st century consumers have access to vast amounts of data. They are more powerful than ever because they have options. No longer are they tied to one provider of a specific product or service. If they don't like a certain organization they are a click away from finding an alternative. As such providing a great customer experience is crucial for any organization to attract new customers and retain existing ones. Below is a list of four categories any organization should invest in to improve their customer's experience:

Use Analytics to understand your ideal customer persona

Because of online channels, the balance of power between businesses and buyers has shifted significantly. Customers are more empowered and self-sufficient, and to get them to buy your products or services you need to fully understand who they are, what they like and dislike. 

The more you know about your potential customers, the more successfully you will be able to develop meaningful relationships with them. Gathering as much customer data as possible will allow you to build a detailed profile of your customer’s needs, preferences and key characteristics.

The amount of data you can generate these days is huge and Investing in a proper analytics platform such as Qlik or PowerBI should help you in better building your customer's persona.

Personalize your communication

Email is the single most powerful channel you can use to communicate with and engage customers. It’s a direct and personal channel that allows you to foster a sense of customer loyalty and nurture relationships so much more quickly and easily than other digital channels. But as we mentioned before, customers in the 21st century are empowered and they know when someone is trying to sell to them or promote a product and the last thing they will entertain is being treated en mass.

Using a marketing automation platform like Exceeders |  vbout will allow you to segment your customers into different groups based on the data you identified using your analytics and then send them individual and personalized emails, promotions and offers that resonate with their wants/needs and will rank high in converting them to paying customers. 

Be Social

People are social in nature, with nearly two thirds of customers in the region active on at least one social media channel. Which is an excellent free resource you can tap into to engage with these customers, understand what they like about your company, what they dislike, share your new products, services and promotions with them and potentially turn them into ambassadors that will promote your organization to their friends and family. Using tools like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp,  Exceeders | vbout, etc...  will help you manage your social media presence at all times. 

Increase customer retention

Providing a great experience to your customers is one way organizations can count on to increase their revenue. You do this by providing a superb experience to their existing and potential customers. What you don't want to happen is having a customer who bought your product/service leave you and spread negative comments about you because your support team didn't help them in the right way as an example. Examples in solutions such as Dynamics CRM to manage customer service problems and deploying a virtual Agent to support your customers will help you avoid such scenarios. 

Talk to customers on their Terms

Not all people are the same. Some like to talk on the phone, some prefer email, others prefer live chat or social. You can't force customers to connect with you on your terms. Consider investing in various solutions such as a Virtual Agent for Livechat,  Exceeders | vbout for email & social communication, create self service portals that customers can use to solve their problems themselves and a convenient IVR solution from one of the top telephony providers allowing you to engage with your customers and solve their issues using the tools they feel comfortable with. 

Final Words

The most important asset for any organization that is selling it's products or services is their customers. As such the relationship between them and their customers shouldn't be under estimated and any investments the organization can make should be made there. The formula is very simple, Happy customers spend money and the more money they spend the more revenue you will generate.