Last week, we were lucky enough to attend Customer Experience in Financial Services London and take part in a great panel discussion on ‘Harnessing AI to deliver the most value’. The panel featured our Regional Head of Customer Success, Philip Hallehn; Marks & Spencer’s Senior Payments & Strategy Lead, Dastan Shukanayev; and moderator Edmund Towers, Head of Regtech & Advanced Analytics at the Financial Conduct Authority; covering everything from artificial intelligence (AI) applications for fraud detection to empowering teams with AI.
Here are our key takeaways from the fascinating discussion:
The most effective applications of AI across the customer experience
AI is most effective when it’s directly benefiting the customer. Whether that is through leveraging data for real-time insights or personalizing customer journeys, the customer has to be the primary consideration. Traditional e-commerce approaches have been linear and limited in capturing all relevant data points. However, by utilizing metadata and virtual agents, companies can create personalized journeys for customers and are able to engage with them intuitively whilst they are on their websites, replicating the human interaction experienced in physical stores. This capability has the potential to create a unique experience for customers.
Additionally, companies should focus on leveraging behavioral data in real time rather than relying solely on in-store interactions. AI works best when customers can feel the positive effects directly, and personalized interactions with virtual agents are vital for achieving this outcome.
Boosting customer satisfaction through conversational AI
Customers want simple and smooth customer service interactions that leave them feeling satisfied and valued. The key focus is on delivering outstanding customer experiences by going beyond simple question answering and addressing the entire topic at hand. It is crucial to prioritize building a world-class virtual agent that is scalable, capable of covering broad topics, and is easy to use without requiring excessive resources. This enables businesses to free up resources for more complex queries and prioritize important conversations. Additionally, integrating virtual agents into back-end systems and building personalized journeys for customers enhances the overall satisfaction of the customer experience.
We need to empower teams, not replace them with AI
Machine Learning (ML) serves as the foundation of AI, making tasks easier and enabling predictive analytics for informed decision-making. Most concerns around AI replacing human workers are misplaced - the real threat lies in human-to-human inefficiencies within organizations, caused by silos and a lack of system interactions. Rather than replacing people, AI exposes and addresses these inefficiencies, helping individuals become more authentic and effective in their roles. This transformative shift may result in changes in job descriptions and titles, but will fundamentally benefit employees as they find new efficiencies and are freed up from mundane tasks. The key is to leverage AI to maximize value within individual roles. Upskilling employees to work collaboratively with AI, and implementing AI trainers and other related profiles, is key to ensure a harmonious partnership between humans and AI.
To discover how Boost.ai uses artificial intelligence to power its own virtual agents, get in touch with our team here.
