AI for Stronger Customer Experiences and Competitive Advantage
Rebecca Jones is the general manager of Mosaicx
The implementation and growth of artificial intelligence (AI) as a technology for business has evoked different reactions yet creating competitive advantage has not often been discussed.
“Conversational AI presents a transformative opportunity in a customer experience (CX) context,” says Rebecca Jones, general manager of Mosaicx, a company which verifies calls and collects payments with conversational and generative AI.
“The technology opens up new avenues for enhancing user experience (UX) and driving customer engagement while simultaneously automating customer interactions and streamlining operations.”
In short, she says that “Your business can give customers more of what they want without straining resources or driving up headcount.”
AI doesn’t have to be as impersonal and ignorant as some people may assume and in reality, it can offer more multi-tasking than is currently happening and with less human capital.
“Digging into the details, one key benefit of conversational AI tools such as intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) is its ability to provide personalized and instant customer support,” Jones says. “Unlike human agents, IVAs can efficiently serve multiple customers simultaneously. This scalability allows businesses to handle demands seamlessly and maintain consistent service levels without massive workforce investments.”
The technology can help a staff utilize its best cognitive skills — and energy — so it can spend it’s time on more more challenging work.
“Customers can receive immediate assistance that’s available 24/7,” Jones says, adding that “This availability reduces the workload on human support teams, freeing them up to focus on more complex tasks, (while also) reducing employee attrition.”
AI is sufficiently developed to be a sales arm as much as a support system.
“But improving CX (Customer Service) is about more than just enhancing customer support. Businesses can use IVAs (Intelligent Virtual Agents) to help drive customer engagement and retention,” Jones says, explaining that, “IVAs give companies the power to make personalized product recommendations and offer promotions that invite customers into the sales funnel.”
Surprisingly, IVAs have a lengthier job description.
“On the back end, IVAs facilitate data-driven decision-making,” Jones says. “Businesses can gain valuable insights into customer preferences, pain points and behavior patterns by analyzing vast volumes of user interactions.”
This is why she stands on the table, figuratively speaking, and advocates for the technology. “Embracing AI can help companies to differentiate themselves from competitors, drive growth and create a sustainable competitive advantage in the modern business landscape.”
Getting back to her claim that AI can reduce employee attrition, which can be a significant expense on multiple levels, that claim would seem to be an attractive, valuable benefit to get decision-makers attention.
“Employee retention comes with several built-in challenges,” Jones begins, saying that “Failing to meet them can leave your organization in a perpetual state of recruitment and training.”
There is encouraging news.
“Fortunately, conversational AI has emerged as an essential ally,” Jones says, explaining that “Today's labor market has sped up the processes for finding and training new hires. Companies must not only find the ideal candidate but also move quickly from offer to acceptance to onboarding. AI can play an integral role in making new hires count.”
She touches on the “how,” again going back to how many capabilities an Intelligent Virtual Assistant can satisfy.
“Companies can use IVAs to support their recruiting, hiring, training and performance management operations by sifting through applications and identifying top candidates for open roles,” she says. “But it doesn’t stop there. Organizations also use IVAs to personalize the training funnel by enabling managers to tailor training sessions to individual learning preferences.”
Going deeper about the capabilities, Jones touches on its ability to assist with professional development. “IVA platforms facilitate open channels for employees to ask questions, find guidance and receive timely support. By helping support personalized learning paths, IVAs enable employees to hone their skills and grow professionally.”
Employees can get an oft-desired reduction in responsibilities.
“IVAs can ease customer service workloads and streamline operational tasks to help prevent worker burnout and ensure employee retention,” Jones says.
She also points out that management can benefit from seeing more and learning more about employees who are unhappy, saying that “IVAs provide real-time feedback and sentiment analysis that equips leaders to identify signs of disengagement or burnout early on.”
AI helping improve customer service is known yet the decision-makers may want to know the specifics of how this takes place.
“Understanding your customers as individuals is the name of the game,” Jones says. “Developers can train IVAs to comprehend specific words and key phrases commonly used by your customers. This process helps businesses capture customer voice.
“‘Customer voice’ refers to a given customer’s collected needs and experiences with your brand,” Jones says. “Personas, expectations, understandings, past interactions — all those elements are part of the voice of the customer.”
This is invaluable information for IVAs.
“With in-depth text and sentiment analysis skills, IVAs delve into the histories of customer conversations and, in so doing, help to identify areas with room for improvement,” Jones says. “Conversational AI lets brands listen to their customers like never before, refining and heightening their CX strategy.”
This all helps, “employ the power of machine learning to analyze data about a customer's past interactions with your organization,” she says. “From the products they've purchased to the questions they've asked—it’s all in the mix. With this information treasure trove, IVAs can create tailor-made recommendations and responses, delivering a truly personalized experience for each customer.
“Thanks to the versatility of IVAs, you can treat customers with the kind of personalized touch that fosters connections and earns repeat business.”
AI is developing, some companies faster than others, into becoming more believable communicating with humans.
“Conversational AI is revolutionizing the way brands communicate with their customers,” Jones has come to learn. “By taking advantage of sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) algorithms, IVAs can now understand human language patterns more naturally than ever before.
“One key feature that makes conversational AI feel more human-like is its contextual awareness. IVAs can remember previous interactions and conversations, which offers a seamless flow of dialogue. It’s like talking to someone who genuinely listens and remembers what you said.”
She is excited about the relationship-building aspect of the technology.
“Personalization is another powerful aspect of conversational AI,” Jones says. “These systems can tailor responses and recommendations to suit individual preferences by tapping into customer data and history. Gone are the days of generic replies,” she asserts.
“Now, IVAs can interpret the tone of voice and adjust responses accordingly, making customers feel understood,” she says.
IVAs can do the time-consuming, often tedious yet necessary work of engagement and relationship building, “so customers don’t have to repeat themselves,” Jones says.
“This feels like a genuine dialogue rather than a one-way interaction.”
This could be positive news for leaders, their employees and prospects and customers and clients, Jones believes.
“As these technologies evolve, businesses can look forward to more authentic and satisfying customer conversations, fostering stronger connections and enhancing the overall customer experience,” she says.
“The future of communication is here, and it's delightfully human-like.”
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