Digitization is causing uncertainty in many places. Some see AI as the redeemer of humanity, others are afraid of the threatening superiority of the machines. Both perspectives are unsuitable for productively approaching the use of AI in a business context.
Anyone who wants to master digitization is well advised to constructively link human and machine intelligence. Because combined they are more successful than on their own: The future belongs to the alliance of man and machine. To position oneself in a future-oriented way, an important question must be answered first: What are the reasons that make Artificial Intelligence so much important for businesses?
Let’s have a look at eight reasons:
1. AI is there for the customer – always!
There is no technology more CX-friendly than the chatbot. A chatbot is there for your customers 24 hours a day and solves any problem, no matter when it occurs. But that’s not all: By analyzing the relevant customer interaction, you learn how to solve larger problems and can improve the customer experience for future customers. With chatbots, limited call center service times, queuing music, and automatic announcements such as “Your concern is important to us” are a thing of the past.
2. AI ensures more differentiated human interaction at important touchpoints
The entire company should strive for a good customer experience. But if you are busy answering the same questions and solving the same problems every day, you cannot concentrate on the activities that should have a human component. If you leave repetitive tasks to artificial intelligence, you can make human interactions more detailed, more targeted, and more differentiated.
3. AI understands what your customers think, feel, and want
With the help of artificial intelligence, it is now possible for your CX teams to filter out important statements from millions of words that current or potential customers have written. Whether surveys, reviews, social media posts, or call center protocols – with Natural Language Processing you can analyze customer messages written in free text and filter out topics too. This way, you can research what customers think of your products, prices, features, or your brand in general. Automated responses can even be issued for certain scenarios, for example when replying to negative posts on social media. That way, you’ll learn more about the problem and be able to fix it.
4. AI brings the customer more into focus
In the past, ‘time’ has always been the limiting factor when it comes to listening to the customer and responding to their feedback. But now there are no more excuses: thanks to the speed with which data is collected and processed via artificial intelligence, companies can no longer ignore the needs of their customers. The cost-benefit ratio has changed; In a market where everything revolves around experience, nobody can afford to neglect the customer experience. With artificial intelligence, it is cheaper and faster than ever to provide the customer with the best possible experience.
5. AI uses data for CX improvements
The enormous technical possibilities for collecting customer data have had relatively little effect in the area of customer experience. But with AI we can use what we know about our customers. And the speed with which companies translate customer data into concrete measures will develop into an even more important differentiating factor in the coming years: According to estimates, the global volume of data will reach 175 zettabytes by 2025 (ten times the data generated in 2016).(1)
6. AI enables optimal personalization
Artificial intelligence does a lot more than just collecting and implementing feedback. It helps you go one step further and use historical and behavioral data to provide a unique experience for each and every customer. Regardless of whether it is about new offers, product recommendations, or a homepage tailored to user interests: AI means that we no longer have to ask customers what they want – we can find out for ourselves and do the tedious work for them. And at the same time increase brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
7. AI avoids problems before they occur
With the help of predictive modeling, we can identify problems in advance. This is a kind of invisible customer experience measure – a method to lead customers away from problems that we can foresee, but they cannot.
An example of this would be an online shop that uses artificial intelligence to record how regularly a customer buys a product and then notifies him when he may need it again or who asks him during the payment process whether he would like to put the item in his shopping cart.
With such minor measures, companies can prevent their customers from churning, increase their satisfaction and increase their loyalty.
8. AI makes every single interaction more intelligent
With AI, customer interactions and customer conversations don’t have to be isolated from one another. They can be embedded in a diverse data context and linked to millions of other interactions. In the call center, for example, the customer does not have to explain what is going on every time: Whether via chat, e-mail, or voice: With the help of modern APIs, companies can merge, evaluate and respond to any communication channel.
To Conclude
From autonomous driving to medical diagnosis, from support with customer inquiries to quality control in production: The possible uses of artificial intelligence can be found in all industries. The fact that the use of AI is increasingly seen as a must and at the same time as an opportunity in the economy is a good sign.
