How Major Companies are Embracing AI for CX Purposes

AI is the topic on everyone’s minds across every industry in today’s world. With everyone from “artists” to copywriters leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, it was only a matter of time before companies started leveraging AI for CX purposes. 

With the technology more accessible than ever, many major companies have started using generative AI for customer experience enhancements, with systems offering data insights, automation, and personalization aids. Some technology has even been able to accurately mimic human conversations, meaning CX AI is also changing the shape of call and contact centers across the world. 

We put together this blog to expand on how companies big and small are leveraging AI for CX, digging into the tools defining the era, the pros and cons of the technology, and some predictions for the direction that the industry might be going. 

 

Understanding the Role of AI in CX

Customer expectations are at an all-time high and personalization has become a priority in every sector from retail to healthcare, meaning it’s become more important than ever to offer a stellar customer experience. 

Artificial intelligence, with machine learning, natural language processing, and data analytics, can be leveraged as an effective aid for providing an excellent experience. By learning from results, automating processes, recognizing patterns and making predictions, AI can streamline interactions. 

Features of AI for CX

Automation: When using artificial intelligence for customer experience, automation goes a long way. There are some interactions, such as emails or ringless voicemails, that can be sped up significantly by automation – an area in which AI excels. 

Data Analytics: Personalization can only be achieved through the analysis of data, which can be sped up and completed in real-time by AI systems. By getting fast-paced analytics based on customer data, agents can offer tailored solutions and interactions with ease. 

Scaling: One of the beautiful things about AI is that it has the power to use what it learns in the scaling of an operation. This allows businesses to offer personalized experiences to their customer bases as they grow, without having to sacrifice any quality. 

Examples of AI Tools for CX

Chatbots & Conversational AI: AI-powered chatbots and now even AI phone agents can offer customer support in real-time at a moment’s notice. Whether guiding a customer through a purchase or helping to troubleshoot a problem, these round-the-clock digital agents are changing how customer interactions are being approached. 

Predictive Analytics: AI can generate algorithms that analyze historical customer data regarding behavior and preferences, allowing businesses to get out in front of their needs. This makes personalized service offerings such as targeted promotions or recommendations easier. 

Sentiment Analysis: Rather than having to sift through piles of customer feedback manually, AI can consolidate various sources to gauge overarching sentiment and trends. This helps companies to get a better grasp of customer satisfaction, while also illuminating any necessary areas of improvement. 

It’s clear with the benefits of automation, analytics, and scaling that AI tools can offer, companies can enhance their customer experience offering, allowing for a more consistent connection with their audiences. 

 

AI-Powered CX Initiatives by Major Companies

With the positive impact of utilizing AI for CX clear, it’s worth looking to some of the world’s biggest companies and industries to see how they’re leveraging it specifically. Whether operating in the field of healthcare, finance, or retail, offering a memorable, high-quality customer experience is essential for fostering loyalty. 

Healthcare

While there aren’t any specific examples of particularly notable providers, the healthcare industry is altering the customer, or more accurately patient experience significantly. 

Diagnosis and Treatment Planning: Systems like Google’s DeepMind Health use cognitive technology to analyze health data with algorithms, allowing for smoother diagnoses, addressing healthcare challenges, and even supporting treatment planning. Similarly, predictive analytics tools can be used to help with decision-making and workflow prioritizing. 

AI in Drug Development: AI can be leveraged for drug discovery and development, which could mean getting life-changing medications into the hands of patients much more quickly. 

AI in Medical Training: AI simulations allow trainees and students to experience naturalistic situations with no consequence. The analytics of artificial intelligence also allow for accurate, instant feedback, ultimately resulting in more well-trained operatives, whether in the contact center or the hospitals themselves. 

Retail

Predicting Customer Preferences: Household retailers like Alibaba and Amazon use AI predictive analytics to get in front of customer preferences, showing them the kinds of things they might want to buy.

Digital Voice Assistants: Products like Amazon Alexa or Siri from Apple are prime examples of accessible AI being provided to customers, allowing them to communicate with technology, simply by using their voices. 

Human-Like Conversational (Debating AI): The team at IBM has developed an advanced AI capable of debating like a human, which is a step forward for conversational bots that could be utilized for more supportive purposes. 

Banking

Conversational AI: Many banks like Capital One and Ally Financial, use conversational AI platforms to offer customer support. Between chatbots and voice simulations, financial institutions are leading the charge in this regard. 

Automated Alerts: Various firms use AI to automate necessary alerts, such as overdraft notifications, fraud alerts, and account balance summaries, allowing customers to stay up to date with their finances. 

Transaction Processing: Similarly, some of the conversational AI bots used by major banks are capable of processing transactions such as transfers or payments, saving customers time and allowing service agents to focus on more pressing matters. 

As it’s clear to see there are plenty of initiatives that major brands and companies have taken on to enhance the customer experience. Whether through making personalization easier, offering conversational artificial intelligence for customer service/support, or streamlining transactions, household name businesses are making the most of this fast-growing technological sector.  

 

Benefits and Challenges of AI in CX

While it can be easy to get carried away by the excitement of a hot new tool like AI for CX, it’s important to properly understand that it has both intrinsic benefits and challenges. By properly evaluating each, business owners, contact center managers, and solo entrepreneurs can better work out how to fit it into their strategy. 

Benefits of AI for CX

Enhanced Personalization: As we’ve touched on, personalization is a massively important element of running a successful business in today’s landscape. With data analysis and predictive analytics, businesses can offer tailor-made experiences with ease. 

Efficiency & Speed: By automating more time-consuming, less mentally engaging tasks, companies can speed up processes significantly. This allows for more time to be spent on the more important tasks, along with aiding businesses to scale up their operations. 

Customer Satisfaction: In general, the additional support provided by AI, enhances the customer experience and satisfaction levels, helping to forge a more loyal audience, likely to recommend a business to others. 

Challenges of AI for CX

Necessary Monitoring: Despite the powers of machine learning and NLP, AI is still far from a perfect science. This means, even with its capacity to speed up processes and make life easier, it still requires consistent monitoring to ensure no mistakes go slip by. 

Potential Biases: AI algorithms are often programmed to take history and culture into account, meaning they can occasionally develop biases, even sometimes giving lesser responses to be agreeable.

Ethical Considerations

Beyond the basis operational challenges of AI, the technology comes with a plethora of ethical considerations that every user needs to consider.

• Privacy and Surveillance: AI collects and analyzes personal data, raising concerns about surveillance, data breaches, and the erosion of privacy rights.


• Transparency and Accountability: Many AI algorithms lack transparency, which can hinder accountability and undermine trust in AI systems.


• Autonomy and Control: As AI becomes more autonomous, human accountability can be lost, concerning in areas like healthcare, transportation, and warfare.


• Job Displacement: Automation has the potential to disrupt labor markets, leading to massive job displacement.


• Security and Safety: AI systems may be vulnerable to cyberattacks, manipulation, or misuse, posing risks to individuals, organizations, and critical infrastructure.


• Environmental Impact: The energy consumption associated with running AI models, as well as AI hardware, contributes to environmental concerns.

So as you can see, despite all the benefits offered by the use of AI, it’s not just some miracle technology that can be used for customer experience enhancement willy-nilly. If planning to integrate AI into a business plan, it’s vital to properly evaluate how you feel about the cost-benefit analysis, along with your appetite for dealing with the moral implications. 

 

Conclusion

It’s clear to see that major companies are using AI in customer experience provision, which shows smaller businesses that it’s not something that they can afford to disregard. It offers the capacity to streamline operations, occupy the space of customer support representatives, and give companies a better idea of what their customers are looking for. 

As long as you properly understand how to make the most of AI while keeping an eye out for its weaknesses, it can be leveraged to make a significant difference to your customer experience offering. 

If you’re eager to find out more about how to use AI for CX, visit this year’s Call and Contact Center Expo! This event will be packed with showcasing businesses, dedicated to optimizing the customer-facing side of companies, with everything from conversational AI voice bots to predictive data analytics to help contact center professionals offer the best possible service. 

Register for your tickets today for your chance to source new technology, learn from industry experts, and meet thousands of like-minded professionals.