Revolutionizing Customer Journeys: Creating a Unified Customer Experience through AI | Blog

July 31, 2024

A top-notch customer experience (CX) can transform skeptical shoppers into loyal brand advocates. However, achieving this level of service can be challenging. With an ever-expanding stream of customer interaction channels available, AI can help enterprises manage these diverse touchpoints more consistently and coherently.

Modern customers, including GenZ and millennials, expect seamless experiences, whether voice, chat, or social media. However, many enterprises manage these channels separately, leading to disjointed customer experiences, fragmented data, and service inefficiencies.

For example, let’s say John adds a laptop to his cart on a retailer’s website but decides to buy it later. When he visits the store the next day, the sales associate has no information about his online cart. Frustrated, John calls customer service, but they also can’t access his cart details. Each channel – online, in-store, and phone – operates in silos, causing John frustration and ultimately leading him to abandon the purchase.

This fragmentation leads to delays and diminishes the customer’s trust and satisfaction. Additionally, valuable data gathered from these interactions remains isolated within each channel, limiting the ability to gain insights into customer needs and preferences. Such a fragmented approach can negatively impact CX, as seen below.

Source: Based on an Everest Group survey of over 600 consumers in Q3 2023

AI has emerged as a transformative force in integrating various customer interaction channels, breaking down organizational silos, and addressing the issues consumers are facing on both spoken and written channels. But how can AI in CX be the answer to solving customer issues?

The role of AI in bridging interaction channels and breaking down silos

AI revolutionizing data aggregation and analysis

Robust data integration and management practices are crucial for digital technologies to address the challenges of heterogeneity, volume, and velocity in customer data. AI in CX can revolutionize data aggregation, integration, and management in several ways. Automated data collection and aggregation through schema mapping, data normalization, deduplication, and automated Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) tools ensure consistency across data sources. AI also modernizes data quality processes, enabling large-scale, accurate data annotation and labeling.

Further, generative AI (gen AI) creates bias-free, cost-effective synthetic data, enhancing AI adoption in sectors like retail, manufacturing, and autonomous vehicles. Traditional AI models also enhance data security and privacy by detecting threats in real time and automating data cleansing to improve reliability. AI-powered techniques revolutionize data analysis with descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, helping organizations interpret customer data and predict customer experiences.

However, challenges such as bias in AI models, the interpretability of black-box algorithms, and the need for robust data privacy safeguards must be addressed to fully leverage AI’s potential.

Reconciling customer lifecycle touchpoints through AI

Extending these traditional and gen AI tools to enhance the integration of data across customer lifecycle journey touchpoints – encompassing sales, support, and marketing – builds a comprehensive understanding of customers.

Traditional AI and ML algorithms unify disparate databases, integrating them into a central system, which allows seamless access to data from various departments. This provides customer service representatives with a 360-degree view of each customer. It enables organizations to monitor every interaction with their brand, integrating key information such as contact details, survey responses, purchase histories, and more.

On the other hand, gen AI leverages natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning models to personalize customer interactions. By analyzing vast amounts of data from various channels, such as social media, emails, and chat logs, gen AI creates detailed customer profiles. By integrating AI with customer relationship management (CRM) systems and customer data platforms (CDPs), organizations can deliver highly personalized and contextually relevant responses. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also ensures a consistent and unified experience across all touchpoints.

AI-driven predictive analytics models analyze historical data to identify patterns and predict future customer behaviors. For instance, machine learning algorithms can detect early signs of customer dissatisfaction, allowing businesses to address them proactively. AI in CX can monitor network performance and automatically notify customers about outages, providing estimated resolution times and minimizing customer frustration.

Furthermore, AI-powered marketing platforms utilize automated data mining, real-time data processing, and advanced segmentation algorithms to target campaigns effectively. By analyzing past interactions, browsing history, and behavioral data, AI creates precise customer personas and segments. This enables businesses to deliver personalized marketing messages and offers at the optimal time.

Delivering personalized experiences at every stage

AI in CX not only streamlines data flow but also enables the delivery of personalized experiences at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Personalization is crucial. A 360-degree view of customers, enabled by AI, offers several benefits, including:

What does this mean to the customers?

Enhanced convenience: Customers can switch between channels (website, app, in-store) without repeating information, streamlining tasks like browsing, purchasing, and customer service interactions
Consistent information: Uniform responses and information across all channels reduce confusion and frustration, while consistent branding and messaging enhance trust and reliability
Personalization: Integrated customer data across channels allows for personalized recommendations and offers, with previous interactions and purchase history informing tailored customer support
Efficient issue resolution: Intelligent routing directs customers to the most appropriate support channels or agents, and real-time data access enables quick and effective problem-solving
Proactive engagement: AI-driven notifications and reminders help customers complete their journeys smoothly, while follow-up communications, like feedback requests and product suggestions, improve engagement
Customer satisfaction: Reduced friction and streamlined processes enhance the overall customer experience, fostering loyalty and encouraging repeat business

Embracing AI in CXM is essential for businesses aiming to maintain a competitive edge. The ability to unify customer interactions across channels and deliver personalized experiences will be a differentiating factor.

By breaking down silos and integrating customer interaction channels, businesses can revolutionize their customer journeys and achieve long-term success.

AI is not just a tool but a strategic imperative for modern CXM. The future of customer experience is unified, personalized, and powered by AI—let’s embrace it.

If you have questions or would like to further discuss gen AI’s evolution, please reach out to Sharang Sharma or Joshua Victor.

Watch our webinar, Elevating CX: Trends and Insights for a Unified CX Tech Strategy, to discover how leveraging unified platforms and innovative technologies can help businesses scale, increase agility, and create seamless, personalized customer journeys.

How to Prepare your Customer Experience (CX) Support for CrowdStrike-like Outages | Blog

July 23, 2024

When unexpected disaster hits, how should enterprises handle the impact on customer experience? Read on for expert suggestions on best practice for CX crisis mitigation, or get in touch if you’d like to speak with our analysts on this topic.

It was a business-as-usual day on July 18^th, until several users started seeing the “blue screen of death” issue on their systems. Soon, it became clear that the problem was more widespread than initially thought. Airline, hospital, banking operation, auto company systems and more were crippled across the globe.

While it was soon identified that the issue was caused by an update pushed by CrowdStrike that took down worldwide Microsoft systems, there was no ready fix to undo the damage immediately. This resulted in many cancelled flights, the 911 emergency line going down across several US states, and major stock exchanges suffering outages across the globe. While the technical issue has now been resolved, it might take several days in some situations to go back to normal.

As customers bore the brunt of the havoc, there are lessons for enterprises on how they can best manage customer experience (CX) in times of such crisis. It’s highly unlikely that this is going to be the last outage impacting the globe. Enterprises are increasingly coming under threat from such disruptions, often driven by nefarious elements.

Some measures that enterprises can consider for minimizing the inconvenience for customers during such outcomes include:

Proactive communication – in real-time and with transparency

Given the potentially massive scale of disruption, it becomes crucial for enterprises to set up a communication channel with their customers and proactively inform them of issues undergoing resolution. This can be done through use of technology where information can be pushed out across multiple channels, such as text, messaging, and emails. Informing customers of the issue as early as possible allows them to plan more effectively.

It is also vital to be transparent. Often, it is not clear when the issue will be resolved, but communicating what has happened and what is being done to fix it can help alleviate customer concerns.

For example, during the 2021 Facebook outage, the company used Twitter to keep users informed about the issue and posted updates on restoration efforts, ensuring continuous communication despite their primary platform being down.

Managing volume surge – support team readiness

Any major disruption is going to create a significant surge in the volume of enquiries coming in. Equipping support teams with the right information and setting up self-serve channels can help manage some of that influx. Using agent assist solutions can help them be more readily equipped to provide real-time updates.

Business continuity plan (BCP) measures – redundancy, flexibility, and crisis management

Having BCP measures in place can be crucial, as outages such as these can often result in entire teams in a particular region being cut off. Having redundancies built into the system through use of cloud-based flexible solutions, as well as using edge computing to ensure reduced loads on central servers, can help reduce any potential technology challenges.

Similarly, having diversified teams across regions, if possible, as well as providing crisis management training to agents, can help them to better manage customer complaints during a crisis. Additionally, having global and regional crisis management teams that can take independent actions in dire situations can often result in saving precious time when deploying countermeasures.

For instance, after the 2018 Marriott data breach, the company implemented extensive crisis management training for their customer support teams to better handle the increased volume of calls and concerns from affected customers.

Vendor management – disaster recovery plans and effective communication channels

Ensuring service partners have disaster recovery plans can be differentiator between good CX and chaos. Additionally, it is important to have clear communication channels with vendors for rapid and effective response to outages.

Planning – risk assessment

Conducting regular risk assessments to identify potential outage scenarios and their impact on customer experience is crucial for effectively managing difficult situations.

Prevention – regulatory compliance

There is a good reason that the proverb “Prevention is better than cure” exists, and it applies to this scenario as well. While it might not be possible to plan for every outage, by ensuring compliance with regulations, enterprises can protect themselves and be in compliance with local laws. For example, legislation such as the recent Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in the European Union has been designed to comprehensively address information and communication technology (ICT) risk management in the financial services sector.

Continuous improvement – post incident evaluation

It is possible that enterprises may not get all the things right despite preparations. It becomes important to evaluate performance after such incidents and learn from failures. Collecting feedback from customers and understanding where the biggest challenges were can help enterprises prepare more effectively in the future.

While enterprises can’t control every aspect of an outage and its fallout, they can plan for unexpected outcomes. Ensuring that customers feel supported and informed throughout the disruption can often be the differentiator between good and bad experiences. It is important to plan for disruptions holistically and leverage all readily available measures to minimize inconvenience for the customers in such times.

For questions about the CX crisis best practices, contact [email protected]. For more on customer experience management, read our State of the Market report, Strategic Keys: Unlocking the Potential of Customer Experience Management.

Is Japan on the Cusp of CX Outsourcing Disruption? | Blog

July 23, 2024

Japan is on the verge of a significant transformation in the customer experience (CX) outsourcing industry. This blog explores how generative AI and other cutting-edge technologies are revolutionizing Japan’s CX market, creating unique opportunities and challenges in a country where tradition and innovation coexist harmoniously. Reach out to us to discuss this topic further.

The CX outsourcing industry is undergoing significant disruption due to generative AI (gen AI) and other advanced technologies. Gen AI is transforming contact center operations by automating interactions, enhancing agent performance, and improving operational efficiency. Meanwhile, other technologies, such as accent neutralization and AI translation, are eliminating language barriers, improving service quality, and boosting workforce productivity. As enterprises look at outsourcing to meet some of the changing dynamics in the market, vendor management strategies are being re-evaluated, with a focus on providers with robust technology capabilities. These trends collectively indicate that the global CX industry is on course to get disrupted.

This blog illuminates how Japan – the Land of Cherry Blossoms – is also on the cusp of CX disruption. In this vibrant country where tradition meets innovation, the CX market presents unique opportunities and challenges, much like navigating the bustling streets of Tokyo.

Before we deep dive, the following image sets the stage some of the unique attributes of Japan’s business landscape.

Distinctive qualities of Japan

Although Japan is known for its innovation, historically, it has been cautious in adopting cutting-edge technologies in the CX space. Factors such as cultural conservatism, hierarchical structures, and a preference for traditional methods of working have contributed to this lag. However, with the advent of gen AI, this scenario is poised to change.

How is the Japanese CX market changing?

The Japanese concept of Monozukuri (ものづくり) which encompasses meticulous attention to detail, dedication, and pride in creating high-quality products in-house, makes CX outsourcing less appealing in the world’s third-largest economy. However, AI has found a way to make outsourcing attractive even to the most discerning clients. It further presents an opportunity for Japanese enterprises to save on increasing operational costs onshore, develop capabilities to serve customers through non-voice channels, and leverage technologies such as automation and analytics to deliver superior quality CX.

Tasked with adapting to this evolving market, the country’s outsourced CXM market has witnessed a significant evolution in recent years.

A land of growing opportunities for outsourcing amid some long-standing risks

With a market size of US$4-5 billion and a market share of 26% in the Asia Pacific (APAC) outsourced CXM market, Japan commands attention as a prominent region in the outsourced CXM services industry.

The outsourcing market in Japan stands out due to its traditional emphasis on quality over cost, process control, and unique cultural challenges, favoring in-house over outsourced operations. However, since the early 2000s, a declining workforce and the rise of global outsourcing companies have changed this tendency. Japan, which is still behind some of the other APAC geographies in terms of CX innovation and CX tech, combined with an aging and shrinking workforce, is now starting to grapple with issues of high operational costs and labor shortages in the CX service delivery landscape.

However, Japan’s government is placing a strong emphasis on gen AI; for instance, Japan’s industry ministry invested over US$55 million in AI initiatives in 2023. Furthermore, both central and local governments have introduced tax breaks, grants, and loan assistance to attract foreign investments.

This has made Japan an attractive market for CX outsourcing as various businesses across sectors look to expand their outsourced operations.

Nonetheless, these opportunities come with some risks:

Economic risk: Despite being the 3^rd third largest economy in the world, Japan has been in and out of short-term economic recessions, and is currently facing an economic slow-down with a growth rate of only 0.6% in the last decade
Demographic risk: The aging population is another concern, as the majority workforce is between the ages of 45 and 54, making it challenging to find and retain qualified CX professionals
Geological risk: Japan, situated within the Ring of Fire, makes it one of the most tectonically active places on Earth and heightens the risks of natural disasters such as frequent earthquakes and floods due to its geographical location

Recently, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended its negative interest rate policy in March 2024, signaling a stronger economy. Japan’s economy is forecasted to grow by 1-2 % in the second half of 2024, driven by wage growth, consumer spending, and a weak yen. Recent economic trends indicate a potential upswing in spending, further enhancing Japan’s appeal as a destination for CX outsourcing operations. However, companies must navigate through the nuances of these opportunities and risks to gain from Japan’s outsourced CXM market.

Current service provider landscape in Japan

In Japan’s contact center outsourcing sector, there are two distinct categories of service providers: regional firms such as Transcosmos, Bellsystem24, TMJ, and Altius Link (formerly Relia Inc.) and global companies such as Concentrix, Teleperformance, TDCX, and Foundever. While regional providers hold the largest market share in the Japanese outsourced CXM market, global players also have a notable presence, leveraging their established positions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Service Provider	Description
		· Headquartered: Tokyo, Japan · FTEs and delivery centers: 43,000 FTEs across 71 locations · Industries served: Manufacturing, BFSI, telecom & media, government, and retail sectors. · Transcosmos stands out for its comprehensive suite of digital and traditional CX solutions and delivers cost-effective, results-oriented services. The company provides a comprehensive suite of customer experience (CX) solutions, including chatbots and multilingual speech recognition tools (supporting 25 languages) · Their blended delivery model leverages a mix of onshore and other low-cost locations for CX delivery. Furthermore, they demonstrate a commitment to client success through flexible pricing models. These models include outcome-based, output-based, and hybrid options, allowing for risk- sharing and cost-efficiency tailored to each client’s needs
		· Headquartered: Tokyo, Japan · FTEs and delivery centers: 11,000 FTEs across 37 locations · Industries served: Manufacturing, BFSI, telecom & media, retail, healthcare, and public sectors. · It provides services such as customer service, technical support, CRM, and sales services. Its consulting offerings include CX strategy formulation, contact center operational consulting, VoC analysis, process benchmarking, and end-to-end crisis management solutions
		· Headquartered: Tokyo, Japan · FTEs and delivery centers: 19,000 FTEs across 23 locations · Industries served: Manufacturing, BFSI, technology, and public sectors · TMJ offers a wide variety of CX solutions, including contact center outsourcing, sales and technical customer support services, and back-office services. TMJ caters to a diverse range of industries in Japan to improve its presence in the APAC region and establish a hub and spoke model with its base in Tokyo
		· Headquartered: Tokyo, Japan · FTEs and delivery centers: 33,000 FTEs across 100 locations · Industries served: Manufacturing, BFSI, telecom & media, energy and utilities, government, and public sectors · It delivers customer support, order fulfillment, technical support, inbound and outbound sales, and helpdesk services to clients in Japan, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines offering support in 12 languages including Japanese, English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and other Asian languages

Japan beckons businesses with its unique blend of tradition and innovation. With a skilled workforce, competitive resource costs, and regulatory stability, Japan offers fertile ground for driving business success and nurturing long-term partnerships.

As these changes take place in the Japanese market, enterprises need to adopt new digital technologies to embrace the growing uncertainty in the market. Service providers and technology partners have a critical role in facilitating this transformation. By integrating advanced solutions and offering robust operational support and a skilled talent pool, they can help businesses navigate the evolving business landscape. Collaboration between enterprises and service providers can prove beneficial for driving innovation and ensuring technological advancement in the Japanese market, which is ripe for CX disruption.

If you have questions or would like to further discuss Japan’s CXM evolution, please reach out to Sharang Sharma at [email protected], Aishwarya Barjatya at [email protected], or Joshua Victor at [email protected].

Watch our Mid-market Digital Transformation: Insights and Outlook for 2025 webinar to learn best-practice recommendations for adopting newer technologies, based on our analysts’ recent experiences.

Enhancing Customer Experience through AI-driven CX: Bringing Innovation and Human Connection Together | Blog

June 18, 2024

Read on to explore how AI is revolutionizing customer experience (CX) in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. In this expert analysis, you will learn how AI-driven solutions enhance customer journeys, personalize interactions, and streamline operations. Discover the pivotal role of human talent in ensuring the success of AI-driven CX and how businesses can harness these innovations to create seamless, customer-centric experiences. Reach out to us directly to discuss this topic further.

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, customer experience (CX) stands at the forefront of business success. Companies are increasingly turning to AI to revolutionize their customer interactions, streamline operations, and provide a seamless journey from start to finish. AI-driven CX is not just a buzzword; it’s a game-changer, offering a host of benefits to both businesses and their customers alike. In this blog, we’ll delve into how customers stand to benefit from AI in their journey and highlight the pivotal role of human talent in ensuring the success of AI-driven CX.

Enhancing the customer journey with AI

Imagine a seamless, personalized experience tailored precisely to your preferences and needs, available at your fingertips. That’s the promise of AI-driven CX. From personalized product recommendations to proactive customer support, AI empowers businesses to anticipate and meet customer expectations like never before.

Elevated experiences: hyper-personalization for unparalleled connections

One of AI’s biggest benefits for CX is using data to achieve true personalization at scale. AI can analyze a company’s vast pools of customer data – from transactions to browsing behaviors to communication histories – to build rich customer profiles. It can then surface insights to deliver experiences tailored to each individual’s preferences, needs, and contexts.

For customers, this enables a new level of relevance from the brand interactions they receive. AI-powered recommendation engines, such as those from Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon, ensure customers always see the most fitting content or product suggestions.

For businesses, envisioning how AI-powered recommendation engines could work in their own context unlocks a new level of relevance in brand interactions. AI algorithms can ensure that customers receive personalized recommendations for support resources or solutions tailored to their specific needs and preferences. Moreover, AI can personalize messaging tones, channels, and cadences for outreach, creating smoother, more engaging experiences for customers. By leveraging AI in this way, customer service teams can deliver proactive and tailored support that addresses customer needs efficiently and enhances satisfaction.

Anticipating needs: proactive care redefining customer support

AI opens up powerful new possibilities for proactive customer care. With machine learning models analyzing data patterns, businesses can anticipate customers’ likely future needs or issues and be proactive about resolving them. This benefits customers by allowing problems to be addressed before any major disruption or frustration occurs.

For instance, a telecom company notices an increase in calls related to a network outage in a specific area. Instead of waiting for frustrated customers to flood the lines with complaints, the contact center proactively sends out automated notifications to affected customers, informing them of the issue and providing estimated resolution times. Additionally, the system identifies high-priority customers, such as those with critical business needs or medical emergencies, and prioritizes their inquiries for immediate resolution. Another example is when an insurance provider utilizes proactive outreach strategies, such as sending notifications when insurance coverage is expiring or subscriptions are ending, along with discounts or offers for renewals.

Efficiency amplified: faster, smoother, better resolution times

When customers do need to directly engage a brand for support, AI can accelerate resolution times and reduce frustration. Conversational AI assistants are becoming smarter at understanding complex language to quickly identify the true intent behind customers’ requests. From there, AI can directly handle simpler queries, tasks, or transactions through self-service.

For instance, an AI assistant could autonomously resolve a customer asking to return a parcel by walking through the process and initiating a refund. For more complex cases, AI can automatically route the conversation to the right human agent or department for seamless escalation.

This AI-powered triage and assistance cuts down tedious back-and-forth, reducing resolution times and customer effort. When human employees are looped in, they have full context to focus on providing a tailored, speedy resolution.

The human touch: why human talent matters in AI-driven CX

While AI brings transformative capabilities, human agents remain vital for delivering empathetic, personalized customer experiences – especially for complex, emotional situations. AI can augment and empower human workers, rather than replace them. Here’s why human talent is crucial in AI-driven CX:

Empathy and emotional intelligence

AI may excel at analyzing data and predicting behavior, but it lacks human empathy and emotional intelligence. Empathetic human interactions are essential, especially in sensitive situations or complex inquiries where understanding and compassion are paramount. Human agents can empathize with customers, actively listen to their concerns, and provide personalized solutions that resonate on an emotional level.

Complex problem solving

While AI can handle routine queries and tasks with efficiency, complex issues often require human intervention. Human agents possess critical thinking skills and domain expertise to navigate intricate problems, adapting to unique situations and finding creative solutions. By combining AI’s automation capabilities with human problem-solving skills, businesses can deliver comprehensive support that addresses the full spectrum of customer needs.

Building trust and loyalty

Trust is the foundation of customer relationships, and human interactions play a vital role in fostering trust and loyalty. Customers value authentic connections with human representatives who demonstrate understanding, sincerity, and integrity. While AI can streamline processes and deliver personalized experiences, it’s the human touch that cultivates meaningful connections and builds long-term loyalty.

Continuous improvement

Human feedback is irreplicable for refining AI algorithms and enhancing the customer experience. Human agents act as the last checkpoint before messages reach customers, ensuring authenticity and relevance. Moreover, with AI’s potential to hallucinate, skilled agents play a crucial role in validating AI-generated insights and enhancing the overall customer experience. By fostering collaboration between humans and AI, businesses can achieve continuous improvement in their customer operations and stay ahead in a competitive market.

Conclusion: the future of customer experience (CX)

In the dynamic realm of CX, the fusion of AI innovation and human expertise emerges as a cornerstone for success. As businesses embrace AI-driven solutions to streamline operations and personalize interactions, they can unlock unprecedented levels of efficiency and customer satisfaction. However, amidst these technological advancements, the pivotal role of human agents cannot be overlooked. With their empathy, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities, human agents add an indispensable touch to customer interactions, fostering trust and loyalty in an increasingly digital landscape. By striking the right balance between AI-driven innovation and human connection, businesses can navigate the complexities of CX, delivering seamless experiences that resonate with customers and propel their brands to new heights of success.

For more details on customer experience and AI reach out to Rishav Kumar, [email protected], or Aishwarya Barjatya, [email protected].

Learn more about how to utilize AI and its latest iteration, generative AI, for anticipating CX needs in the LinkedIn Live session, Leveraging AI for CX.

Leveraging AI for CX | LinkedIn Live

June 5, 2024

LINKEDIN LIVE

Leveraging AI for CX

Watch this event on LinkedIn which was delivered live on Wednesday, June 5 2024

To meet evolving customer expectations, businesses are seeking to develop artificial intelligence (AI) tools to enhance their customer experiences. From personalizing experiences to providing in-depth analytics, the potential for AI to transform CX and its management is profound. 🚀

Watch this LinkedIn Live discussion with Everest Group’s Nishan Krishan, Practice Director, and Ashish Sehdev, Vice President, to learn about how to utilize AI and its latest iteration, generative AI, for anticipating CX needs, creating adaptive strategies, and developing unforgettable CX. 💡

During this engaging LinkedIn Live, we discussed:

✅ The use cases enabled by AI in CX 🤖
✅ The RoI and productivity gains enabled by AI in CX
✅ Generative AI and its disruptive potential for CX

Nisha Krishan

Practice Director

Everest Group

Ashish Sehdev

Vice President

Everest Group

Embracing Strategic Business Outcomes in Digital CX: A New Benchmark for Success in CXM Service Delivery | Blog

May 9, 2024

As digital CX continues to grow in importance, strategic business outcomes – aimed at establishing a genuine partnership between enterprise and providers based on mutual trust – are set to redefine the measurement of success. Delve into this blog to explore the advantages and potential hurdles of adopting a strategic business outcome in CXM.

The revolutionary integration of digital CX solutions is significantly transforming customer experience service delivery. Already a driving force, this evolution is poised for even greater momentum with the rapid evolution and substantial investments in generative AI. Amid these advancements, achieving outcomes for enterprise businesses has become more crucial than ever.

Adopting strategic business outcomes in CXM operations has emerged as a key differentiator for enterprise success. In today’s dynamic business landscape, staying ahead necessitates not just embracing digital technologies but also cultivating a results-oriented approach, ensuring customer interactions seamlessly translate into tangible business value. This emphasis enables companies to stay competitive, adapt to rapidly changing market dynamics, and foster customer loyalty by consistently delivering meaningful and impactful experiences.

The paradigm shifts toward delivering meaningful and tangible outcomes go beyond the conventional and transactional metrics that have historically dominated the Customer Experience Management (CXM) industry. While benchmarks like Average Handling Time (AHT), First Call Resolution (FCR), and other Service Level Agreements (SLAs) have been integral, the current era demands a recalibration. Metrics now need to go beyond merely gauging efficiency; they must directly contribute to strategic business objectives.

The advent of strategic business outcome metrics in CXM

Strategic business outcome metrics are aimed at accomplishing specific business objectives. This collaboration transcends mere verbal agreements or contractual obligations; instead, it entails establishing a genuine partnership between enterprise and providers characterized by commercial alignment and the pursuit of shared, measurable goals. Strategic business outcome metrics in CXM, marked by measurable impacts on the broader business landscape, are poised to become the new benchmark for a provider’s success.

Strategic business outcomes in CXM can be categorized into four categories: cost optimization, customer excellence, revenue enhancement, and digital transformation as illustrated below:

Adopting strategic business outcome metrics requires a nuanced approach that acknowledges the industry-specific nature of certain metrics. Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all model, CX providers must customize their metrics to align with the unique needs and goals of specific industries.

For example, decreasing the patient dropout rate may emerge as a pivotal metric a provider can achieve in helping accelerate the clinical trial process for a life science enterprise. Conversely, increasing the volume of orders across channels might be essential for optimizing strategies for a retail or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) enterprise. In the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector, a targeted metric could be reducing forbearance negotiations or improving loan collection efficiency. This industry-tailored approach ensures the metrics chosen are directly relevant and impactful in addressing each sector’s specific challenges and objectives.

Obstacles to realizing benefits of a strategic business outcome metric approach

Adopting a strategic business outcome metric approach poses challenges, demanding a fundamental shift in measuring and pursuing success. This shift, particularly for large global businesses, demands standardization across all global practices.

Several factors contribute to the difficulty of this transition including:

Cultural change: Adopting strategic business outcome metrics in CXM entails a cultural transformation, often necessitating collaboration among multiple teams. Contact centers may not solely influence certain CX metrics. Achieving this shift requires buy-in and commitment from all organizational units, with employees embracing new ways of thinking and working collaboratively
Data complexity and attributability: Strategic business outcome metrics often demand a more sophisticated approach to data collection, analysis, and interpretation that might make it difficult to track, validate, and attribute actual benefits
Measuring intangible outcomes and baselining challenges: Some strategic business outcomes, such as brand perception or customer loyalty, are inherently intangible and challenging to quantify. Moreover, limited information to establish the baseline metric or outcome might pose a challenge. Developing effective measurement mechanisms for these outcomes can be complex
Contractual adjustments: Traditional service contracts may need restructuring to accommodate the shared responsibility model. This could involve renegotiating terms, aligning revenue recognition models, introducing performance-based incentives, and establishing clear expectations for success and failure
Regulatory hurdles and billing: Changes or conflicts in tax and compliance rules could potentially impact revenue recognition and billing mechanisms as well as timelines

The success of the strategic business outcome metric approach hinges on establishing a robust collaborative partnership between CX providers and enterprises. Building trust is central to this collaboration. Trust forms the basis for open communication, a willingness to share insights, and a joint commitment to success, which can serve as the bedrock for achieving shared objectives and driving meaningful differentiation within the market.

This approach involves equally sharing responsibilities and benefits for business success and failure. Both providers and enterprises must acknowledge that success/failure is a collective effort. Enterprises should acknowledge the role of providers in contributing to meeting agreed-upon targets, including fairly sharing commercial benefits, whether through performance-based incentives, revenue-sharing models, or other mutually agreed-upon mechanisms. On the flip side, in cases where strategic business outcome metrics are not met, providers should also be open to bearing the burden.

If you have questions or would like to discuss strategic business outcome metrics, frameworks, strategies, and best practices, reach out to Chhandak Biswas, [email protected], or Uday Gupta, [email protected].

Explore the anticipated shifts in sourcing expenditure and strategies, and the digital CX services expected to be in demand in our report: Customer Experience Management (CXM) Services CXO Insights: Key Issues Report 2024.

Discover insights into CXM outsourcing during early maturity stages and strategies for the effective selection of suitable outsourcing partners in our webinar, Navigating the CXM Outsourcing Landscape: A Comprehensive Guide for First-time Outsourcers.

Navigating the CXM Outsourcing Landscape: A Comprehensive Guide for First-time Outsourcers | Webinar

April 23, 2024

on-DEMAND WEBINAR

Navigating the CXM Outsourcing Landscape: A Comprehensive Guide for First-time Outsourcers

WATCH THE WEBINAR ON-DEMAND

What are the key considerations when choosing a customer experience management (CXM) outsourcing partner for the first time?

Watch this insightful webinar on navigating the outsourcing landscape, led by our experts Divya Baweja, Practice Director, and David Rickard, Partner. They discussed the potential benefits and risks of outsourcing the CXM function and outlined best practices and key considerations to make when taking this step.

Attendees gained insights into CXM outsourcing during early maturity stages and came away with strategies for the effective selection of suitable outsourcing partners from our leading experts in this field.

Additionally, service providers received an overview addressing the unique requirements of first-time outsourcers.

What questions did the webinar answer for the participants?

What are the benefits and risks associated with outsourcing in the early maturity or first-time stages?
What are the best practices for selecting the right outsourcing partner?
How can a service provider address the unique demands of first-time outsourcers?

Who should attend?

Customer experience leaders
Chief customer officers
SVP Customer Experience
Heads of Outsourcing
Procurement Managers
Contact center leaders

Divya Baweja

Practice Director

David Rickard

Partner

Implementing Gen AI for CXM: The Data Challenge | LinkedIn Live

April 17, 2024

LINKEDIN LIVE

Implementing Gen AI for CXM: The Data Challenge

View the event on LinkedIn, which was delivered live on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

Generative AI (gen AI) has the potential to revolutionize customer support, as well as reduce operational costs. However, to leverage gen AI for its maximum capabilities, it will be vital to base AI learnings on excellent quality data that is well managed and controlled.

Watch this LinkedIn Live session with Everest Group’s David Rickard, Partner, and guest David Ilett, Consulting Director from Davies, to explore practical examples of implementing gen AI for customer experience (CX). Learn about the main challenges organizations face with data provision for AI and understand how to plan adequately to avoid the common pitfalls.

During this engaging LinkedIn Live, we discussed:

The main challenges facing enterprises when deploying gen AI
The scale of the data provision challenge
The practical steps that organizations can take to leverage gen AI

Meet the Presenters

David Rickard

Partner

Everest Group

David Ilett

Consulting Director

Davies Consulting

Forecasting the Future: Key Trends Reshaping CXM Outsourcing in 2024 | Blog

April 11, 2024

After a turbulent past year, 2024 holds great promise for CXM outsourcing, with generative AI and other technologies poised to transform contact center operations. Discover five key trends that will impact the CXM industry going forward by reading on, or get in touch.

Amid the tumultuous landscape of 2022-23, the Customer Experience Management (CXM) outsourcing industry faced a barrage of challenges. Economic uncertainties, unfavorable exchange rates, and mounting financial pressures compelled many enterprises to tighten their belts, leading to reduced spending on CXM services. In the face of these adversities, the industry weathered a turbulent period, seeking resilience in the storm.

2024 has ushered in an exciting new chapter of transformation. Several technological advancements are poised to catalyze growth and reshape contact center operations. Generative AI (gen AI) holds the potential to redefine customer service offerings, automate more interactions, enhance agent performance, and provide superior customer experiences.

Advancements in accent neutralization and AI translators are expected to enhance service quality, boost workforce efficiency, and alleviate language barriers. The current surge in investments targeting various delivery geographies aims to unlock untapped talent pools. This trend is accompanied by a pressing need for agent reskilling to match the pace of evolving technologies.

Enterprises are reevaluating vendor management strategies, prioritizing providers with robust capabilities and talent, and focusing on embracing sustainability. This transformative shift is reshaping the CXM landscape and heralding a future defined by resilience and adaptability.

In this rapidly evolving environment, innovation isn’t just an option, but a prerequisite for enterprises and providers to prosper, making 2024 a pivotal year for the CXM industry.

Let’s deep dive into five key trends expected to reshape the CXM industry in the near future:

Gen AI pilots to move to production: 2024 marks a pivotal moment in implementing gen AI pilots, heralding a transformative era in CX delivery. Gen AI is not merely a technological upgrade. It is a catalyst poised to elevate efficiency, redefine agent assistance capabilities, revolutionize voice bots, introduce cutting-edge self-service tools, and fundamentally reshape the overall service delivery landscape. Enterprises are proactively gearing up for the widespread deployment of gen AI across established use cases, strategically positioning themselves to harness its potential within the next two years.

Accent neutralization and AI translation to redefine CX: Beyond the scope of gen AI, innovative technologies like accent-neutralization and AI translation are poised to revolutionize customer interactions. Accent-neutralization facilitates more transparent communication and promotes inclusivity, while AI translation bridges linguistic divides, enabling global interaction. Together, these advancements promise to enrich customer engagement, surpassing conventional limitations. They equip businesses to navigate language challenges, streamline processes, and cut costs significantly. These technologies simplify the complexities of multilingual support, boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty. Ultimately, they empower businesses to provide seamless, effective, and inclusive service worldwide.

Evolving shoring dynamics: We anticipate a significant increase in offshoring and nearshoring activities continuing this year. This surge is propelled by factors such as escalating onshore talent costs, rapid technological advancements, and an increasing need for geographical diversification in response to the growing complexities of the business landscape. Emerging delivery locations in Africa (Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Morocco), Latin America (Suriname, Argentina, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Caribbean countries), and Asia Pacific (Malaysia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia) present compelling options for enterprises aiming to diversify their delivery capabilities and fortify their Business Continuity Planning (BCP) strategies.

Strategic portfolio management: Enterprises will continue refining service provider portfolios through consolidation, rebalancing, or integrating new suppliers. This strategic portfolio management approach will be characterized by its sophistication, considering cost, risk, capabilities, and productivity factors. The overarching objective will be to achieve an optimal balance that enhances operational efficiency and positions enterprises to swiftly adapt to evolving market dynamics and shifting customer expectations. By strategically managing their portfolios, enterprises aim to gain a competitive edge by aligning their service provider relationships with their broader business objectives. This proactive approach will enable them to optimize resource allocation, mitigate risks, and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Embracing sustainability Initiatives: Sustainability initiatives are poised to play a pivotal role for enterprises and service providers. Enterprises will prioritize partnering with providers actively involved in such initiatives, aligning seamlessly with their organizational goals. By collaborating with these providers, businesses will demonstrate a commitment to ethical and socially responsible practices, contributing to the broader objectives of responsible and sustainable outsourcing.

Impact on the CXM Outsourcing Landscape

The CXM outsourcing landscape stands on the cusp of a transformative era, poised for a revolution fueled by the advent of technology and various strategies. These innovations promise remarkable productivity gains by automating more tasks and elevating customer and agent experience.

These trends signal a gradual departure from human-centric interventions to digitally-led customer experiences. As the industry moves towards a future shaped by AI and sustainability, customer service is expected to increase as a true differentiator between enterprises. The ability to personalize interactions, resolve issues quickly, and demonstrate empathy is expected to be key to success.

To gain more insights into the dynamic CXM outsourcing landscape, evolving customer requirements, and the significant impact of emerging technologies, explore our in-depth report, Strategic Keys: Unlocking the Potential of Customer Experience Management. For questions about the CXM outsourcing industry, contact [email protected] and [email protected]. You can also catch up on the latest insights with our webinar on demand, The Generative AI Advantage in Enterprise CXM Operations.

Gen AI and Retail: How the Industry is Harnessing Disruptive Transformation | In the News

March 18, 2024

Generative AI (gen AI) is spurring organizations across different sectors to fundamentally reimagine their approach to digital transformation. Retailers are exploring gen AI use cases across a wide range of functions, from new product discovery and personalization to streamlined fulfillment and enhanced services.

Everest Group’s Generative AI in CXM survey report revealed that 55% of enterprises view enabling personalization as a key driver of gen AI adoption, while 16% are investing over US$10 million toward gen AI initiatives in the next 12 to 18 months.

Read more in Total Retail.

Tag: customer experience

The role of AI in bridging interaction channels and breaking down silos

Proactive communication – in real-time and with transparency

Managing volume surge – support team readiness

Business continuity plan (BCP) measures – redundancy, flexibility, and crisis management

Vendor management – disaster recovery plans and effective communication channels

Planning – risk assessment

Prevention – regulatory compliance

Continuous improvement – post incident evaluation

Distinctive qualities of Japan

How is the Japanese CX market changing? ­

A land of growing opportunities for outsourcing amid some long-standing risks

Current service provider landscape in Japan

Enhancing the customer journey with AI

Elevated experiences: hyper-personalization for unparalleled connections

Anticipating needs: proactive care redefining customer support

Efficiency amplified: faster, smoother, better resolution times

The human touch: why human talent matters in AI-driven CX

Empathy and emotional intelligence

Complex problem solving

Building trust and loyalty

Continuous improvement

Conclusion: the future of customer experience (CX)

Leveraging AI for CX

Navigating the CXM Outsourcing Landscape: A Comprehensive Guide for First-time Outsourcers

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Implementing Gen AI for CXM: The Data Challenge

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