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

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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

The Generative AI Revolution: Transforming Customer Experience Management | Blog

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionize customer experience management (CXM) by creating personalized, empathetic, and more fulfilling experiences that drive brand loyalty and business growth. In this blog, explore examples of early generative AI adoption and learn about the benefits and challenges of this game-changing technology.

Learn more on this topic in the webinar, The Generative AI Advantage in Enterprise CXM Operations.

As contact centers shift their main focus from improving efficiency to creating impactful customer experience, generative AI is leading the charge in this new direction. Recognizing generative AI’s promise to enable the personalized, hyper-contextual interactions customers desire, enterprises are looking to invest and deploy solutions to leverage its transformative potential.

A recent Everest Group survey revealed nearly 60% of enterprises believe generative AI solutions have huge potential to disrupt the current contact center landscape. Additionally, another 37% perceive these solutions as beneficial in some areas.

Transforming the CXM landscape

By mimicking human creativity, generative AI can create nuanced and contextually relevant content. This opens a wide range of possibilities to reshape the way brands engage with customers across various touchpoints and provide the following benefits:

Enhanced customer service

• Conversational AI: Supports intelligent virtual assistants for natural, contextual interactions, fostering deeper connections and loyalty
• Personalization support: Analyzes vast customer data, tailoring experiences and providing real-time product support for heightened experience

Contextual marketing

• Swift content creation: Crafts personalized content and product descriptions quickly, reducing production time and boosting conversions
• Engaging storytelling: Creates compelling brand stories and personalized campaigns that resonate with specific audiences

Building stronger relationships

• Personalized recommendations: Recommends products based on individual preferences, fostering trust and repeat business
• Proactive engagement: Personalizes messages, contributing to lasting customer relationships

Enterprise generative AI adoption

With vast potential applications, enterprises across vertical markets are already reaping the rewards of early-generation AI adoption. Let’s explore some pioneering examples:

• Virtual experience: A leading global furniture brand has built a generative AI chatbot to guide customers through the customization process, making furniture shopping more intuitive and natural while also offering 3D product configuration
• Content enhancement: Prime Video has introduced Defensive Alerts, a generative AI feature that tracks the movements of defensive football players before the snap, reads their acceleration, and identifies “players of interest” likely to rush the quarterback. A red circle appears under the potential blitzer, giving fans a heads up, allowing them to place themselves in the coach’s seat and read developing plays
• Customer support: Dave, a digital banking service, is implementing AI-powered chatbots that can hold natural conversations with customers, answer complex questions, and even resolve certain issues without human intervention
• Content generation:com is testing its AI Trip Planner, which utilizes generative AI to create personalized offers and travel itineraries based on customer preferences and provide direct booking options to deliver an integrated travel planning experience
• Itinerary planning and customization: Expedia has integrated ChatGPT into its app to help users make and save travel plans. Customers can ask the AI for recommendations on destinations, accommodations, and transportation as if it were a human travel agent. The app can also save locations so users can easily check availability and book travel
• Student coaching: Language-learning platform Duolingo uses the technology underpinning ChatGPT-4 to help users practice language skills and understand when they make a mistake. It also uses the technology to allow learners to practice real-world conversation skills with the roleplay feature in the app
• Dynamic promotion, pricing, and loyalty program: Levi Strauss & Co. has implemented generative AI to increase diversity on its website and expand its loyalty program by offering personalized benefits. This has significantly increased loyalty enrollments to 5 million members worldwide and boosted revenues and app registrations. Generative AI allows for tailored product recommendations, localized discounts, and customized store experiences based on consumer data and mobility insights. AI-driven analytics help optimize stock for various sales events, including mid-season, end-of-season, and Black Friday sales in the U.S. and Europe
• Agent assist: Advisors at a multinational IT company that provides subscription-based technology support services worldwide access a secure generative AI-based model to easily answer customer queries

Addressing the challenges

While generative AI’s potential benefits are intriguing, addressing the inherent challenges that come with its implementation is critical. Enterprises have expressed a wide range of issues, from regulatory to accuracy, that could arise with generative AI. The top three enterprise concerns to generative AI adoption are:

1. Data security and privacy: Robust security measures and transparent data usage policies are necessary to utilize customer data. The risk of data leakages during model training or deployment further intensifies the threat to data privacy. The implementation of generative AI exposes vulnerabilities to cyber threats and presents issues related to the secure handling of sensitive information for training the model
2. Compliance issues: Enterprises are concerned about copyrights and ownership of intellectual property (IP) produced by generative AI while ensuring the solution doesn’t violate other organizations’ IP. With the diverse generative AI applications, sector-specific regulations are crucial. The technology’s evolving nature also calls for dedicated regulations addressing unique challenges and ethical considerations
3. Accuracy: Organizations are wary of the risk of biased output stemming from training data biases, the potential for unethical responses requiring human oversight, and instances of “hallucinations” – all underscoring the pressing need to refine and enhance model accuracy

Future of CXM with generative AI

The changing landscape of generative AI in CXM is a testament to the transformative power of technology. The generative AI revolution is here, and it’s poised to significantly alter the way brands interact with their customers. By responsibly and strategically embracing this technology, CXM service providers can create personalized, empathetic, and, ultimately, more rewarding customer experiences, leading to stronger brand loyalty and increased business growth.

To discuss generative AI adoption trends in CXM, please contact Chhandak Biswas, [email protected] and Rishav Kumar [email protected].

Discover how enterprises are looking at generative AI-based solutions adoption to improve CX in the webinar, The Generative AI Advantage in Enterprise CXM Operations.