Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) the Animal That You Should Be Afraid Of?

I attended a conference recently, and I was talking to one of the participants about the impact of AI on their business.

He was talking about bringing in a team that would build models for their customer experience (CX) teams to use, and they are looking at collating data to do that. The data needs – especially the volume and the quality- would be of importance for them in getting their models right.

Besides, he was talking about the lack of knowledge within the organization when it comes to AI.

I got a bit curious because my understanding of using AI as a part of the CX function was rather simpler compared to what he was talking about.

So, I asked him if he had ever considered using pre-trained AI models for their needs.

In fact, I even referred him to one of the articles that referenced Nandan Nilekani. I am quoting what Nandan said:

Our goal should not be to build one more LLM. Let the big boys in Silicon Valley do it, spending billions of dollars. We will use it to create synthetic data, build small language models quickly, and train them using appropriate data.

Another person from the conference joined our discussion. He spoke about using pre-trained AI models to do their test automation, and they found it to be 90% accurate. They are using appropriate data to improve the accuracy further.

These are the kinds of use cases that I was thinking of when talking about using AI for CX. You don’t have to overwhelm people with all the bells and whistles of AI; instead, you can make use of existing pre-trained models and make the most of them for your CX.

When it comes to customer experience, you have to be cognizant of the fact that it is a combination of technology and human connections.

One without the other will be disastrous. Ignore AI, you’ll fall behind. Rely on AI too heavily, and you’ll lose the human touch that customers want and crave.

Technology and Empathy Have to Go Hand in Hand

The home truth is you cannot ignore technology, and it has to be a part of your CX initiatives.

Let us break down the key skills that would set you apart as a CX leader.

Does AI Literacy Matter?

Let us get this straight. You don’t need to write code or build machine-learning models to excel in CX. What you need is a working understanding of what AI tools can do for you.

Here is a scenario.

You use an AI tool. It analyzes customer feedback and flags recurring customer complaints about delivery delays.

What’s next?

You have to dive into those insights and come up with a solution. Maybe tweak the logistics process and ensure inventory availability to handle the demand spikes or set better delivery expectations.

Let us look at another example.

Your AI tool pulls out the insight that all your high-value customers churn in six months. What do you do with this insight?

Now, you will have to act on it by proactively engaging with them. You can even go to the extent of sending them an irresistible offer in the fifth month or assigning executive sponsors to handle such high-value customers.

Does this sound alien to you? Then, it is time for you to get curious. Trust me, AI is not difficult, and it helps you do your job better.

How Do You Get To Be Creative with AI?

AI can suggest the perfect product for a customer, but can it tell a story that resonates? Absolutely not.

That’s your job.

For example, AI might identify a customer interested in eco-friendly products, but it ends there.

It is your job to create a narrative about how your brand supports sustainability. Maybe you should share a couple of stories on how your customers’ lives improved because of your eco-friendliness.

AI is only the starting point, and how you turn the insights that AI throws into experiences is what will make you creative.

Empathy With AI

AI can handle humungous volumes of data, and it can do it in no time, but can it care?

Customers still crave the human touch, especially when they are hit with a problem.

Look at this example.

AI flags a customer as a churn risk because of negative feedback on multiple calls. You don’t just toss a 10% discount their way and hope for the best.

Instead, you engage with them, probably get on a call with them to understand their issues and empathize with them as a first step. The agent who spoke to the customer understood that the customer kept experiencing product issues that weren’t getting resolved.

Once this understanding was there, the product team got involved and helped the customer with a tailored solution for their product experience issues. After this, throwing another 10% discount on their purchases would make sense.

A conversation, followed by a resolution or a transaction, makes all the difference.

How Do You Go About Getting Your CX Teams to Embrace Technology?

Here are three simple things you ought to do:

• You should make training mandatory and focus on tools they would actually use.
• Let your teams try out AI in a controlled setting. Set up role-playing scenarios where AI handles one side of the interaction and a human agent steps in where needed. See how it makes the difference, and that would be the easiest buy-in.
• CX and IT need to work together to provide the best possible customer experiences. The status quo is the biggest impediment to any change, and you should consciously work towards overcoming the status quo.

Whether to use AI or not is no longer a question. Every CX function must start to use AI, but to make the most of it, you have to combine human connections with it.

You’ll use AI not to replace humans but to help them offer exceptional customer experiences.

When you are thinking of implementing AI, start small in a controlled setting and look at use cases that would help your teams adopt AI.

AI should be looked at as a companion and not as a competitor. When you look at history, technology has only helped progress humanity and has never been a threat.

Mix AI with empathy, caring, creativity, and narratives – you will thank yourself for that and your customers cannot be happier.