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Destination digital? Using AI to enhance the customer experience
Journal of AI, Robotics & Workplace Automation,
1
(3),
285-293
(2022)
Abstract
Organisations are looking to harness artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver a more efficient, automated and cost-effective customer experience. The COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and a critical shortage of key skills are accelerating and broadening the use of digital channels, automation and AI as businesses look to adjust to the shifting landscape. This paper draws on two pieces of research by The Institute of Customer Service and considers the impact that future working practices, evolving customer behaviour and rapid developments in AI will have on service. It seeks to provide a window on the differing perspectives of senior executives, managers, employees and customers to highlight the service-related opportunities AI presents and the key issues to consider. The research suggests that AI has enormous potential to improve the customer experience and streamline many interactions. AI can be deployed to both replace and augment human service professionals, but there are some complex areas to navigate. Trust and transparency are crucial — and there is a big gap between the ways customers say they are comfortable with AI being deployed and the way organisations currently use it or plan to use it in the future.
Keywords: customer; customer service; customer experience; customer behaviour; CX
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Jo Causon Joanna Causon is an experienced and passionate commentator on the critical nature of service and customer experience. Working across the public, private and voluntary sectors, Joanna provides strategic advice to boardrooms to raise service standards across the UK, providing evidence of the connection between customer satisfaction and operational efficiency and profitability. Joanna joined The Institute of Customer Service as chief executive in 2009. Since then, she has established the UK Customer Satisfaction Index as the country’s premier indicator of consumer satisfaction, providing organisations with clear evidence of the return on their service strategy investment. She brings a wealth of experience from the commercial sector, enabling her to put customer service at the heart of the boardroom agenda. She has extensive experience in the financial services sector, holding the position of non-executive director to Aegon UK’s independent governance committee and having spent more than 11 years working for organisations such as Aviva plc. She has also held director roles in brand and business consulting, policy development and research for City & Guilds and the Chartered Management Institute.
