Olive Expert View – THE AI INFLUENCE ON CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Jason Walkley, Business Development Director will deliver his expert view at 8:10am in the Innovation Zone at the Microlise Transport Conference at the Ricoh Arena on 15th May 2019…

THE AI INFLUENCE ON CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE…

Artificial intelligence brings both excitement and fear. What was once conceptual is now actively used to assist humans across a plethora of functions. Within transport and logistics, the opportunity is understood, but what is less clear are the tangible benefits.

Before breaking these benefits down, it is important to recognise the customer experience landscape is changing. In a digital-first world, reactive response is no longer an option. For example; a consumer changing the time of a delivery should find it straightforward and instantaneous. To meet these expectations, businesses need to create a consistent digital experience across all touchpoints. Businesses cannot and more to the point, should not want to continue to serve their customers today in the way they have always done.

AI analytics, virtual agents, and agent assist connect the customer directly to your company’s knowledge base, alerting the driver in real time and using workforce management practices to optimise their route. For complex enquiries, a human agent can intervene, but agent assist continues to observe whilst the virtual agent detects sentiment to help improve future interactions. It is this continuous cycle of machine learning where AI comes into its own. Understanding context, responding appropriately and closing down ‘run-rate’ tickets drives productivity.

The UK customer service industry is falling short of expectations; over 70% of consumers have expressed frustrations at how difficult it is to interact with a business across multiple channels without the need to continually repeat themselves, and over 60% of consumers would now prefer to engage with a virtual agent/chat bot if it meant that they get access to information/get their problem solved quicker.

The above scenarios are relatable to a wide majority of industries. Here are five key areas where AI could be used within the transport industry to play a role in delivering exceptional customer experiences.

  1. Digital supply chains are being implemented to drive operational efficiency, but also to proactively react to changing consumer demand, performance manage and use big data to improve order management.
  2. Connected devices allow collaboration from anywhere, on any device. From a presence perception, being ‘always on’, or from a business continuity standpoint, unified communications allow agility and rapid response.
  3. Input management can be painful. Allow AI to do some of the processing. With AI comes the ability to analyse data from multiple sources, allowing the creation of individual personalised customer experiences.
  4. Omni-channel routing is designed to give your customers the freedom to interact from their preferred device, using the media that works best for them, allowing agents to respond instantly resulting in fewer interaction transfers.
  5. Workforce optimisation allows you to accurately plan, forecast and schedule agents to increase operational efficiency, enhancing individual and group performance.

In order to allow AI to work for you, set your own parameters of success using the intelligence already garnered. The ultimate test will be to ask yourself and your teams, can you categorically say and prove that you are delivering simply brilliant customer experiences?

 

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