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AI is the new power tool of customer experience—here’s how your brand can be a CX Champion

by | May 19, 2022 | Public Relations

Customer experience (CX) champions gain better returns from their CX tech investments than competitors by managing CX through cross-functional teams, clearly defined workflows. and extensive use of analytics and AI, reveals a new global research report from MIT Sloan Management Review Connections.

The firm’s new report, Delivering Experiences That Win Business and Build Loyalty: CX Champions Share Their Strategies, sponsored by SAS, is based on a survey of 2,670 respondents of which just 15 percent qualify as CX Champions.

“With more than 40 percent of survey respondents planning to increase CX technology investments by as much as 25 percent over the next two years, and some 35 percent expecting to boost investments by up to 50 percent from current levels, it is imperative that companies have a roadmap on how to get the most payoff from these tools,” said Lisa Loftis, principal product marketer for SAS Customer Intelligence, in a news release.

AI is the new power tool of customer experience—here’s how your brand can be a CX Champion

“The research findings offer a caution against ‘random acts of technology’ because value is created only when the technology helps to fulfil customer expectations,” Loftis added. “In today’s world, this means adding martech that enables companies to capture digital activity at a customer level and dynamically manage identities, to make the most of first-party data by managing journeys, and to incorporate analytics and AI into real-time decisions,”

AI emerges as the power tool of CX

CX Champions lead the pack in terms of sophisticated use of analytics and AI. More than 80 percent of CX Champions make significant use of analytics throughout the customer journey, from research to adoption to ongoing engagement. In fact, Champions are more than three times more likely to rely on AI than the ones the study called “Laggards,” where it’s less than 40 percent.

Champions are also ahead of the game when it comes to adoption of CX tools. In fact, some tools will be nearly ubiquitous for CX Champions within the next two years:

  • 86 percent will have adopted personalization technology.
  • 84 percent will have adopted real-time data collection.
  • 81 percent will have adopted AI-powered chatbots.
  • 72 percent will have adopted connected omnichannel experiences.

Antonio Grasso, founder and CEO of the digital transformation consultancy Digital Business Innovation, emphasized the importance of CX tech. “We have the technology to achieve real-time insights, which are essential to adapt to a changing customer landscape,” he told MIT SMR Connections. “Our world is accelerating so much that companies also need to rely on real-time insight to manage and improve CX.”

The research also found that Champions are significantly more likely to employ “smart” approaches to improve CX, including smart assistants embedded in goods and services. They also expect to outpace the competition in their use of edge computing, using its ability to boost real-time analytics.

Perhaps most eye-opening is that organizations with the poorest-quality CX are more likely to be using cutting-edge VR technology than are businesses with top-rated CX.

AI is the new power tool of customer experience—here’s how your brand can be a CX Champion

Digital strategy and collaboration key

Strong CX performance isn’t predicated on having a single executive in charge of the activity. Instead, research shows that tying CX strategy to a company’s digital strategy makes the biggest performance difference. Doing so ensures the creation of enterprise-wide CX goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) that cascade through the organization. Almost 75 percent of Champions “strongly agree” that their CX strategy and technologies are an integral part of their organizations’ digital transformation.

By elevating CX strategy to the level of corporate and digital strategy, CX Champions can build highly empowered cross-functional or decentralized teams. To keep everyone on the same page, 70 percent of CX Champions also have documented workflows of their CX processes. The majority of CX Champions coordinate CX activity through collaborative software and platforms that allow everyone in the process to work from a single point.

More than 60 percent of Champions are currently focused on giving such teams more authority, versus only 43 percent of Laggards. In two years’ time, fully 93 percent of Champions will be relying on these teams, according to the survey findings.

AI is the new power tool of customer experience—here’s how your brand can be a CX Champion

CX Leaders: Financial services, retail and IT/telecom

The lion’s share of CX Champions are IT/telecom companies and this sector is the most aggressive user of many CX technology tools. Despite aggressive plans for CX technology investments, financial services entities have yet to move ahead of industries at large. Retail and consumer goods companies, on the other hand, are significantly ahead of industries overall in use of smart assistants embedded in phones and tablets, and slightly ahead in use of live chat, personalization technology, use of AI chatbots, and providing immersive experiences. But they are still behind other industries in developing interconnected omnichannel experiences—a must-have in the minds of most consumers.

Nearly 50 percent of businesses in the financial services, retail/consumer goods, and IT/telecom sectors plan to up their CX technology investments by more than 25 percent over the next two years. About 10 percent of businesses in these industries plan to increase their investments by more than 75 percent. Some even plan on doubling their CX technology investments.

AI is the new power tool of customer experience—here’s how your brand can be a CX Champion

Richard Carufel
Richard Carufel is editor of Bulldog Reporter and the Daily ’Dog, one of the web’s leading sources of PR and marketing communications news and opinions. He has been reporting on the PR and communications industry for over 17 years, and has interviewed hundreds of journalists and PR industry leaders. Reach him at richard.carufel@bulldogreporter.com; @BulldogReporter

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