Vonage, in partnership with e27, recently held a panel discussion entitled “Navigating the Customer Experience: AI’s Impact on Omni-channel Touchpoints” last 2nd of November, at the Pullman Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

Aiming to provide actionable insights into the role of emerging technologies in customer engagement, the esteemed panel delved deep into the realm of AI’s influence on omnichannel touchpoints and the dynamic customer experiences it fosters. The audience was also given an in-depth understanding of case studies in which AI can scale internal processes and offer a more effective workforce.

Also read: The Future of Capitalism: Get the chance to win $5 million worth of investments

Spearheaded by cloud communications provider, Vonage, and co-organised by e27, the mission of the project is to help empower businesses to harness the power of AI in optimising customer experience.

Seamless integration of AI amplifies the effect of intelligence behind business outcomes

Artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI, plays a crucial role in the rapidly advancing field of technology. It has gained widespread acceptance across various sectors, and its influence on everyday life has become a game-changer, especially for businesses engaging with customers.

The AI lens is the future of the next five years and can be considered one of the most innovative technological breakthroughs of its time. As it is inevitable, businesses benefit from understanding its implications and impact early on in order to fully exhaust the power of the tool.

Santhakumaran Atmalingam, Founder of CX EXPERT ASIA, mentioned during the discussion that maximising the potential of what is currently manual and underutilised data is a crucial first step. AI can take this massive, often incomprehensive information and turn it into more in-depth insights that are otherwise skipped by the naked eye. Such insights can be useful when understanding what customers want and how to keep engaging them.

“We use data for reporting, and that’s just scratching the surface. There is so much of how AI can take that data and turn it into something that is a lot more fruitful for organisations and its stakeholders.” For example, market predictions and consumer trends forecasting can be done with less manpower and time while massively improving accuracy through the help of AI.

Similarly, digitalisation transcends pooling customer feedback, allowing employees to have a more productive use of their time. Dr Poo Kuan Hoong, Lead Data Scientist, RGM of BAT, cites AI’s impact on organisational development and team collaboration. With a supportive omnichannel system, silos are broken in favour of a productive and fully aligned organisation in real-time.

For example, in AI-assisted omnichannel retail and e-commerce, chatbots reduce the time needed for live agents to answer customers’ common and frequently asked questions.

Also read: Set sail with intellectual property: Your business’s journey to success

Desmond Koh, Head of Sales, SEA at Vonage, clarified, “I will still prefer some personal touch when speaking to a human agent. However, you can essentially offload some of the very common questions and include them in the code so that humans can handle more complicated and personalised issues.”

“With AI, organisations optimise manpower costs, reduce errors, and create a holistic experience for customers and employees. This is the way forward,” iterated Sena Thevaratnam, Group Head of Customer Support of Valiram.

The whole idea of going into AI-assisted omnichannel is to create a seamless experience for your employees, giving them a real-time 360-degree view of the system to serve the customer in real-time and on the spot. AI integration allows businesses to outperform manual interventions and resources and match consumer expectations. 

AI can also help product and marketing teams track the customer journey, specifically pointing out major hurdles that dissuade a customer from continuing. The technology’s capacity to predict behaviour empowers the consumer with a more convenient and personalised user experience.

Diverse traditional industries harness the evolution of AI to enrich all customer experiences

AI operates as a launchpad for the future of omnichannel marketing, revolutionising customer engagement across diverse platforms. With seamless integration, AI ensures a cohesive brand experience, optimising marketing strategies to secure a business’s top priority, and keeping a long-term and loyal customer base. 

According to Elizabete Kalnozola, an Advisory Board Member of Girls in Tech Kuala Lumpur, “We all know that for businesses, the best customers are the loyal customers. This hyper-personalisation approach can help because we’ll give them more personalised recommendations, making them more likely to make second purchases.” Customer retention is the end goal, as this lessens the cost of acquiring new customers over time. This also applies to product recommendations or social media and content consumption algorithms.

Various online and offline platforms also exist, and digital marketers must effectively utilise messaging and engagement in each platform. From fine-tuning ad targeting parameters to maximising the ROI of limited resources, businesses require constant analysis of data, adaption to shifting trends, and refining marketing tactics. Recent AI development has led to the birth of tools specific to these use cases.

A business’ journey of adoption of cutting-edge AI is less straightforward

Before migration, businesses must streamline and have a definite end-to-end journey map for their customers. As an organisation, teams must decide what service excellence level they want to provide for their customers, then bring the technology in and build the solutions.

Koh advised that there is no hard and fast rule regarding AI adoption. “Adoption of AI solutions to your business really depends on the countries, the vertical, and the persona. We normally start small with certain customers, then expand its integration slowly as we progress based on needs.”

In Malaysia, for example, Kalnozola recognises language as a major challenge in adopting AI due to its multicultural diversity. The accuracy of AI in reading names or local dialects, for example, needs more time and training to reach a more satisfactory level.

Additionally, AI replacing human-centred processes includes a social responsibility toward creating a fair experience. Kalnozola and her team ensure that data input and output are well-represented across all demographics.

Also read: Things you need to know to be a part of the 2024 TOP100 program

She explained, “For the past two years, the main focus has been to ensure that AI is inclusive and that we are presented with new AI tools that do not discriminate against women in our day-to-day lives.” This avoids chatbot responses, facial recognition, personal data collection, and other discrimination and abuse cases. It also helps businesses to keep pilot-testing AI in different market scenarios. It might be tempting to perfect the technology before going to market, but customer feedback from usage can illuminate the process better.

Thevaratnam advised, “You got to start understanding and slicing and dicing what should be automated via AI and what should not be. So, it’s easy for a top-down or push-up to use AI to automate and fix the problem. Instead, businesses would benefit more from examining whether this part of your business has this functionality.”

Atmalingam added, “Automating the wrong thing can backfire and lead to a bad experience.”

The biggest challenge for any organisation is empathising with the end users and building the product from their point of view. This includes creating internal processes that reflect their commitment to a holistic customer experience. While companies have built manual processes around this premise, AI amplifies this approach by making data more trackable, relevant, and actionable. Young businesses and startups, forced to be more resourceful and agile, stand to gain the most by adopting AI to improve KPIs and outcomes.

– –

This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Vonage

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

The post Future-proofing omnichannel touchpoints for businesses via AI appeared first on e27.