CX decision maker bet big on AI

Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS)  recently released new findings from its CX Buyers’ Insights Report based on a survey of U.S. CX decision makers to identify priorities for technology deployments and overall budget spend benefitting both customer and employee experience initiatives.

With advancements like generative AI and automation, the way organisations approach CX looks increasingly different in the modern business landscape. This new research highlights the CX change management challenges many companies face and the decisions required to determine where to invest the time, energy, and capital in effectively reengineering processes through technology that creates the seamless modern experience customers expect.

“HGS sought to create a compendium for CX and EX decision makers to reference when prioritising budgets and solutions to implement,” said Andrew Kokes, EVP and global head of marketing for HGS. “In the past, we have looked only at pain points for implementation, but this year, we have turned to serving as a resource for committing funds when planning for the next 12 to 18 months.”

Betting Big on AI

When it comes to deploying CX solutions, decision makers are betting big on artificial intelligence (AI), with 58% of respondents committing to deployment of some AI tech over the next 18 months. These investments include:

• Customer-facing chatbots (37%)

• Generative AI and speech-to-text applications (30%)

• Robotic process automation (28%)

While tech has been a priority, CX decision makers who arm call centre employees with solutions and accelerators can make it really count. The most common CX-related technologies already deployed include data analytics tools for contact centre team leads (53%), digital support for omnichannel customer interactions (49%), and dynamic knowledge bases for agent access to learning tools (47%).

Employee Experience, Engagement Fall Behind

While 21% of organisations cite their tech investment strategy as a top priority for bringing faster resolution to customer issues, there is still a need to focus on human employees throughout the CX process.

Attraction and retention of skilled call centre employees is crucial for advancing CX initiatives, with 54% of survey respondents citing attraction and retention of CX employees as a top priority. Despite this, just 18% of survey respondents listed talent investments as a top priority for budgeting, and 70% of CX decision makers surveyed said they have not invested high dollar amounts into employee morale.

“Certain suites of software accelerators are relatively easy to implement across call centre and CX operations,” said Kokes. “Fast access to automated responses, customer interaction and account information, and an extensive digital knowledge base for on-the-fly learning put everything into a sort of ‘single pane of glass’ (SPoG) for CX employees, improving both CX and EX at the same time.”

Partner Agencies Create Customer-Centric Cultures

To maintain a competitive edge in customer care innovation, 54% of survey respondents said collaborating with industry partners is important, with 100% of those respondents saying they have engaged or will engage CX-related outsourced services in the next 18 months. Additionally, 48% spent more than $1M on outsourced CX services in the last year-and-a-half, and more than half (51%) will do so again.

“Unless your company is itself in the business of implementing tools and technologies to vastly improve the customer experience of your customers, it’s vital to work with a trusted partner who can focus on the intricacies and challenges a company can face when they go it alone,” added Kokes.