Artificial Intelligence permeates our daily lives, just as the Internet once did! You have already noticed that there are several moments in our day: the calculation of the path by Google Maps / Waze; the application that checks the weather forecast and even the blessed spell checker on our cell phone (which insists on guessing what I’m going to write) …. If we stop to think about these frequent applications, in reality, such “tools” have us more helped than disappointed. Don’t you think so?
It is true that the misuse of these innovations could indeed harm humanity, but also in the past there were innovations that when used without scruples created problems. History shows that the discovery of bronze and copper created weapons, nuclear fission became the atomic bomb and airplanes (to shorten distances) that were used / improved for the war. In other words, the problem is not the technology, but the use made of it.
A lot has been said about Artificial Intelligence and how robots can risk the work of human beings, but consider the following: humanity has already undergone relevant transformations, which changed the way we related, communicated, bought and lived. One for example is the Electric Light that emerged in the early 19th century or the Internet in the early 21st century. By the way this also confirms that the technology penetration curve is getting shorter and more global.
It is no different with Artificial Intelligence, which, despite being created in 1950, had its explosion in the last 10 years, given the exponential growth of computing capacity with the advent of Cloud Computing which, with its elasticity, allows “democratizing AI” in all industries.
Therefore, the best way to act in this Digital Transformation scenario is to use a “Combinative” approach that integrates the potential of technology with that of the human being, using Artificial Intelligence to enhance the human job.
A good example of how to land this approach is in the world of Customer Relations. Although many companies are looking to invest in new generation technology (AI / Big Data, IoT, etc.), in the end, customers and consumers are still dissatisfied. And this dissatisfaction, as shown in the infographic below, is linked to the holistic look that companies, regardless of the sector of activity, need to consider in the “Consumer Journey”. The vision of encompassing not only all the stages that make up the “journey”, but paying attention to the fundamental characteristics that must be analyzed when investing in technology to guarantee excellence from end to end in the whole process.
From experience, the best sale that exists is after-sales, so it is extremely important to understand the customer and be able to monitor the service / product delivery. And, with that, predict the behavior of this consumer and, proactively, correct the relationship process. Be sure, it will make the difference between winners and losers.
After several million dollars already invested in technology in my 23 years as an executive and entrepreneur in the CRM industry, I personally realize that the traditional software approach, whose model is based on: license sale, maintenance and upgrade, ends up generating Lock-in, affecting project schedules and, consequently, affecting innovation in the company. In other words, companies that take responsibility for the application of technology and deliver autonomous components (based on AI) and addressing objective problems are in fact the right partners to face the Transformation journey.
It is important to consider that the Artificial Intelligence challenge is, first of all, a Big-Data challenge, where it is crucial to build a “data strategy” that allows to sustain Digital Transformation. Therefore, it is essential to know what the relevant data are, how to capture them; transform them; correlate them and store them in a repository (Data-Lake), which is owned by the customer and where the main asset of any company currently lives.
As shown in the infographic below, the digital services associated with the application of AI / Big-Data guarantee several benefits in all the processes that make up the Customer Journey:
Another important vector that cannot be left behind is the reengineering of processes, since once Artificial Intelligence has done its job, of signaling insights, the human being needs to act and adjust the processes that are generating breakpoints or stress in the customer journey.
As such, there is a real opportunity to improve customer service, not just with virtual assistants or Apps that are “surface approaches”. Rather, a deeper approach with improved results – not only with savings in the cost of service – but also with a real reduction in the customer’s effort / energy to have their requests answered.
And for this formula to work, we have to consider not only Technology, but also Vertical Experience and Know How about Customer Experience, supporting the reengineering of processes and, with that, transforming innovation into objective improvement in the Brands-Companies relationship.
Jose Rocha – Founder & CEO | CTO da Genoa Performance