2021 was another extraordinary year, and now being a month into 2022, people have started to firm up their direction and goals for the year in terms of work, life and everything in between. In 2021, the digital world was solidified. It moved from a forced (possibly temporary) solution in 2020 to the way of the future. Some organisations may move back toward a hybrid model, but remote work is here to stay. And AI is a big part of that. One of the questions that continue to pop up: is AI going to replace more of the human workforce and, particularly for customer service organisations, how will it affect CX as we previously knew it?
Customer service has been more automated than ever. Innovative contact centre solutions, like chatbots and self-service, are aplenty. Yet, it seems like customers are still looking for that human aspect of their customer journey and nothing has come close to it. Looking ahead to 2022, Jeff Gallino, Chief Technology Officer, CallMiner, shares his predictions for the customer experience space and how innovation will aim to bridge the gap between AI and humanity.
Listen (and speak) to your customers
Digital transformation has been well underway for quite some time, and it is not showing signs of stopping. As companies are relishing the perks of automation and AI, in 2022 customers will be looking for the human connection that was so sparse across the contact centre industry in the previous year. Gallino explains: “Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen just how important the human connection and experience is, and voice will be a critical factor in how brands deliver that to customers in the year ahead.
“While organisations will continue to embrace automation technology in 2022, human voice will be the dominant channel for brands in how they realise the most successful customer interactions.”
It’s understandable that we cannot always see the person on the other side of the line but retaining voice as the primary means of communication will prove beneficial moving forward. It’s more personal – agents can show empathy and understanding that machine simply can’t. Remove the human voice, and communication with customers can easily go south with a single misinterpretation.
The proof is in the data
Companies have been investing in AI solutions for the better part of a decade, but many were forced to quickly advance their implementations, particularly for tools that could analyse, sort and present trends from the massive amount of data being created.
That said, implementation of such tools doesn’t always equate to ROI. Once AI tools present insights, companies need to take actionable steps and act upon this information. Commenting on the importance of making the right data-supported decisions, Gallino says:
“I believe we’ll definitely see a shift in the way AI is positioned to buyers. It’s all about the insights, not the technology itself. To gain a competitive advantage, AI solutions will have to start embedding feedback into their platforms, so customers can take action and close the loop on the most relevant insights to their businesses. The more the industry ties its technology to business performance improvement, the more it will win over buyers.”
CCaaS industry takes off in 2022
2021 was certainly the year of mergers and acquisitions in the experience industry, and it wasn’t just the big tech companies like Amazon or Google that wanted their share of the contact centre market. A host of companies surged to acquire voice app platforms or different CRM and collaboration services providers.
Reflecting on the perspective of the CCaaS market in the next 12 months, Gallino says:
“I predict that the contact centre as a service (CCaaS) market is going to be a prime acquisition target in the year ahead, especially for the tech giants and other industry leaders.
“Large tech companies, like the big five, have a lot to gain from contact centre technology, including around customer experience and voice. Integrating CCaaS solutions into their existing tech stacks will provide significant value in customer intelligence and in their efforts to dominate the desktop.”
Companies will be looking to diversify their portfolios as much as possible, supercharging the platforms with contact centre services, CRM and omnichannel capabilities. The competition will surely be tough once tech giants saturate the market.
In 2022, organisations must focus on fine-tuning the human vs. AI balance to better serve and retain customers. On the business side, companies will continue to put effort into strengthening and expanding their offerings – be that through acquisitions or new product launches. There is no doubt that AI will continue to be a foundational technology to support CX, but in the coming years the companies that succeed will be the ones who use it as a human support tool rather than a human replacement tool.
