This week, in the customer experience space, we’ve seen a fresh step-by-step enhancement from AWS, a collaboration between Snapchat and Sprinklr, IBM being accused of age discrimination, and a new GenAI chatbot being rolled out across all Target stores.
Here are the extracts from some of our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
Amazon Connect Boosted by Step-by-Step Guide Enhancement
AWS’ agent copilot has been equipped with a new step-by-step guide feature.
Available for users of the company’s Connect CCaaS platform, Amazon Q will now have the capacity to provide real-time recommendations for step-by-step guides based on specific customer queries.
By analyzing live customer service interactions, the assistant can discern the customer’s intent and proactively serve an agent with the relevant guide needed to solve the issue.
AWS believes that the additional step-by-step feature will help reduce handling times, boost first-contact resolution rates, and elevate customer satisfaction.
Indeed, in discussing the news, Michael Wallace – Solutions Architecture Leader for Customer Experience at AWS – detailed how the new enhancement was a win-win for customers and agents:
Q in Connect’s step-by-step guides streamline this process through workflows, elevating the agent experience. Happier agents lead to better customer experiences and improved call center resolution rates.
Prior to the latest release, AWS designed guides for the four most common customer conversation steps: customer identification, intent recognition, issue resolution, and post-call processing (Read on…).
Snapchat and Sprinklr Team Up to Help Brands Target Younger Customers
Sprinklr has announced that it will be a supporting partner of Snapchat’s Public Profiles for Businesses solution.
The CX management specialist is the first partner to assists brands in managing all organic and paid Snapchat content via its unified, AI-powered platform, Sprinklr Marketing.
Public Profiles will allow brands to publish Snapchat stories and Spotlight content, as well as boosting organic content with ads – all from within Sprinklr’s platform.
The companies believe that this feature will help save time, reduce costs, mitigate risk, and garner deeper insights.
Moreover, the tech firms also outlined how the collaboration will be crucial in allowing brands to enhance audience engagement among Gen Z and Millennials: the two most popular users of Snapchat.
In discussing the announcement, Patrick Harris – President of Americas at Snap Inc –described his company as a “natural fit” for brands looking to improve their CX offerings:
This expanded partnership with Sprinklr will enhance our ability to help brands find success on Snapchat. We look forward to driving awareness, engagement, and meaningful business results.
Let’s take a closer look at how these additional features will benefit users (read on…).
IBM & Kyndryl Sued for Age Discrimination…Again
IBM and its spin-off IT infrastructure provider Kyndryl are being sued for age discrimination.
Five senior executives from both companies brought forward the complaint, which accuses the tech firms of discontinuing roles for older employees while advertising positions for younger applicants.
Amongst the four IBM plaintiffs are the company’s former CEO of Events and VP of Client Experience, with the one Kyndryl accuser having previously been employed as the organization’s Services Account Manager.
The complaint is the latest in a series of accusations leveled at both companies, with it being reported last month that Kyndryl had been accused of discriminating against employees based on age, race, and disability.
Indeed, IBM’s initial issues date back to the 2010s, with a 2021 legal filing claiming that a number of former employees had been discriminated against during the previous decade and that the company was trying “to keep ageist IBM executive-level planning documents confidential.”
In a rebuttal of the allegations published on the company’s website in February 2022, Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM’s Chief Human Resources Officer, stated that “there was (and is) no systemic age discrimination at our company.
However, the official complaint states that IBM executives devised a plan to replace older workers with younger ones, utilizing the HR and Finance departments to implement it (Read on…).
Target Announces “Transformative” GenAI Chatbot for Team Members
Target has revealed plans to roll out its new generative AI (GenAI) solution to “hundreds of thousands” of team members.
The Store Companion is a GenAI-powered chatbot designed to support Target’s staff by answering on-the-job queries, coaching new recruits, and supporting store operations management.
With the tool slated to be available to staff in all of Target’s nearly 2000 stores by August, the company has claimed that the release will make it the “first major retailer” in the US to equip its team members with a GenAI chatbot.
By boosting efficiency and enabling deeper guest engagement, Target believes that the Store Companion will help make the teams’ jobs easier while also enhancing the overall customer experience.
In discussing the news, Brett Craig – EVP and Chief Information Officer at Target –expressed his excitement and enthusiasm about the potential of GenAI and its impact on the future of Target:
The transformative nature of GenAI is helping us accelerate the rate of innovation across our operations, and we’re excited about the role these new tools and applications will play in driving growth.
Despite sounding more akin to a personal assistant that might follow you around the store making recommendations and helping to carry your groceries, the Store Companion is an app-based solution that will offer store team members instant answers about processes and procedures (Read on…).
