In Adventures in the Screen Trade, screenwriter William Goldman wrote that “nobody knows anything” — perhaps the most famous quote about the filmmaking business. Goldman was referring to the fact that, despite all the research, focus groups, experience, and brains, no one in Hollywood has any idea how well a film will do before its release. Investing in these costly creative endeavors is big business, and it’s still a big gamble. Unlike most businesses that rely on historical patterns of success, Tinseltown is as unpredictable now as it was 30 years ago.

Start With an Acceptance of Not Knowing All the Answers

If you’re evaluating how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve customer experience, William Goldman’s famous quote will feel familiar. At some point, we all work under that fear that we don’t know enough to make smart technology decisions that will lead to real business results. It’s even scarier when customer experience is the most important brand differentiator in business, yet today’s customer experience innovation is tomorrow’s expectation.

As you meet with any customer experience solution provider, it’s practically impossible to have a conversation about customer experience without talking about AI. But it’s not AI for the sake of AI. These conversations should be focused on how you can use AI to improve business results or improve the employee or customer experience. The problem is … even those committed to AI because they see the opportunities don’t necessarily see how to get there.

Get Expert Advice

When grappling with uncertainty, the best leaders seek expert advice from peers and industry leaders. It keeps you on track and focused on what matters most. Learning from those who have trod the same path helps you not only avoid critical mistakes but also make informed decisions on how to grow your business. Alan Mulally, a legendary CEO of Ford Motor, advised business leaders to serve, listen, humbly ask for advice and improve.

With AI, you can finally use the mountains of data that you have about your customers and employees to create uniquely personal and predictive experiences that would be otherwise impossible at scale.  It’s not just for customer service and support, either.

AI is increasingly essential to sales and marketing, allowing you to massively improve lead conversion rates on the otherwise blind sales floor of the internet. And, you can finally manage each customer’s end-to-end journey in a personalized way across any channel. So, while AI creates a seamless experience for your customers, moving your business forward with AI requires a careful and precise plan of attack to get the results you want.

Strike the Right Balance

Enterprise adoption of AI has grown 270% over the past four years. It’s becoming more sophisticated, yet also easier to use and understand. But there are still challenges, such as determining how to use bots when applicable—and human agents when necessary.

Harvard Business Review research involving 1,500 companies shows that the most significant performance improvements were achieved when humans and machines collaborated, in effect, to complement each other’s strengths. While automation resolves most customer issues faster and more effectively, humans offer creativity, imagination and an emotional level of engagement that AI hasn’t mastered yet.

Finding that perfect balance requires walking through the many variables that drive your customer journeys and understanding your customers’ needs.

Figure Out Where You Want to Go Next

When I meet with customers about AI, I frequently hear, “I don’t know what I don’t know” and “Where do I start?”

That’s understandable. Improving customer experience isn’t easy—and adding AI into the mix only complicates it further. But it doesn’t have to be as unpredictable as Tinseltown. Rely on a trusted partner with experience in AI to be your guide every step of the way.

Start with an understanding of your customers and the journeys you want to improve. Then we can discuss how AI would benefit you and your customers. From there, we can share more useful advice to help you answer more of those unknown unknowns.

Get started now. Take this quick Genesys AI Assessment quiz to learn where you are on your AI journey, where you need the advice of an expert and the next best steps to take.