S3 Ep. 14 Live from Enterprise Connect 2023: Rethinking AI, CCaaS and EX 

Ginger Conlon (01:38): 

Everyone was talking about what comes after CCaaS at Enterprise Connect. Several speakers said we’re moving beyond CCaaS living in a silo. And that’s because there’s continuous innovation enabled by cloud and composability, all creating seamless interactions across channels and functions.

Several speakers said the future of CCaaS in their eyes is experience orchestration, and that means basically infusing AI through the end-to-end customer journey to provide highly personalized experiences. Some speakers also said that knowing what’s happening across systems in real time is predicted to be what’s next in customer experience. Companies need to know what’s happening across channels and functions to deliver the best experience, and that ties into experience orchestration. In fact, during his main stage panel, Olivier Jouve, chief product officer at Genesys, said to be proactive about personalization, you have to understand what’s happening in the contact center and across digital channels.

Michael Logan (02:50): 

Olivier also asked, “What experience do you want to provide to your customers and do you have the technology that enables that?”

He and other speaker said organizations will need a composable platform with APIs and integrations to create unique experiences. As Olivier pointed out, companies need to travel their own path to cloud, but that path should include AI.

And speaking of AI, the prediction most often overheard at the show was this: If AI isn’t supporting or enabling everything you do in the contact center right now, that’s where we’re headed. The key word used to describe AI in many of the sessions was transformative.

So, generative AI was a hot topic, of course, because everyone is saying it’s going to be transformative. Speakers advise CX leaders to focus on reviewing and refining strategies to make room for generative AI, and they should be testing some use cases. If you don’t start exploring now, you’ll get left behind.

Everyone who called generative AI transformative also told a cautionary tale. Generative AI is a compliment to you and your agents not a replacement for your insights and expertise. Don’t let it get in the way of critical thinking. Be intentional about using it to compliment your work and support your agents. Like with call summarizations, where there’s a human checking for accuracy. Start with use cases where it’s not going off the rails on its own.

Ginger Conlon (04:52): 

One of the key goals that several Enterprise Connect speakers cited in terms of employee engagement was about hybrid work and providing staff with the technology and tools to do their best wherever they work. And this echoes the MIT Technology Review Insights “Future of Work” report, which found that nearly 40% of CX executives surveyed said inconsistent technology and broadband issues are top risks of hybrid working. So, they’re looking for solutions to those problems.

One interesting approach to hybrid working that a few speakers mentioned is personas, which means the personas aren’t just for marketing anymore. Some companies are using them to better understand individual employees and teams to help define whether and how often these individuals or teams should work hybrid or work remotely, and then of course, what types of technologies and support they’ll need to do their job to the best of their ability.

Michael Logan (06:30): 

Maintaining productivity was a hot topic too. Some speakers said productivity is more about collaboration and being effective at meeting outcomes. They also said the right technology is essential for this. A few of the speakers said they have or are planning to implement systems that enable them to create a single view for agents and a single platform that enables easy integrations with specialty apps. “The Future of Work” report findings echoe this: 73% of CX leaders surveyed for the report say they plan to implement a single screen and a single platform in the next two years.

Ginger Conlon (08:06): 

Another common theme at Enterprise Connect was that, today, customer experience is your brand — and that means customer service needs to execute on marketing’s brand promise.

Several speakers at the conference reminded attendees that change needs to happen through the eyes of the customer. What do they want and what do they expect? And, of course, what can you provide profitably? It needs to make business sense. You can’t just go off giving into whatever customer’s demand because it might not make business sense for you. And then further, how can technology support all of that?

That’s why some speakers called out the need to ensure internal collaboration and connected channels, data and systems, and then use that connected data to anticipate customers’ needs and orchestrate personalized experiences — and then improve the employee experience too. Because as Juanita Coley of Solid Rock Consulting said during her session, customer experience is not one person’s job. It is everyone’s job. Your CX strategy should be a living, breathing part of your culture.

Ginger Conlon (09:27): 

The theme of “customer experience is your brand” feeds right into the findings of “The State of Customer Experience” report, which we shared during a live version of Tech Talks in 20 on the show floor, where we gave a sneak peek into the findings of the report. The one data point that seemed to capture most of our audience’s attention: 86% of consumers worldwide say a company is only as good as its service. Another grabber was that consumers want fast first-contact resolution, as well as consistent personalization. All that ties to several speakers’ recommendations for experience orchestration.

We also shared that nearly half of CX leaders say keeping pace with customer expectations is their top CX challenge. I saw several folks nod in agreement with that one.

Michael Logan (10:25): 

Considering the show themes and many speakers’ advice, it’s no wonder that companies’ top strategic CX priorities tie to experience orchestration. As we said at the conference session, the top three priorities are: improving employee experience with new tech or connecting existing tech, which includes improving the agent desktop experience; enhancing data capabilities for real-time insights, analytics, and reporting; and using data and AI for customer understanding and personalization.

A top technology priority for 71% of CX leaders is implementing a customer experience platform that integrates systems. These include communication platforms, workforce productivity, CRM systems and ERP software, as well as digital and voice channels. And half said connecting data and technology to drive an omnichannel experience is a top priority. This will enable the experience orchestration for both customer and employee experiences that several Enterprise Connect speakers recommended.

And the capabilities leaders consider most valuable for improving customer experience in the future are all related to quickly accessing the data needed to orchestrate the relevant personalized experience that speakers were recommending. Leading the list is real time and historical data for analytics and reporting followed by a customer data platform.

Ginger Conlon (12:09): 

As we pointed out during our session, cloud enables all experience orchestration. Half of CX leaders surveyed for “The State of Customer Experience” report said cloud provides better access to data across channels and a very close second of 49% said the top benefit of cloud is adding new channels capabilities and features faster. This all links with the conference theme of moving beyond CCaaS in a silo to a connected ecosystem that enables personalization and experience orchestration. Overall, this year’s Enterprise Connect conference was full of so much great advice and insight that I’m sure attendees left with an overflowing list of ideas.