Kathy Sobus

We live in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT); with a Wi-Fi connection and a smart phone, the possibilities are endless. Connectivity is now so integral to our daily lives that we often take it for granted. In fact, an Internet Trends report shows that nearly 90% of U.S. adults use the Internet. It is important to design support solutions that align with the way your customers work and live. However, even in our wired world, human interaction still plays a critical role and you can leverage technology to give your customers the best of both worlds.

In part one and part two of this blog series, we explored the reasons why customer experience and the role of the Chief Marketing Officer are evolving, and how you can respond to those changes. We'll now into the future of CX and marketing.

Marketing continues to be about brand and demand generation; however, data and changes in the way customers interact with companies have provoked a complete transformation of the function. Customers used to speak with salespeople or the contact center about product details and offerings, but all of this information is now available online. Customers are more resourceful and self-reliant than ever before. They are educated and oftentimes are simply seeking validation of their choices.

In part one of this blog series, we explored the reasons why customer experience and the role of the Chief Marketing Officer are evolving. We'll now explore how you can respond to these changes.

Information: it's key to improving both the customer experience and marketing efforts. While the customer seemingly holds the advantage with access to information, companies are hyper-engaged in the process of monitoring, researching, and responding. The ability to leverage data enables marketing to get ahead of opportunities. The vast amount of data available today enables companies to understand and communicate with their customers more precisely and in more ways than ever before.

Consumers are more informed than ever before, and their preferences and behaviors are constantly changing. They have dramatically higher expectations, demanding personalized service, more options, faster resolution, and a consistent experience across all channels of communication with a company. Customer loyalty is largely a prehistoric notion, given the ability for consumers to leverage and provide information and reviews online. In fact, according to LeadGenius, a customer’s first contact with a company is roughly 60% of the way through his decision timeline. As a result, companies are increasingly focused on syncing their brand pledge with the experience they deliver.

This blog was co-authored by Windsor Tanner, Vice President Solution Sales, Americas, NICE.

In the first part of this blog series, we explored the reasons why many companies are slow to adopt artificial intelligence. We also discussed how the contact center can be a natural place to consider an augmented intelligence/augmented experience deployment, which can serve as a precursor to artificial intelligence or stand on its own. In this post, we will look at AI in action to discover how it can help transform enterprises.

If you use Siri on your mobile device or Alexa or Google at home, you know that artificial intelligence (AI) is a fast-growing component of the consumer world. Six billion devices are going to begin proactively asking for support in the near future, according to Gartner. Voice-enabled AI applications like these and others are making life more convenient for millions of people around the world.

Customer experience is perhaps the greatest source of competitive advantage available to your company. According to Forrester, companies with superior customer experience grow revenue more than three times faster than companies with inferior customer experience. Greater customer loyalty also abounds, as these satisfied customers will stay with you longer, spend more with you, and recommend you to others.

Has your business undergone the transformation it needs to thrive in an increasingly mobile-driven world? Enacting a bring your own device (BYOD) policy and making your employees accessible anywhere, with any device, is a good start. According to a KPMG survey, 74% of executives who work for highly profitable companies say they have a mobile-enabled workforce.

Conversations abound with talk of the BOT (a web robot that automates tasks) takeover in our customer care practices, but how will the human element evolve? If in just a few short years, 85% of interactions will be handled by BOTs, where does that leave the other 15%? In this post, I will focus on the 15%, its importance within our customer care ecosystem, and how you can ready yourself for the impact this will have on your organization.