Destination digital? Using AI to enhance the customer experience

Organisations are looking to harness artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver a more efficient, automated and cost-effective customer experience. The COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and a critical shortage of key skills are accelerating and broadening the use of digital channels, automation and AI as businesses look to adjust to the shifting landscape. This paper draws on two pieces of research by The Institute of Customer Service and considers the impact that future working practices, evolving customer behaviour and rapid developments in AI will have on service. It seeks to provide a window on the differing perspectives of senior executives, managers, employees and customers to highlight the service-related opportunities AI presents and the key issues to consider. The research suggests that AI has enormous potential to improve the customer experience and streamline many interactions. AI can be deployed to both replace and augment human service professionals, but there are some complex areas to navigate. Trust and transparency are crucial — and there is a big gap between the ways customers say they are comfortable with AI being deployed and the way organisations currently use it or plan to use it in the future.