Mitigating challenges to enable omni-channel experiences
Digital is powering smart consumer experiences across cross-section of industries, be it travel, transportation, retail, home or industrial automation to name just a few. Technologies such as mobility, social media, data analytics, IoT, and cloud are adding immense value in the consumer market space. These technologies are helping businesses mitigate challenges and thus elevate the levels of customer service. Take for instance, the case of stock placement and offload from a warehouse. IoT sensors placed at different points in the warehouse save supervisors from confusion and help them access real-time data on space availability and stock to undertake an effective and efficient movement of the same.
A decade ago, it was very difficult to connect the dots and map the customer journey because it was almost impossible to determine customer aspirations, wants, and experiences. Thanks to digital, the omni-channel experiences of customers are captured for businesses to position themselves in the manner required by customers. A classic example of such an experience is that of a customer who reads about a saloon in a fashion magazine, avails its services and then provides her reviews on social media platforms and messages her friends about the saloon through her smartphone. Digital allows businesses to study and consider channels that make an impact in the customer journey and focus more on these channels thereby engaging customers more closely, building relationships, to propel revenue growth.
Digitizing customer experiences and transforming businesses
Technology has not surprisingly changed the way customers go through a purchase experience. The customer experience is getting digitized leaving less scope for human intervention. Take the instance of buying insurance online, it has become much easier to find the relevant insurance policy and get registered for the same though digital. This saves customers a lot of time and even some cash which otherwise often goes as agent commission. Insurance companies have adopted the right technologies to ensure firewall protection and stronger security resulting in a safe and secure online insurance purchase. Technology and mobility have completely digitized the experience - one can buy insurance on-the-go and even avail service support with just a few clicks.
Experts believe that the future of customer experience will be augmented by digital at several touch points while human intervention will be minimized. It is this push by digital that is helping businesses transform even as they find themselves providing customers with smart consumer experiences. The hallmark of a digital experience is that it cuts down on human intervention to the extent possible and thus facilitates a smooth and hassle-free customer experience, be it booking a flight or powering a motor.
In this century, a large portion of our time is spent online. But do we know how much of data we generate? Per a recent study* there’s 2.9 million emails sent out every second, 20 hours of video uploaded, 24 petabytes of data processed by Google daily, 50 mn tweets daily, 1.3 exabytes (1 exabyte is 1000 petabytes) of data sent and received by mobile users. This happens daily. Imagine the insights this data would give service providers, support organizations and image the numerous possibilities as the outcome. The ability of digital to provide customers with choice is another way to provide smart experiences. For instance, product recommendation engines in e-commerce stores present online shoppers with a variety of choices (products) to select from based on previous purchases and shopping history. Digital also helps customers with a snapshot of the products based on selected criteria (price, colour, size, etc.) just with the click of a button saving them loads of time.
Digital is helping businesses provide innovative yet cost-effective solutions while ensuring customers benefit through a hassle-free and convenient experience. It is paving way for businesses to reduce human intervention and yet provide a comfortable and enjoyable experiences by helping businesses stay ‘’connected’’ with customers all through the purchase cycle.
Enabling insights and bridging the gap
Businesses have got a shot-in-the-arm through big data and analytics. Every inquiry, every website visit and every customer call lead to creation of data. But for far too long, this data just sat idle. Well, not any longer. Powered by data analytics, businesses now have the luxury to gather, study and analyze data in the manner desired. Data analytics is throwing valuable insights into a business operation or function and helping businesses realize where they went wrong and how they can correct themselves. Deriving valuable insights at the click of a button is what helps business take quick decisions and implement changes in a timely manner. For example, an airline finds that longer check-in times during week days is causing certain customers to not opt for the same flight a second time and when the check-in time was reduced by 20%, the airline had a 40% increase in repeat customers.
Digital in the form of data analytics is enabling interesting and relevant insights and arming decision makers with enough data to make changes - big or small - for better business outcomes. Data Analytics is not only changing the way businesses conduct their operations but also changing the way businesses interact and engage with their customers.
It is true that customer relationships count no matter what a business does in terms of innovation or product/service upgrade. As the customer base grows it gets difficult for businesses to maintain in-person contacts and relationships and it is here that digital has broken the barriers and proven more than worthy. Spread of internet and mobility have ensured that businesses can stay connected to their customer constantly while at the same time communicate in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. In short, digital is the connecting bridge between businesses and customers bringing the two closer while effectively helping businesses build better customer experiences.
Driving customer experiences with our Cognitive Customer Experience Platform
In driving customer experiences, CSS Corp has developed its Cognitive Customer Experience Platform, a cloud based platform that generates smarter, personalized engagements using AI, machine learning and NLP processing. Its ability to investigate volumes of data over a multitude of channels gives it a head start in analyzing, understanding and predicting a customer's next course of action/intent and scope. By using analytics to pinpoint and find gaps in customer service delivery, support gets a huge boost as end customers are benefited with faster resolutions and quicker turnarounds. The platform is available as a mobile interface and can be customized to any software or business framework as necessary. It increases customer experience by 25%, reduces cost by 50%, and improves engineer productivity by 30%. Its interoperability with other emerging voice platforms like Amazon Echo gives rise to exciting customer engagements.
Conclusion
The digital wave has encompassed every industry and begun a massive transformation of business processes and operations. It has paved way for businesses to adopt different technologies in a bid to achieve better operational efficiencies, change business models and enhance customer relationships. Digital is gradually powering smart consumer experiences by enabling stronger customer engagement processes and hassle-free, yet smart and painless experiences - in short, it is re-defining the relationship between businesses and consumers for the benefit of both.
