EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHING

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

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How do you want to feel when you buy, subscribe or rent something? Valued. No one likes or wants to feel like a number.

The best experience economy experts will always tell a business owner, “you succeed every time your customer feels as if they are the only customer you exist to serve.” Wow, what a standard to think about. It’s simple. Powerful. And who could possibly argue against it? Which doesn’t mean it’s easy. But it’s more possible today than ever, leveraging AI and intelligent experience design.

Providing the most relevant type of customer experience is the truly differentiating function. A memorable experience outlasts any product or service that ranks as best. Danny Meyer, founder of Shake Shack, Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe in New York City, famously has said that his goal is to be a patron’s favorite restaurant, not to be the best restaurant in NYC. That makes a ton of sense to me. New rankings produce new “bests”

all of the time. It’s most often a momentary moniker because it is fairly easy to be knocked off the top rung of the best-in- class ladder. But getting knocked out of the favorite spot on someone’s list is so much more difficult if you stay true to the mission of exemplary customer experience. Think about it, when was the last time your own favorite product or service was displaced with something new?

Truly transformative customer experience is a practical necessity in today’s massively connected world. Our hyper- connected digital existence has conditioned us, and more importantly the new generation of consumers, to expect a high degree of individualized service. As a business owner, you might allow yourself to minimize a little too easily the value of providing a truly differentiated experience to your customers.

Your operational mindset can quickly look for economies of scale, speed of processes, looking for ways to balance

The Value Of Experience

Customer success starts with a

focus on delivering an experience

that leaves your customer feeling

valued.

customization with mass standardization. Management and leadership is conditioned to look for operational economies and efficiencies. When was the last time your company put a true value on specific, measurable customer experience goals that were more than simply time-based? Have you ever discussed measuring how your customers feel about their interactions with your company? We are too comfortable with simple reduction of wait times, and processing times, when we need to focus more on how we deliver an ideally relevant experience.

Some companies get lost in the weeds of experience and can even forget that the idea of experience should also apply to that of their own employees. Starbucks is famously proud of the millions of variations in drinks and refreshments available to its customers. Is that really the best measurement of experience for customers and employees? That level of customization can backfire, and has. Recently a barista got in hot water then fired, for posting an incredibly complex personalized order with 13 modifications. It started a national debate of sorts. But the meaningful question is, has Starbucks lost sight of what a meaningful, and relevant customer experience is? I certainly think they have lost sight of what a good employee customer experience is.

And if you’re not surprised by how complex we can make a coffee order, you’ll understand the poor customer experience of more complex products and services. Every type of industry with a purchase process that involves steps, has an opportunity to build a better, more improved customer experience: Insurance, healthcare and social assistance, real estate, banking, financial services, automobile purchasing, leisure, and hospitality, and retail too.

These industries represent the fastest growing industries in the United States

and honestly, how many of you have a favorite experience in each category? Not many, right?

If you’re responsible for positioning your mid-market company for growth, I’ll ask you to think critically about the processes you put your customers and employees through. If you’re a small or medium sized company in any one of those sectors, you could be facing extinction or you can position yourself for exponential growth by exceeding customer expectations.

We are too comfortable with simple reduction of wait times, and processing times, when we need to focus more on how we deliver an ideally relevant experience.

Can you be too customer focused?

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AI Automation can eliminate 80-90% of the manual processes that get in the way of delivering exceptional customer experiences across a wide range of industries. The applications are many and can provide business decision makers with a range of options to improve at many customer and employee touch points.

Virtually every company with multiple platforms for service, sales, marketing and support can benefit with AI automation integration. Mass customization through personalized, automated email and survey campaigns can now reflect a customer’s current account need or status through intelligent interconnects between your sales, marketing, and CRM platforms. Intelligent integration between disconnected platforms, gives business owners an unprecedented level of visibility into the operational efficiency of the business.

Blockages and weak spots in processes are easier to spot. Information and automated responses can flow effortlessly between monitoring and action. For instance, customers at risk of churn can be detected and automatically routed to an escalated customer management path. Customer satisfaction can be improved with intelligent detection of need and interest, or by streamlining onboarding or faster resolution of an acute need for help.

The options are endless for increasing customer satisfaction, improving employee retention, and driving company values. This is the biggest barrier to implementation for most small to medium sized enterprises. It is not easy to reinvent a business, or even simply update one to take advantage of the opportunity that automation represents.

Many businesses invest in ever-expanding IT teams that still can’t move fast enough and struggle to recruit top talent in today’s increasingly competitive market. Turning to outside developers who don’t understand your business creates even more inefficiencies and can be a waste of time and resources.

The advantages of AI automation

address. The best, most progressive companies understand that fixing the customer and employee experience is the key, and are immediate priorities for driving company value.

There is a powerful, tested and customizable way to help companies create better, more efficient and differentiating customer and employee experiences. Artificial Intelligence (AI) engines have emerged as a powerful technology to quickly and more intelligently reinvent your business, with new and exciting customer and employee experiences.

Creating a competitive advantage through improved customer

and employee experience begins with identifying opportunities for

process and product improvement.

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Grandview Research reports that AI-based Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions are increasingly being used by companies who choose to differentiate themselves through improved customer service.

U.S. CEM market size, by analytical tools, 2020 - 2028 (USD Million)

EFM software Speech analytics Text analytics Web analytics Others Source: www.grandviewresearch.com

To help companies navigate the sea of opportunity, a new breed of automation will emerge that we are calling

“Experience Automation”. Grounded in time-tested consulting workflows, and combining state-of-the-art AI applications engineering, small and medium businesses now have a powerful ally in the quest to build customer and employee experience that leapfrog larger competitors. Creating a competitive advantage through Experience Automation begins with identifying opportunities for process and product improvement. Those systems can then be streamlined by unifying data and process with workflow automation, intelligent applications integration and artificial intelligence.

Delivering a transformative customer experience is the single, most effective means of assuring your business remains not only competitive, but relevant today. I began by challenging you to think about your own, personal experiences and how they made you feel. Think now about the business value that is created every time a customer or client has an exceptional experience. Customers and employees will always

more readily remember how your product, service or company made them feel.

Delivering that level of value is absolutely attainable for any company with the vision, agility and determination.

Michael Judd

CEO, Originate

AI Automation can eliminate 80-90% of the manual processes that get in the way of delivering exceptional customer experiences across a wide range of

80-90%

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About Originate

Since 2007, Originate is a premier digital innovation company comprised of seasoned entrepreneurs and top software engineers. From startups to the world’s largest enterprises, Originate accelerates businesses with a value- driven approach to business automation.

Drop us a note to learn more about how Originate can help build your future.

1. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/5-out-of-20-fastest-growing-industries-from-2019-to-2029-are-in-

healthcare-and-social-assistance.htm?view_full