Leveraging 2024’s CX Innovations to Create a Winning Strategy for 2025
Introduction
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, AI-powered customer experience (CX) solutions are becoming indispensable as companies seek to strengthen customer loyalty, streamline support, and scale personalized interactions. With AI-driven insights, organizations can unlock new levels of efficiency and customer satisfaction, paving the way for future growth. Yet, challenges such as data security, integration complexities, and the need for seamless self-service options are pushing companies to adopt innovative strategies that enhance customer interactions while safeguarding sensitive information.
Frost & Sullivan’s December 2024 CX Think Tank webinar, Unlocking Growth with AI-Powered Customer Experience, explored the future of AI-powered contact center solutions. Moderator Alpa Shah, Global VP of CX, led a diverse panel of CX thought leaders from Frost & Sullivan (Bernardin Arnason, Research Director; Nancy Jamison, Research Director, Sebastian Menutti, Research Director; Ankita Singh, Senior Analyst), Genesys (Brett Weigl, Senior Vice President, Genesys), SuccessKPI (Erin Stewart, Senior Director of Sales), and Teleperformance (Joao Cardoso, Chief Innovation & Digital Officer, Teleperformance) who highlighted key opportunities in customer experience, including:
- AI-Driven Personalization: Enhances customer loyalty by delivering interactions tailored to individual needs and preferences
- Agent Optimization Tools: Empowers support teams with AI insights, improving productivity and driving revenue growth through faster, more effective service
- Self-Service AI Enhancements: Refines automated support options, offering seamless, intuitive solutions that reduce the need for direct agent involvement
This stellar panel shared valuable insights into the evolving landscape of AI technology in various industries. Their comments highlighted significant trends, successful use cases, and the importance of adapting metrics to support both customer and employee satisfaction.
AI Products and Features that Moved the Needle on Adoption
There has been a lot of hype and uncertainty around implementing AI in CX solutions in 2023. This year, companies buckled down and focused on customer needs, use cases, and providing value with AI capabilities to meet real needs.
Cardoso kicked off the conversation by emphasizing the successful deployment of AI in the collections industry. He noted “We deployed a solution called Teleperformance (TP) Recommender, which prioritizes delinquents and identifies the highest probability of payment. This has increased the liquidation rate by more than 11%, which is a game changer for the bank.” Cardoso also illustrated the impact of AI on sales, sharing specific improvements realized by clients. “For a multinational food and beverage company, we achieved an 11% increase in sales and a 27% rise in the average sales ticket using our TP interact solution, which analyzes interactions through generative AI.” His commentary underscores the trend of using AI not solely as a replacement for human agents, but as a tool to enhance existing services and support customer interactions, stating, “We are seeing outstanding cases with great value created for clients, focusing on augmenting the customer experience rather than replacing it.”
Shah pointed to the necessity of adapting measurement metrics as AI implementation changes customer needs and agent performance requirements. She stated, “I see that with AI, metrics must change, and businesses are not often getting that. What does it mean to incorporate AI and still value the agent and the supervisor?” This highlights the challenge businesses face in transforming their traditional measurement systems to ensure they accurately reflect the impact of AI while keeping workforce morale intact. Shah’s inquiry calls attention to the critical balance organizations must strike as they integrate AI—ensuring that employees feel supported and valued amidst technological changes.
Weigl further emphasized the focus on AI designed for enhancing user experience, noting the trend towards self-service and automation. “We think of it very much as AI for the end user, which often leads to more self-service applications and automation. Everybody is very excited about generative AI chatbots.” He noted that organizations are progressively setting ambitious goals for AI containment rates, moving from historical rates of 20 to 30% to expectations of 60 to 70%. He highlighted the growing need for AI tools that empower agents, mentioning, “Our co-pilot solutions are growing incredibly quickly…we’re putting more into it so that agents don’t have to hunt around in the desktop with all different panes of glass.” His remarks emphasized the importance of AI not just in improving customer interactions but in streamlining workflows for employees as well.
Stewart emphasized the importance of the human element in the AI transition. She says “It’s crucial that we don’t lose sight of the human connection. Customers still want personalized interactions, and that’s where trained employees are irreplaceable.” She suggested that AI should be seen as a complement to human effort rather than a full replacement.
Jamison added her perspective by highlighting the necessity of trust in AI systems. She said “For many clients, the fear of the unknown drives hesitation in adopting AI solutions. We need to build trust through transparency in how these systems operate and reassure clients about data security and the ethical use of AI.” Her comments emphasize the ethical considerations necessary for successful AI implementation.
The aim is to create value without displacing the human touch, showing that AI can be a powerful ally in improving both business outcomes and employee satisfaction. Joao suggested, “reduce or eliminate rote work, save valuable time during interactions, and provide more contextual feedback so that you can get to the next best action.”
Arnason discussed the challenges organizations face in integrating AI, particularly concerning data integration. He stated “One of the biggest hurdles we encounter is the siloing of data. For AI to drive meaningful insights, organizations must ensure their data is harmonized and accessible across platforms.” This speaks to the technical infrastructure essential for successful AI applications.
Singh then highlighted the evolving customer expectations influenced by AI technologies. She added “Customers are becoming more accustomed to immediate responses and personalized recommendations. The expectation is that AI will deliver these seamlessly, and businesses must adapt rapidly to meet this demand.” This underscores the pressure on organizations to maintain pace with technological advancements.
Menutti concluded with a forward-looking perspective, suggesting that businesses should proactively adapt to AI changes. He says, “The future isn’t about whether to adopt AI but how to integrate it meaningfully into the existing workflows while keeping a focus on employee and customer satisfaction,” he said. “Organizations must embrace the disruption that AI brings and leverage it to redefine their service models.”
Shah discussed the importance of developing AI based on use cases so that businesses can overcome their biggest hurdles and more rapidly attain a return on their investment. Stewart agreed and added, “We really need to focus on use cases that drive value. In the past, businesses were not measuring these transformations. Businesses stuck their necks out to implement AI capabilities and found that they didn’t see the results they wanted. Now, it is important to contact center leaders to see the impact of AI on the customer and agent experience and the changes in the business outcome, and then continue to look at that loop of feedback on both experiences.”
Conclusion
In summary, the panelists collectively highlighted a multi-faceted approach to AI integration, where the emphasis remains on enhancing customer experience while supporting employees through adaptive metrics, improved tools, and ethical considerations.
The insights shared paint a picture of a shifting landscape where AI and human effort collaboratively work to create value, illustrating that the pursuit of enhanced customer satisfaction and operational efficiency can coexist harmoniously.
*** For more details on the future of AI in the world of CX, please check out the entire video below. It’s chock full of valuable information as we head into 2025!
Alpa Shah, Global Vice President at Frost & Sullivan, has vast professional and volunteer experience in developing business and organization strategies; analyzing product, regional, and vertical markets; planning and executing events; sales and marketing; writing growth opportunity insights; and, most importantly, creating and inspiring teams to be best in class. Her current area of focus is on CX; she has also worked on projects covering technologies such as UC and mobile and wireless.
