When considering the role of artificial intelligence in customer experience, organizations face so much hype that they risk confusing the race to adoption with speed to value. Over the past two years, there have been as many headlines about project failures and ethical issues as there are about new levels of innovation or capabilities.
But this is understandable because as with any technological implementation, if clear objectives and well-defined use cases aren’t established, GenAI risks transforming from a strategic advantage into a costly liability.
In order to filter out the hype and clearly see where and how the technology will have a positive, lasting impact, it’s critical to assess generative AI’s role in customer experience in terms of obvious, albeit vanilla, applications.
Closer working relationships
All the immediate use cases for generative AI and CX involve improving and enhancing employees’ capabilities, whether that enhancement is in terms of productivity, creativity, automation or autonomy. AI can take care of number crunching, undertake repetitive, time-consuming tasks and, in doing so, liberate employees to focus their human intelligence where it matters most.
Innovation for all
Generative AI levels the playing field so that smaller businesses can access capabilities that until recently were the preserve of large-scale enterprises. Furthermore, its accessibility and ease of use means that any employee within any department can use the technology, identify use cases and bring ideas to the table.
Data-driven insights
The technology can process and interrogate unstructured data sources, such as transcripts, audio files and images, meaning more organizations will be able to generate accurate, comprehensive insights that will enhance the decision-making process. And again, thanks to accessibility, potentially any person at an organization could start autonomously generating role- or department-specific insights. There would be no need to put in requests to the IT department for conducting an analysis.
Generative AI’s rapid evolution makes it challenging to predict future applications with absolute certainty. However, what is already clear is that the most promising initial applications are those that carry low risks, have the potential for high impact on existing performance and feature clear metrics for measuring success.
Start with CX
Given these dynamics, improved customer experience with artificial intelligence is among the most promising opportunities where AI and CX can make a measurable impact. AI in customer experience continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the customer journey, ensuring both efficiency and personalization. Organizations need to bear in mind that AI, whether in the form of machine learning, natural language processing, intelligent automation or algorithms guided by statistical analysis, is already responsible for much of the CX innovation we’ve experienced over the past decade. In other words, CX has an AI track record and a foundation on which to continue building. In other words, with the right approach, your organization has the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of AI giants.
Personalization
If your organization can collect customer data, whether that data is structured or unstructured, generative AI provides the capabilities to analyze it and start uncovering insights that will ultimately lead to a greater level of personalization. We’re not yet at a point in time when it’s possible to sell to and support a market of one. But the capabilities are already there to be able to develop very accurate AI-driven customer personas and use those archetypes to optimize the customer journey and, in doing so, maximize the chances of customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Speed
Everything your organization can do to reduce the time it takes for a customer to resolve an issue will be rewarded with higher CSAT and NPS scores. A CX chatbot powered by AI can immediately reduce live contact volumes, if it’s been properly fine-tuned.
And an agent-facing chatbot can noticeably reduce average handle times by removing the need to toggle between systems or databases to find information or provide answers during a telephone or chat conversation. Through real-time transcriptions and summation, it becomes simple to automate a large proportion of an agent’s after-call work, meaning more of your team is free more often to take the next call or begin the next chat session.
The soil of customer experience is some of the most fertile for planting the seeds of generative AI. Every major CX trend we expect to see over the coming year will have its roots in AI applications in customer experience. So, to learn more about these trends and what they could mean to your business and its customer relationships over the course of 2025, read the “Foundever® 2025 CX trends report: From buzzword to business case.”