Overwhelmingly, customer experience executives feel pressured to fast track Gen AI as hype cycle takes hold

News 26 Jul 2023 - 3 min read

Overwhelmingly, customer experience executives feel pressured to fast track Gen AI as hype cycle takes hold

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Tags: customer experience Qualtrics

Three quarters of customer experience executives polled in a recent industry study say they feel pressured to fast track generative AI and incorporate it into current business strategy. Nearly a decade's worth of chatbot and other developments has at least given them some real world insights into the potential of AI generally, with the majority believing it will help them deliver competitive advantage in their business.

Expectations about the impact of AI on business, and especially in the field of customer experience have accelerated as generative AI tools like ChatGPT have exposed company leaders to the potential of the technology.

A new study by Qualtrics, released last week, revealed that even though it is a relatively new technology (at least in terms of general release), 75 per cent of CX leaders say they feel pressure to incorporate generative AI into their business strategy now.

The study found that nearly two-thirds of leaders expect their companies will increase their financial investment in tech tools as well as training for their CX teams over the next year. There is no immediate expectation though that more AI means less humans - more than half of customer experience leaders believe the size of their teams will grow over the next year. (Of course as anyone who has had to shepherd an IT business case through finance will recognise, CFO's may have a different view when it comes time to sign the cheque.)

According to Ellen Loeshelle, Qualtrics Director of AI Product Management, "Historically, emerging technologies have elevated the human experience by allowing users to prioritize the skills that they uniquely possess. Incorporating AI gives customer experience teams a powerful way to reduce workloads and let people focus on the issues that humans are made for, without sacrificing insights that drive future improvements and innovations.

Interestingly, Australian CX executives display a bit more skepticism than their international peers. "While the competitive advantage enabled by AI is widely accepted by local CX professionals, with 41 per cent agreeing with this sentiment, it is not as strong as in other parts of the world - specifically the UK, France, Germany, Mexico, and Brazil, " according to a company spokesperson.

Still, Australia's CX executives are largely on board when it comes to the potential benefits. 81 per cent believe AI will help them at work, by reducing workloads (38 per cent), and AI's ability to help frontline employees resolve customer problems faster (29 per cent) is also seen as one of the likely wins.