S4 Ep. 7 Horizon trends: Technology convergence

The benefits of migrating customer experience technologies to the cloud are clear. CX leaders say they include better access to data across channels; the ability to add new capabilities, channels, and features faster; and enhanced report and analytics. But the technical considerations of a migration can seem less clear.   In this episode of Tech Talks in 20, Kyle Kuntz, VP of CX Evolution at Genesys, discusses the technical consideration integral to any cloud migration. He also shares his advice on optimizing resources and streamlining the transition to a cloud-based CX platform. 

Driving business performance by improving the customer and employee experience is a top priority for most organizations today. Understanding and adopting tech solutions that enable those improvements was top of mind for attendees of the customer experience and communications technology conference Enterprise Connect 2024. Join us as we recap the three hottest topics discussed at the show: artificial intelligence, especially generative AI; employee experience technologies, including AI tools; and experience transformation.  

The lines are blurring between the branch, contact center, and digital channels for financial services firms. Customers expect seamless journeys, contextually relevant interactions, and knowledgeable advisors who provide personalized service based on deep customer understanding. These expectations are often driven by their experiences with organizations in other industries. Nearly two-thirds of 61% of banking executives say continuous innovation is raising customer expectations — and 45% say they’re failing to keep pace with those expectations.  In this episode of Tech Talks in 20, David Porter, Managing Director, Global Banking Industry, examines the evolving CX technology landscape in financial services. He also shares his advice on how financial services firms can make the greatest impact with their CX technology investments now and over the next few years.  

Orchestrating the experiences consumers expect today requires more than even the most robust customer experience platform on its own. Organizations must integrate channels, data and systems to create personalized, seamless end-to-end journeys and continually optimize them. In this episode, Joe Wheeler, CEO of CX/Digital and best-selling author of "The Digital-First Customer Experience," explores how technology convergence is enabling this in ways never before imaginable — opening opportunities to reinvent the service experience so completely that by 2030, it could look nothing like it does today. 

Focusing on knowledge management simply as a way to house and share content misses an opportunity to use it as a more strategic element of the customer and employee experience. When knowledge content is fresh, rich and engaging — created with the customer and employee in mind — it can be a powerful competitive asset.   In this episode of Tech Talks in 20, Harshali Desai, Principal Product Manager, Knowledge, at Genesys, explores how to think about knowledge management from the outside in, balancing the experiences organizations want to deliver through knowledge with the experiences customers and employees expect. She also discusses how reimagining knowledge management can streamline journeys and improve business outcomes. 

Even as consumers’ use of bots increases, their satisfaction with the experience has declined. In fact, consumers are less satisfied with chatbots than all other service interaction channels, according to “The state of customer experience.” In this episode, Mitch Mason, Principal Product Manager, Genesys Conversational AI, provides easy ways to improve the bot experience, as well as practical tips on using bots to streamline customers journeys, improve satisfaction and increase issue resolution. 

More than three-quarters of senior executives agree that AI will be a critical part of their customer experience (CX) operations in the coming years, finds research from Economist Impact. And 80% say they’re already seeing gains in customer and employee satisfaction ratings and loyalty by using AI improve their experiences.     In this episode, Rahul Garg, VP Product, AI and Conversational AI at Genesys, explains how organizations are using conversational, generative and predictive AI to optimize the customer experience and enhance the employee experience. He also predicts the next big thing in AI for orchestrating engaging and empathetic experiences. 

Unisys is a global technology solutions company dedicated to helping organizations drive innovation and excel at customer experience. The company recently reimagined its own customer journey by moving to a cloud-based customer experience platform — to better address what matters most to its clients and their users. What might have been a complex implementation was simplified with extensive planning, collaboration and communication, as well as taking an agile, test-and-learn approach. In this episode, Aron Meyer, Digital Workplace Solutions Architect at Unisys, explains how the company was able to eliminate seven legacy platforms and move more than 100 client organizations from across 12 global locations to that cloud-based customer experience platform. 

Research finds that customers want a fast, first-interaction most when contacting an organization for a service or support issue. And customer experience leaders say one of their agents’ biggest frustrations is a lack of data to quickly resolve customers’ queries in the moment. Knowledge management can help with both.    When organizations use knowledge management as a single source of truth across channels, valuable information is always available — for issue speedy issue resolution through agent-assisted or self-service, for real-time personalization, for agent enablement. In this episode, Coty Smith, Director of Digital Innovation at Genesys, discusses the invaluable role knowledge management plays in customer and employee experiences, and how organizations can use it to create a steel thread of dynamic, pervasive insight across customer-facing functions. He also examines the role artificial intelligence plays in improving employees’ and customers’ access to knowledge. 

Too often, organizations moving from on-premises customer experience (CX) technology to a cloud-based CX platform try to replicate their current operations — rather than taking the opportunity to reinvent them. In this episode, Brian T. Jones, Senior Specialist, Technology, AP Digital Care Communications, at Ascension Technologies, explains how the IT arm of Ascension Health was able to make improvement like downsizing to one dynamic call flow by being open to the art of the possible.