TALKING
‘‘ business principles or taking the stance that the customer is always right , cannot come at the expense of employees ’ wellbeing . This impacts the wellbeing of the business itself . McKinsey research finds that people who have a positive employee experience have 16 times the engagement level of those with a negative experience . This , combined with broad employee uncertainty towards the consequences of increased automation in the workplace , makes EX more important than ever . Happy employees cultivate happy customers .
Chatbot technology , another area of automation – and a popular one – stands to streamline CX and bolster it even further thanks to innovations in Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) and Machine Learning ( ML ). Gartner predicted that a quarter of all customer service operations would integrate chatbots into their engagement channels by 2020 , up exponentially from two years previously .
Through AI chatbots , customers receive a more personalised approach from businesses in their dealings , with wider availability periods , and businesses can identify behavioural patterns and preferences and gather insight to improve their products . Chatbots are also a time-saving resource for employees , giving them more time and energy for other tasks , thus boosting satisfaction levels .
The power of mobile connectivity
No more a device for just making and receiving calls , mobile phones accounted for more than half of all web traffic globally in the first quarter of 2021 .
A sizeable portion of the world ’ s population interacts with the Internet via a mobile device , creating the necessity to innovate and expand service offerings on them .
Kenya itself is home to Africa ’ s biggest mobile platform success story , M-PESA , which revolutionised mobile banking and dramatically improved financial inclusion across the continent . Beyond banking and retail , most other sectors have also embraced mobile platforms to deliver quality service and products to customers , deploying solutions that digitise traditional processes and improve convenience .
Through mobile , businesses can introduce innovative solutions such as contactless payment methods , online registration processes and indeed , conversational channels . They need to adopt proactive strategies in engaging with clients and embrace technology that takes full advantage of mobile capability . After all , when it comes to creating the path of least resistance , today ’ s technology has it in the bag .
Looking to the future , these technologies will converge to create a digital economic and logistical ecosystem built on the backbone of mobile connectivity . With broadening connectivity comes the potential for wideranging commercial opportunities and the means to tap previously unreachable consumer pools . Success will lie in finding unified solutions that integrate as many functions and services as possible , recognising every touchpoint as a commercial opportunity and supporting the entire customer journey in a seamless , data-driven , proactive way . p
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