Consumers are beginning to not only demand but expect that enterprises meet the experience level of private communication in every interaction. Consumers now have more choice over which communication channel to use and enterprises are starting to feel increased pressure to leverage new tools, such as chatbots, in order to provide a high level of customer service.
The following predictions for 2018 address why companies will be spending their marketing and customer service budgets on chatbots for gaining actionable data, how implementing a secure, omni-channel experience will improve customer engagement, and why enterprise IT won’t wait for AI to perfect natural language capabilities.
#1: Communication platforms will be a top player in gaining actionable data on customers
Chatbots provide a higher level of interaction and contextual knowledge to learn about a customer’s needs and intent, in other words, gather actionable data about a customer, that sharpen timely recommendations and increase sales. In 2018, companies will focus their marketing and customer service budgets on context-aware communications that will be measured by the value it’s delivering to provide smart data and real-time communications.
Thorsten Trapp,
CTO & Co-Founder,
Tyntec
#2: CPaaS will be at the center of orchestrating different communication channels to fulfill the need for enterprises to engage their customers
The future is offering consumers the ability to use the channel of their choice quickly and securely – and they are bringing that communication behavior to every interaction, no matter whom they are talking to. As a result, companies need to focus on keeping the consumer in the channel of their choice, while still maintaining a high level of security. In 2018, we’ll see more innovations come out that help push all communication channels to become omni-channel and find new ways to integrate public and private channels without the user recognizing it. The advancement in programmable telecom will accelerate the process.
#3: Enterprise IT won’t wait for AI technology to perfect its natural language processing capabilities
Once initial human-like interaction has been established, deeper engagement and business transactions will be handled by micro/instant apps, using more transaction-efficient interfaces. Natural language processing through AI is not optimized for the collection of structured data, such as signatures or filling out forms or credit card information. Companies won’t wait for AI to perfect this but will integrate solutions that help with the seamless handoff between natural AI conversations and the use of micro/instant apps, delivered in the messaging channel with no friction, to collect more complex data.
About The Author:
Thorsten is a serial entrepreneur, lateral thinker, trend spotter, and mobile industry expert. Since co-founding tyntec in 2002, Thorsten has been developing and driving innovation to continuously improve the company’s products and services. Innovator at heart, Thorsten is the inventor of tyntec’s dynamic SS7 platform, Mobile Number Portability System, and tt.One product. He is the holder of several patents and studied Computer Science and Biology at Technical University Dortmund, Germany.
