How AI-powered technology impacts the service delivery industry
By Rune Sovndahl, Co-founder, Fantastic Services
Technology has always revolutionised the service delivery industry. However, its role has changed from a mere supplementary tool to a driving force of transformation, especially with the advent of AI-powered tools.
Let me explain how in detail.
Customer experience
We all know that providing excellent service is what makes or breaks your business.
In fact, I started my own company, Fantastic Services, because, frankly, I was appalled by the lack of quality service provided by the cleaning companies at the time. In fact, they were so bad they inadvertently created their own competitor.
Nowadays, customers simply expect quality service and trust me, they have no trouble taking their business elsewhere if those expectations are not met. This puts emphasis on providing the best possible service and constantly trying to outperform the competition.
Modern technology makes all this possible. However, with the advent of AI-powered tools, you can take that further like never before.
For example, as clients are nowadays expecting at least 90% levels of personalisation, you can easily use artificial intelligence to achieve that with ease.
AI tools like chatbots, machine learning, and UX can analyse customer data and create personalised customer interactions, enhance customer experience, and even increase self-service options.
AI-powered tools can also handle customer inquiries with speed and accuracy. AI-powered chatbots used in banks, for example, can help answer clients’ questions, assist with transactions, provide account info, etc.
Artificial intelligence can also be used to create more engaging customer surveys, improve customer retention by analysing pain points, and even provide customised recommendations based on your client’s behaviour and preferences.
The role of natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis, for example, allows AI to understand the emotions, tone, and intentions of customers during surveys, reviews or messages.
This greatly aids service delivery managers in assessing customer expectations, needs, and pain points better and tailoring services accordingly.
In the end, however, not all tasks can nor should be automated as AI is not ready yet to stand on its own. Besides, there will always be a need for human workers who will need to manage certain areas that will always require a human touch.
Business optimisation
Optimising your business has also never been easier, as AI-powered technology offers plenty of ways to do that.
Automating routine tasks using AI tools, for example, can free up valuable time and human resources, so your employees can focus on more complex and strategic goals. This will increase efficiency and, at the same time, also decrease the margin for human error.
AI-powered tools can optimise sales and marketing through data analytics by processing it and coming up with important insights that would otherwise go unnoticed or overlooked.
You only need to take a look at how Amazon utilises this–it’s the reason why they can so often accurately predict what their customers would want to buy next.
Also, as the majority of target audiences use search engines to begin their online journey, it makes sense that SEO remains the leading digital marketing strategy. However, finding the right AI tools for your business depends entirely on your particular situation and needs.
For example, businesses can use various AI tools in SEO for content creation and content optimisation, monitor search engine rankings, analyse large amounts of data to track keyword performance and even analyse competitor performance.
Ultimately, this powerful technology can improve business performance and growth and help companies of various sizes become more competitive in the market.
Tracking the right metrics
Technology has empowered us to harness the power of data like never before, allowing us to gain invaluable insights into our customers’ preferences and behaviours.
Even more so with the advent of AI, which can multiply the effectiveness of that process many times over.
However, many small businesses are still content maintaining the “status quo”, i.e. they prefer regular income and steady work, and they’re not sure what to make of AI.
The problem with that philosophy is that the world is constantly changing. Changes happen suddenly and can send shockwaves through your business, and if you’re not ready to adapt, learn on the go, and course correct, then you’re in real trouble.
This is why custom-tailored CRM system software is so important for businesses, for example. But with the advent of artificial intelligence, the already great benefits they provide can be enhanced many times over.
Harness the power of AI-enhanced CRM
Customer Relationship Management systems are famously known to increase sales, provide in-depth analytics, increase customer retention and much, much more.
However, by integrating AI with your CRM system, you can enhance almost any aspect many times over.
In fact, some projections claim that CRM-related AI will increase global business revenue by over $1 trillion by the end of the year.
Even if these predictions don’t materialise to their full extent, you can easily imagine the great impact AI-powered CRM will have on businesses worldwide, particularly when they want to stay competitive.
Ai-integration into CRM can greatly increase sales, improve customer insights, streamline operations and increase your overall efficiency.
It can be used to identify and prevent potential problems, handle large data efficiently, and assist customers via various communication channels 24/7.
However, the integration itself is not so simple, as it requires plenty of planning due to its complexity. If that’s handled the right way, however, your business can start reaping the many benefits AI provides and stay a step ahead.
Connecting with your customers via social media
We all know that a well-developed and maintained social media presence is nowadays simply a must for every business.
Besides the obvious marketing and promotional benefits your online presence provides, it can also be used as an effective tool to communicate with your customers and learn from them.
By connecting with your clients through various social media platforms, you can directly message them, learn what they think about your services and share all kinds of helpful content.
All this is what’s going to deepen the connection between your clients and your company, and it’s what’s going to drive your business to improve even further.
However, AI can also be used in social media to aid in identifying and tracking posts that include mentions. This will keep you informed about current trends and help you establish a strong and effective online presence too.
Not to mention the invaluable insights you can gain that can inform and improve your social media marketing strategy.
Some final words
Many businesses are still in two minds regarding the introduction of artificial intelligence into their business processes.
In the end, it’s not about whether you like AI or not, for it is here to stay. And, in the future, it’s going to not only get smarter but faster, too.
The question then becomes whether you can implement it into your business quickly enough so you can reap the enormous benefits it provides. And if you do, you will be well on your way towards leading the pack when the rest of the crowd eventually decides to join in.
