‘Cope’ and comms in a world of constant change

Kade Herbert, AI expert at CallTower explores the ways AI and automation can help businesses to ‘cope’, while praising the benefits of integration and warning against shadow AI.

If you’ve spent any time engrossed in the so-called ‘AI debate’, you’ll have heard the word ‘cope’ come up a lot. Essentially, it’s the name for all the excuses, bad reasons, and wishful thinking that are put out there to ‘cope’ with the fact AI is going to radically transform the world of work. People aren’t using it positively either. 

But the normal meaning of cope – to deal successfully with a challenge – is just as interesting, if not more pressing to the constantly changing business landscape we’re witnessing unfold every day. Remote work, evolving markets, new consumer preferences, and increasingly fierce competition are forcing businesses to adapt their communication strategies. AI and automation are emerging as ways for businesses to cope with these challenges, while integration within the comms tech stack is becoming a strategic asset for the future too. In this sense, cope is hugely positive.

Understanding the drivers of constant change

The business landscape is in flux for several reasons. Hybrid and remote work patterns have placed new expectations on employers, both in terms of their flexibility and their technology. Frankly, if an organisation can’t host remote employees, it’s at risk of losing out on the best and brightest. The economy is also all over the place. Many countries have suffered through the knock-on effects of inflation and energy price rises, and people everywhere – customers and employees – are still putting up with the ongoing cost of living crisis. The volatility in global markets, and the impact on prices, has not been improved by leaders on the world stage either.

Consumer expectations and behaviours are changing too. Unaffordability and ethics are just two of the forces I’ve already mentioned that are responsible. Others include demographic change as digital natives slowly occupy a greater portion of the available market. With them they are bringing expectations around personalisation and digital-first experiences. Expectations around instant information, omnichannel communications, and round-the-clock support have also cemented themselves. Such expectations are not limited to consumers either. HubSpot research shows half of business to business (B2B) buyers now find their buying experience is outdated too.

The role of AI and automation in coping with change

AI in the unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and contact centre as a service (CCaaS) stack is creating customer journeys that meet the expectations of digital natives. By intelligently routing customers between and through many different channels, it’s capable of taking people seamlessly from wherever they want to engage a business – social channels, for example – through to the point of resolution with, say, an insurance claims specialist. 

A quickly proliferating number of AI models is also helping organisations to personalise their communications, with future AI models offering even more. Here it’s important to highlight that for many customers, personalisation has become an expectation. Without it, they’re willing to spend their money elsewhere. What stands out in this space is the combination of existing conversational AI and next-level generative AI. Together they’re ushering in an era of hyper-personalisation where vast amounts of personal data can be used to fuel interactions that are indistinguishable from human ones. This undeniably meets the necessity for personalisation that consumers and new generations have, and in some cases it’s imaginable that people could prefer these forms of customer experience.  

Yet, on top of this, AI is not just meeting those needs, but it will help organisations differentiate themselves and fight off competition. People don’t like it when self-service and personalisation go poorly. Research from Gartner shows that 62% of customer service channel switches are high effort for customers who may, for instance, have to repeat their purchase or personal details several times. Get these things right though, and, according to the research, your customers will be happy, tell others, and be more likely to stick around.

AI is as much an employee experience tool as it is a customer experience one. Case summarisations and agent assists are helping agents to improve satisfaction KPIs while speeding up operations and allowing agents to service more customers. As time and labour are the biggest costs in contact centres, this can have a massive impact on bottom lines. Outside the contact centre, co-pilot style tools are unlocking people’s potential to work, think, be creative and communicate faster. This helps to improve the workplace while empowering people to deliver their best work. Research from Amazon Web Services (AWS) also shows that 90% of companies that have adopted AI are reporting increased revenue or productivity.

A warning from the shadows and the need(s) for integrations

With all this hype, it’s a good idea to issue a warning too. Specifically: shadow AI is a problem. 

As a consequence of the scramble to make the most of this new tech, unintentional data exfiltration is something a lot of companies should be prepared for. Companies will be surprised to find their or their customers’ data show up in the wrong places in a few years from now. 

Organisational policies are one way to prevent this, warning people of the consequences and repercussions of putting company data in freely available GPT apps. But the only way to realistically prevent this is to use the right kind of secure, integrated AI apps that are as powerful and effective as the headline-grabbing ones. If you’re not sure which to use, it’s best to avoid the free GPTs and speak to your comms vendor about what they offer.

More than data security, integration is now a critical property that prepares organisations for the future and allows them to adapt and cope with new changes. Plug-and-play integration is what keeps organisations nimble, ready for whatever comes next. Whether that’s reacting to market changes or absorbing the tech and teams from recent acquisitions and mergers.

When your communication platform supports seamless integration, rolling out new tech is easier too. It enables organisations to connect new AI-powered applications quickly and with minimal effort. That means fewer bottlenecks, less time wasted on admin, and faster routes from adoption to ROI. In times of change, these advantages and efficiencies matter more.

What’s next?

AI can help organisations cope with squeezed bottom lines, customer expectations, and give them a competitive advantage. Meanwhile, integration in their comms stack lets companies deal with ongoing future changes by being adaptable and responsive.