Anu Khare: VSP stands for value, strategic fit, and passionate sponsor. The framework ties to my fundamental philosophy of letting cost, value, and the customer decide what is valuable and what is not valuable for our customers.

We didn’t start with VSP, but it evolved as a guiding framework, as we looked at our portfolio enablement process and asked ourselves, what’s the simplest way to approach project portfolio management? First, we decided to focus on the value. We started working with the business sponsors to articulate where and what impact the technology will have on the business. We then validate with finance, and if it has a hard savings, it gets No. 1 priority in terms of investment.

The relentless focus on value also leads to the second point, which is strategic fit. The project may be valuable, but in any organization, the list of things the organization can do is always bigger than what the organization can afford or should afford. This is a capital allocation discussion? So we focus on the strategic fit. Because I have a purview of the overall Oshkosh business strategies, and my business unit IT leaders have a purview of the business unit level strategies, together we are able to prioritize in line with business strategy. For example, if a business unit wants to improve their aftermarket sales, then we should have a project which is helping them in improving aftermarket sales and margins as one of our high-priority projects. But if we’re focusing on something else, that is not a strategic fit.

The third thing we focus on is passionate business sponsors — people who are willing to spend their time, money, and resources to make a project successful. If they’re not passionate about that particular project, we have something missing here. Either value is missing, our strategic fit is missing, or timing is missing.

Generally, what happens in IT, projects get delayed because of IT but also because of business resource availability. As a result of focusing on these three in combination, business sponsors are really excited because this is going to impact their KPIs, and top business leaders are very happy because this is aligned with their strategic priorities. And since this is both of their priority, they want to invest money and resources on it. We have also experienced that the engagement of passionate sponsors has helped project timing becoming shorter than before.

So those three elements are just a summarization of how we evaluate projects, how we come up with initiatives, and how we invest our time and resources.

With the VSP as context, can you describe your major digital transformation themes?

Our transformation themes can be bucketed in three groups: business enablement, tech enablement, and digital savviness.

On the business enablement side, our focus has been to apply advanced technologies such as analytics/AI, intelligent automation, and digital manufacturing solutions — such as AR/VR, computer vision — to rethink and reimagine our manufacturing, supply chain, and digital customer experience.

On the tech enablement side, the major initiatives have been on building cloud, machine learning, and automation capabilities and modernizing tech stack such as ERP.

The third theme is creating digital savviness, including upskilling and reskilling the business and IT workforce. Digital transformation will be successful if we have business savvy and a digitally savvy business team.

You’re well regarded across the industry for having one of the leading data strategies. Can you give us some insight into what it entails?

There are really four parts to our data strategy: alignment on framework, focus on value-based priorities, having infrastructure, and talent and inclusiveness.

I didn’t want to create a framework, so I used the industry’s Delta Framework to assess current state and setting maturity target. I think it’s well-regarded and it makes the vocabulary very standard in the organization. So that’s the alignment on the framework. The second piece was alignment on where the value is and where we focus. You can apply analytics everywhere and we are applying in many places, but it has to be applied to strategic problems of the company.

For example, we are spending our analytics efforts around supply chain, manufacturing, and sales and aftermarket. These three things together are major building blocks of our revenue and margin stream. So, with these three areas of focus, we aligned on which specific opportunity we should capture and where we spend our time.

The third thing is alignment on a most modern technology stack, because you have to make sure that technology doesn’t become a roadblock for you. So that’s where we have standardized on the Microsoft Azure Stack, cloud, and analytics capability.

The final piece is having a talent strategy which is deep, but which is also inclusive. And what I mean by deep is, we needed to build data science capability because we didn’t have it, so we hired from outside, but we also opened it up for any non-data science person who has a passion. One example was an analyst in our legal team. This person was very passionate about data science, and when I was doing a road show, the person said, ‘Can I join you team?’ The passion was there, they were willing to learn, and they became part of my team.

The second part of the talent strategy is inclusiveness, and this is where we focus on the self-service analytics using Power BI. We wanted to spread that this is not IT — we should be empowering our businesspeople. So our team created a custom training with live Oshkosh examples, making it easy for people to understand. Now, we continue to see significant growth in adoption of self-service analytics. The measurement we use for analytics adoption is the growth in Power BI licenses and operating impact created by analytics.

You talk about taking people on the journey of conversation. What does that look like?

What we also do in data strategy, and in every area of digital transformation, is storytelling. We started our journey with a use case approach. When we finish a use case, we write one pager of what the business problem was, how it has been solved, and its business impact, and include any visual representation. It is just one PowerPoint slide that depicts the whole story. We widely share and communicate that, and that generates interest. If you have a story and it can be applied in one business unit, why not others. That acts as a multiplier effect.

Another process we use is called cross-business initiative meetings where, every quarter, we share key use cases. Our top 100 leaders and our CEO and business presidents are all are part of it. We invite people who are using those analytics models to tell the story. When they are telling the real story, it is not coming from us; it is coming from them.

Our CEO also makes sure that in his global all-hands meeting, he weaves in a story about analytics and automation. He’s so good at translating technology into simple words, and his words are very powerful. When I introduced the training for our top 350 leaders in analytics, it was an online course with three or four modules, and he was the biggest advocate in every forum. He took the course, and, through his example, he said why it is important for the company.

It’s clear that you come at all of these things as one of a dozen executive officers of the company first and as a CIO second. Is that how you see it?

Yes, it is. As an executive officer of the company, my focus is on business opportunities and value that can be captured through technology. I see myself as being here to help our employees and business achieve the goals for their stakeholders. Our employee base should have a delightful experience with the technology, and our businesses should be getting a return on the dollar. That’s the subconscious mind that drives me.

For more from Khare on how to innovate successfully and drive business value, tune in to the Tech Whisperers podcast.

Originally Appeared Here

Update: The original source of this report has now posted an update with details from T-Mobile. According to T-Mobile, all employees affected by shutting down some of its T-Force customer support centers have been offered relocation options to the new consolidated centers.

Here is the statement T-Mobile sent The Mobile Report:

To make our best-in-class online support team even more effective and collaborative for customers, we are bringing our previously geographically dispersed online support team (T-Force) physically together into five designated Customer Experience Center locations across the country. As online support remains a priority and we plan to stay fully staffed, we hope as many of our employees as possible stay on with us. To support them, we have offered relocation packages. Those who are unable to move are eligible for alternate roles at T-Mobile. We will provide those who choose to leave the company with transition support and anticipate very few departures.

T-Force is T-Mobile’s customer service division that works separately from the company’s other support systems, such as chat box help. The team works exclusively through Facebook and Twitter to help millions of T-Mobile customers with assistance. T-Mobile is closing down a dozen support centers to just five locations throughout the United States. 

Back in 2017, T-Mobile boasted its T-Force techs “cut wait times by 10x – from 30 minutes three years ago to just 3 minutes… T-Mobile customers are happier and more satisfied than ever.”

But today, sources are reporting T-Mobile has suddenly issued an ultimatum for most of the T-Force crew – relocate or resign. Employees have the option to relocate to one of the five remaining centers or find another job. 

T-Force employees who choose to stay will be offered a relocation payment, though how much that will be is yet to be revealed. Those who choose to resign are rumored to receive a severance package of two months of paid time off, which will end on August 4th, 2023. 

While thousands of T-Force employees will have until June 12th to decide which option to take. T-Mobile will continue paying T-Force team members while they decide.

Originally Appeared Here:

OSF Digital releases its 2023 Omnichannel Retail Index report with insights into removing commerce friction points, loyalty and giving customers more control

QUEBEC CITY, June 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ – OSF Digital, an award-winning provider of digital transformation services to companies worldwide, today announced the release of its 2023 Omnichannel Retail Index (Index) Executive Summary Report.

The Executive Summary Report outlines key findings on the state of omnichannel and digital best practices, offering insights on investment trends and customer demands. The 8th annual study found that retailers and brands are increasing adoption rates of certain omnichannel and digital capabilities, such as loyalty programs. Despite the increased adoption of some best practices, others have declined. Overall, companies in the Index have implemented an average of 60% of best practices—a slight decrease from the previous year’s 61%. 

The highest-ranking company in the Index implemented 80% of the Index’s designated best practices, a decrease from 2022 when the highest score was 85%. With different challenges and priorities across verticals and businesses, the gap between the highest scorer of best adoption practices and the lowest scorer (31%) significantly widened according to this year’s Index analysis.

Some of the key findings from this year’s study include:

• Loyalty programs are widely adopted, with 77% (up from 70% in 2022) of benchmarked retailers reporting having one. Some brands maximize their offerings with tiered (42%) or paid (19%) loyalty programs to build long-term relationships. Leveraging these and offering rewards or discounts for certain actions as a retention strategy became a top priority for many companies.
• As retailers and brands increase their focus on the customer experience, they’re adding more features to make it easier for online shoppers to find what they’re looking for faster. Search functionality showed high adoption among retailers in the Index. A whopping 95% of retailers use auto-suggest search terms and 88% offer suggestions for empty search results—up from 73% in 2022. A nascent site search tactic growing in popularity is pre-populating autosuggest with top searches or trending items—adopted by 43% in 2023.
• More brands also feature guided online selling tools, growing to 40% this year from last year’s 26%. But a missed opportunity here is the capability to save your quiz or guide results in your account section for later access, as only 30% of brands have adopted this feature. 
• The Index continues to see a decline in curbside pickup, with only 49% of brands offering curbside pickup, compared to 73% in 2021. This drop is not surprising given the fast adoption of curbside pickup during the pandemic when it became a must-have feature overnight. Buy Online Pickup in Store (BOPIS) also continues to fall slowly, with 82% of benchmarked companies offering it, versus 86% at its peak in 2021, despite BOPIS being a customer favorite.

“The Omnichannel Retail Index is a critical tool to provide retailers and brands with insights and data for creating an outstanding and seamless customer experience across the shopping journey,” said Gerard (Gerry) Szatvanyi, CEO of OSF Digital. “This year’s report guides businesses in understanding commerce best practices, justifying their digital roadmap, and making smarter investment decisions to optimize customer experiences. OSF Digital is committed to providing this comprehensive study to help companies accelerate growth and stay competitive.”  

Launched in 2015, the Omnichannel Retail Index is widely recognized as the industry’s most comprehensive omnichannel and digital best practice benchmark study. The Index takes the pulse of digital commerce and omnichannel retail practices, examining how 120 leading U.S. retailers and brands perform against 200+ criteria across web, mobile, and in-store capabilities. The Index shows how these companies deliver on the omnichannel promise through detailed and extensive mystery shopping conducted by OSF’s Digital Strategy consultants. To view Executive Summary Report, please visit osf.digital.

For more information about the Omnichannel Retail Index criteria and to learn how your company stacks up, please contact [email protected] or visit OSF Micro-ORI to get a free micro-ORI benchmark.  

About OSF Digital

OSF Digital is a global commerce and digital transformation leader with expertise in connecting technology and strategy to drive business goals. With expertise in B2C and B2B commerce and Salesforce awards for multi-cloud innovation, OSF Digital seamlessly guides enterprises through their entire digital transformation journey. With customers in various industries around the globe, OSF Digital provides personal attention and the highest level of connection with a local presence throughout North America, Latin America, APAC, and EMEA. For more information about OSF Digital, visit osf.digital.

All trademarks and trade names mentioned herein are the properties of their respective holders and hereby acknowledged.    

Salesforce is a trademark of salesforce.com, inc.

SOURCE OSF Digital

Originally Appeared Here

A couple of years ago, our VC fund launched a platform where startups could upload their internal data and receive an in-depth analysis – the kind we do during due diligence – but it soon ran into problems. The dashboard was difficult for founders to navigate, and we wanted a simple way to give them the most important insights from their data.

Coincidentally, around that time, we had the opportunity to invest in a vibrant new data analytics startup: Count. They wanted to fix dashboards by making them more collaborative and dynamic so entire teams could glean insights from them. 

I took the opportunity to perform two types of due diligence at the same time – on Count’s product and on Count’s data. I uploaded Count’s internal data to our data warehouse, which I then connected to Count’s own data analytics app. Once I started using the app, I found not only promising usage metrics but also a product that was in itself easy to use. It connected to our existing data stack and could run clear visualizations and analyses. Most importantly for us, we could include running commentary with all the data and charts. I thought that such capabilities would vastly improve our own startup data analysis platform. 

A collaboration was born. Growth Scanner, our data platform for startups, started running on Count, and our founders enjoyed how simple and intuitive the revamped product was. As Count has pivoted its product to a collaborative “canvas” where data is visualized and acted on, Growth Scanner has taken advantage of the new features to enhance its own value proposition.

That’s just one story of why VCs should be using their startups’ products in a variety of ways. We use portfolio companies’ products from due diligence through their lifetimes and, typically, it’s our startups that get the greatest returns from it. I’ve personally learned so much from my experience with Count, and many other companies we work with. 

1. Your portfolio is your most accessible toolkit

Ironically, VCs don’t always use the most high-tech tools to facilitate their internal processes. For example, to organize investment data on their portfolio, most VCs still use Excel. 

This, despite the fact that many of the products they back as investors are directly applicable to the operations of a fund. Whether it’s a better way of organizing data, or of monitoring finances, or of managing check-ins. Indeed, over the past few weeks, we’ve seen several VC-specific data tools emerge: Pitchbook released a tool that predicts which startups are most likely to have a successful exit. Similarly, JP Morgan acquired a data dashboard where VCs can track and analyze their investments. In fact, JP Morgan was an investor in the dashboard before acquiring it.

VCs should be assessing how the products in their portfolio can improve their own internal processes. Try integrating different data tools and business products. We also use our portfolio startup Fuell in our European office to facilitate expense reporting. That way, we’re streamlining our own operations while keeping on top of the progress of the company. 

2. You’re like a power user but with a vested interest

As a VC, you can be one of your startup’s most important users. Like most early users, you have access to the product before the masses and can provide valuable feedback. But unlike most users, you have a vested interest in that startup getting it right. 

The feedback process is entirely different with a “VC power user.” It’s not limited to one-off surveys with no follow-up. Investors are there to accompany the company until they get it right. They’ll be present at every step of the decision-making process. 

Our investors have used a wide array of apps – a hypnosis app, a baby monitoring app, an at-home gut microbiome test. In every case, it has enabled us to develop a unique level of empathy with the founder. 

If you become a user having understood the company and what they’re striving to build, you can connect with the creators in a targeted way. You know where to give advice, and you know where they, as people, need the most advice. As you use the product, hold regular discussions with the startup’s team to identify the micro and macro issues they should be addressing.

3. Accept that you’re not the only customer

As much as you are a powerful customer, you’re also not the only one. We learned this during our experience with Count. Our joint collaboration was going so well that we began asking about possible extra features: could the platform enable users to easily create similar copies of the same data visualizations?

It didn’t take long to figure out that none of Count’s other users were calling out for that function. The founders listened to our feedback, and considered the proposal, but ultimately decided against it. They weren’t seeing a pattern in demand from other users – and that had to be their priority.

Early-stage startups are ultimately trying to find a market, to get to a point where lots of customers are looking to use the product in the same way. So even as power users, if we’re not squarely in that target market, we have to be humble and not push the matter.

In the end, the goal is for the startup to be guided by the data. If a startup is seeing a broad range of customers use the product for the same reason, and can further support that with verbal interviews with users, that should become their focus.

4. Due diligence has to be pre- and post-investment

Checking out a startup’s product is a core part of TheVentureCity’s due diligence before deciding to invest. We always do a test run of prospective startups’ apps or platforms. We also like to examine product usage data whenever possible. Even with as little as three months of customer data, we can start to assess growth signals within the company.

But we also don’t stop there. We believe that due diligence should be ongoing. Even after the first investment, VCs should use the product regularly, just as they assess their portfolio startups’ teams, financials, and market. 

As a startup grows, it’s crucial to monitor how the product is evolving, whether its usability is improving, whether a new feature is stealing the limelight, whether some glitches are being fixed – an endless list of variables that you can only understand if you’re using the product regularly. Each variable helps you understand the broader landscape, such as why 7-day retention has dropped since a new feature was launched. This style of monitoring ties into a principle that we consider to be vital for any sustainable startup: the product drives growth. 

This strategy can also directly benefit investors: seeing a product’s ebbs and flows, and how the team responded in real-time, will inevitably inform your decision-making on future funding rounds or exits.

5. Every VC fund needs an operator

If our experience can be summarized, it’s that being an operator investor is absolutely invaluable in supporting our startups. So much of the feedback we’re able to give founders is only possible because it comes from a place of experience.

The members of our investment team have all been there. We’ve built products ourselves, and we can apply our lessons directly to what we’re seeing in a particular product. We don’t only come back with personal user feedback – we’re able to contribute to product feature roadmaps or consult on how best to map customer journeys. 

We’ve seen a lot of patterns in product development and user engagement and can match that knowledge with the founder’s mission. Founders often have tunnel vision when building, especially early on, so a broader perspective from people who’ve done it before can enlighten their decision-making process.

With our startups, we use our role as users and operator investors to help them develop the conviction they need to make any critical pivots when the time is right. We can understand the value of the product, while at the same time, we can help read patterns in how other users are engaging.

We love using our startups’ products not only because it could lead to unexpected collaborations in building something beautiful together, but also because we can see day in and day out how our dedication to product-led growth leads to strong results. As investors, we can’t just appreciate life-changing tools from a distance, we are a part of the journey.

Originally Appeared Here

Mike Myer, CEO of Quiq, explores the impact of ChatGPT on the world of customer service.

Everyone is chatting about ChatGPT these days because it’s one of tech’s most intriguing new developments. Within five days of its November 2022 introduction, over a million people were using it.

However, the fear, uncertainty and doubt about ChatGPT is rampant. Concerns include:

• “Hallucinations”, which are answers not based on the training set
• Lack of knowledge about recent events since it was trained on data from 2021
• Potential for bias because Internet data contains human biases such as racism and sexism
• Its blackbox nature because ChatGPT does not explain how it reached its answer, can inspire fears that AI has become sentient
• Plagiarism, because ChatGPT uses material available from the Internet, some of which may be copyrighted
• Privacy, who is using the information entered into ChatGPT?

These concerns, along with the fact that ChatGPT does not know a company’s proprietary information, have left many business leaders with the conclusion that, while ChatGPT is fascinating, it isn’t fit for use in their business. Right now, some may be perplexed about the potential business use cases because all they see is a text box on the OpenAI ChatGPT landing page. To be useful in a business context, the AI underlying ChatGPT must be embedded in the applications and workflows business people use every day, not a remote text box on a third-party website. When this happens, the potential efficiency gains will be massive.

The latest AI isn’t a tech fad that will pass. It’s going to be a revolutionary game-changer possibly as big as the internet, affecting all aspects of society in profound ways.

One of the first areas recent AI advances will impact greatly is customer service and support – the exchange of information between companies and their customers. In one survey of businesses, customer service was the highest area of AI deployment with 61% of companies focused on using AI for customer service.

Why prior generation customer service chatbots must evolve

Chatbots are a modern website staple, but to the disappointment of brands, customers often find them frustrating. Chatbots were first adopted to provide customers with faster issue resolution, but their lack of intelligence can make them a barrier to issue resolution. Chatbots were adopted with the goal of lowering costs through automation, but there have been some common problems.

For one thing, many chatbots aren’t really “intelligent,” because they don’t utilize AI. Instead, they’re deterministically programmed, to ask a fixed set of questions and produce a given output. Developers are provided a list of frequently occurring problems and the appropriate troubleshooting steps to program into the chatbot. However, since humans aren’t always predictable, they may ask questions outside the chatbot’s programming, which requires more programming. Customers may also state queries in ways that have not been anticipated, which also requires more programming. While this endless cycle of continuous improvement is admirable, it may not come soon enough for customers who are frantically trying to solve a problem.

Enter the latest AI. A large language model (LLM) like the AI underlying ChatGPT has been trained on an enormous volume of data, basically much of the information on the internet. Because it was trained on such a massive corpus of language, LLMs have the ability to understand and generate language unlike anything we have seen before.

Traditional chatbots attempt to understand the intent of a customer’s question and then return a static answer that the chatbot developer matched to the intent. No matter how a customer asks a question, once it is mapped to an intent, all customers get the same answer.

For example, if my daughter lost her credit card and I sought the advice of a chatbot, the best the chatbot would do was to provide the standard answer about how to replace a credit card. It would not provide the answer personalized to my situation with my daughter.

A next generation chatbot (we call it an Assistant) is different. It can tell me that my daughter should contact the credit card company and report the card stolen.

That’s a huge difference in capabilities. In fact, the delta between traditional chatbots and ChatGPT is so great, that the businesses which refuse to experiment with it now will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage later.

The truth is that no one understands all the ways that the AI underlying ChatGPT will be used just yet. What we do know is that the capabilities will be integrated into the everyday systems we use as consumers and professionals. In other words, people won’t be flocking to OpenAI’s webpage to see what ChatGPT can do. Instead, they will start reimagining jobs, workflows, applications and processes based upon LLM powered AI.

For customer service, this means delivering on the promise of automating more of the customer service functions and requiring human involvement in a decreasing number of instances. Already, some organizations are automating 95% of customer service inquiries while providing a better customer experience.

What ChatGPT means for your business

Customer service representatives are accustomed to referencing an operations playbook that tells them how to resolve customer issues, step-by-step. LLM powered AI will replace that by handling most cases automatically and then routing the outliers to agents.

Right now, people irrespective of their department or industry are trying to understand how ChatGPT will impact their jobs and their company, just based on the queries they’ve posted on the OpenAI website. They’re having trouble connecting the capabilities with the services they’re providing because ChatGPT basically looks like Google. One types a query into a text box and receives an answer.

However, within the context of a workflow or application, a LLM will be able to make humans more efficient at what they do. What companies need is the infrastructure to take advantage of the latest AI. This already exists today, at least in a customer service context.

Already applications like Quiq have incorporated LLMs into both customer facing and agent facing AI. From a customer perspective, LLMs provide an unmatched ability to understand a customer’s query and provide a personalized response. The best solution vendors have developed innovative ways to ensure that the answers the LLM provides are accurate and on brand. By restricting the LLM to use only a company’s internal knowledge and data the risks of using ChatGPT directly are overcome. Anecdotally, the quality of LLM powered assistants are at least twice as good, perhaps several times better than the chatbots we are used to.

The latest AI can also be used to make agents more efficient. The AI can understand the context of the conversation and provide the agent with a suggested response that is learned from similar conversations in the past. LLMs can also be used to turn tasks that previously required the development of advanced AI models into simple off the shelf features. For instance, editing responses to improve the quality or summarizing conversation transcripts are now trivial with a LLM.

Finally, customers will have the type of conversational experience they’ve been craving that helps them resolve issues faster. And from a customer service leader’s perspective, they now have AI tools at their disposal that are more powerful and easier to use than ever before..

 Bottom line

ChatGPT isn’t fit for use in customer service, but the AI that makes ChatGPT work is going to have a transformative impact. Consumers are fed up with traditional chatbots that don’t help them problem-solve efficiently, and they’ll measure one company’s user experience with another’s – specifically, the one using the smarter technology – the one that is LLM based.

Now is the time to start piloting this technology because it could mean the difference between long-term competitiveness and being seen as “behind the times.” The infrastructure already exists to use LLMs in a customer service context, which is an easy way to get started and provides automated resolution capabilities unlike anything previously seen.

About the Author

Mike Myer is CEO and co-founder of Quiq. Quiq combines AI and human agents to increase efficiency, drive revenue, and improve customer satisfaction.

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Regardless of business size, why is it a good idea to have an affiliate programme?

“Every business needs outreach and a network and this is the basis of affiliate marketing,” Robert Sherman, Omnichannel Manager/Director of Affiliates at Lighting Reimagined, told the Tuesday morning crowd at PI LIVE Miami 2023.

Sherman was joined on stage by Lissette Alvarez, Partnerships, Business Deals at Capital One, and Affiliate Marketing Consultant at NURSING.com. Together, Sherman and Alvarez discussed the role of SMEs in affiliate marketing: the benefits for both businesses and networks; how SMEs can best enter the space; the challenges these businesses face; and how the affiliate world can better accommodate small businesses.

As Sherman notes, affiliate marketing has historically been seen as the “small thing”. A lower-funnel, lower-value strategy. But this is not the case anymore. Particularly for SMEs, the affiliate space provides tremendous opportunities for growth, helping brands reach consumers at each stage of the customer journey. The evolving influencer side of affiliate marketing has become especially fruitful for SMEs.

Both Sherman and Alvarez recommend that SMEs utilise affiliate strategies to drive growth. But how can these businesses get started, and what pitfalls should they be aware of? We spoke to the pair after their session to learn more.

Advice for SMEs starting out in affiliate marketing

Sherman and Alvarez shared a number of tips for SMEs which we can broadly categorise as the three C’s for success (or succcess): Communication, Consistency, and Comprehension.

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ALAMEDA, Calif., May 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Jitterbit, a global leader for empowering transformation through automation, today announced the results of its “2023 State of Customer Experience Automation: Eliminate Application Integration Challenges to Elevate Customer Experiences” survey. Available now, the report examines organizational priorities, challenges and expected benefits from automating the customer experience (CX) process, including which customer-facing functions and use cases are being prioritized for automation.

The data reveals that CX is becoming one of the most critical differentiators for organizations in today’s hyper competitive marketplace. However, delivering personalized customer experiences doesn’t come without challenges, requiring businesses to combine a deep understanding of the customer journey with an integrated tech stack.

Automating processes to enhance the customer experience is a priority for organizations.

According to survey respondents, customer experience ranked second, just after IT, in terms of having the most automated business processes. And despite being one of the most automated business functions already, CX remains one of the top five functions targeted for further automation.

This speaks to the high level of importance placed on CX functions within businesses, a trend driven by businesses’ desire to gain a deeper understanding of engagement throughout the entire customer journey.

Application proliferation, IT resource constraints and manual integration are key challenges organizations face in delivering a seamless customer experience.

With the ever-expanding application landscape, particularly the growing Martech stack, organizations face integration challenges that stand in the way of delivering an optimal customer experience.

Integration and automation of marketing operations is a top priority for organizations to deliver optimal customer experiences.

Most organizations reported plans to invest in integrating the marketing function over the next 12 months. Respondents also intend to automate and integrate additional business processes to deliver the best possible customer experience.

“Our survey reveals that customer experience is a vital differentiating factor in today’s market,” said Ron Wastal, senior vice president, global business development, channel and alliances at Jitterbit. “While organizations have made progress in optimizing CX, there is still a need to automate customer-facing workflows and address integration challenges. By integrating systems across the ‘lead to loyalty’ customer lifecycle, organizations can provide a consistent and exceptional experience, ultimately standing out from the competition.”

Methodology and availability
Within the context of a larger study into the current state of business automation, Jitterbit collected survey data from IT, marketing and human resources executives at organizations spanning B2B, B2C and B2G sectors. There were 167 respondents to the survey, all in firms with 100+ employees.

To gain insights from the complete survey findings, download the survey results on the Jitterbit website.

About Jitterbit, Inc.
Jitterbit empowers business transformation by automating critical business processes for faster, more informed decision-making. Jitterbit is the only provider to seamlessly combine and simplify the power of integration, APIM, and no-code app creation to amplify the value of your tech stack and speed up your digital journey. Organizations worldwide rely on Jitterbit’s experience and expertise to help them save time and money, while creating exceptional experiences, now and into the future. Learn how Jitterbit helps people work happier at www.jitterbit.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

jitterbit@bocacommunications.com

Originally Appeared Here

Technology is digital marketers’ gateway to lead gen and relationship building. So it’s no surprise that the rise of AI is reshaping their approaches. But because AI itself is evolving, some skepticism and hesitation are natural.

Will this emerging technology’s capabilities transform online marketing to the point where it’s unrecognizable? Or can companies leverage it so it’s a positive and fruitful source of disruption? Here’s how AI stands to impact the digital marketing world and influence marketers’ strategies.

Laser-Focused Content Creation

Without online content, digital marketers can’t reach their target audiences. But the content creative teams spend precious time crafting doesn’t always make a splash. You can carefully map out a content strategy with every single detail, including desired outcomes for each piece. Yet you’ve got to have the talent to produce those pieces at a high level of quality and a breathtaking pace.

Constantly brainstorming and executing content ideas to perfection is unrealistic, even for teams at the top of their game. Inevitably, human brains come to a standstill. Call it writer’s block, a rut or a creative slump. It happens to content creators all the time. And the pressure to produce something can mean pieces that don’t match a strategy’s ambitions.

While the debate rages as to whether AI will replace human content creators, it can be a good ally. AI can generate outlines based on inputs, such as audience characteristics, keywords and search intent. The technology is able to build structures for entire blog posts or articles, helping writers focus on the points they need to drive home to specific audience segments.

AI tools developed by content marketing firms such as MarketMuse elevate those capabilities. With the help of ChatGPT, the tool makes outlines infused with topic modeling data that can then be turned into blog posts ready for a human touch. Content teams can fine-tune those pieces, ensuring they match strategic intent.

AI saves time by streamlining the creative process. It also helps raise the bar on quality, so published pieces produce better outcomes and content strategies come to fruition.

Targeted Predictions

Marketing strategies develop from data about human behavior. However, digital marketers may discover what they thought they knew about an audience isn’t quite right. Or the information they have is too generalized. It doesn’t provide enough fine-grained insights to develop a goal-crushing campaign.

Digital marketers also see market data through a subjective lens. They may miss patterns because of biases and assumptions. Even the culture of the companies marketers work for can influence the interpretation of data such as customer surveys. Executives looking for a quick fix may unknowingly promote a “be everything to everyone” approach. Consequently, digital marketing messages become too generic.

But AI can sort through large volumes of market data without ego. The tools pick up on patterns across multiple sources, including chatbot conversations and social platforms.

While AI can inform digital marketers of aggregate audience insights, it also shows what’s happening at the individual level. A customer’s past Starbucks coffee purchases can predict if they’ll engage with promo messages in an app. AI helps personalize strategies so they feel more conversational.

Augmented Reality Experiences

Augmented reality is expanding the definition of content marketing. Customers are looking for more than words and videos to engage them. A NielsenIQ survey of shoppers shows 56% say augmented reality increases their confidence in a product’s quality. And around 61% of consumers prefer to shop with brands that offer AR experiences.

When digital marketers use augmented reality, it can influence customer behavior, engagement and sales. The technology encourages shoppers to linger longer. They’re more likely to try more products in online environments. AR experiences can also boost sales. That said, research shows the technology is more effective with brand-new buyers.

Digital marketers targeting new audiences may want to incorporate augmented reality into their strategies. Retailers such as Crate & Barrel already offer this capability to shoppers who may have concerns about buying items like furniture online. Exploring AR environments helps overcome objections to the sale by showing how purchases will look and feel in people’s homes.

These experiences can also extend to behind-the-scenes content about a brand and its locations. People unfamiliar with a company and its products are able to interact in a low-risk environment. They can learn about a brand’s values, gain knowledge about its offerings and “visit” locations they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Interactive content with built-in augmented reality builds trust and interest without coming across as intrusive.

AI’s Impact on Digital Marketing

AI promises to change how the world works, including the ways digital marketers reach audiences. While relying on technology to drum up interest and sales is part of a digital marketer’s playbook, AI expands it. With the tech’s abilities, your strategies can become more streamlined, personalized and engagement-oriented.

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John Hall is a top motivational speaker and the co-founder of Calendar, a scheduling and time management app. He’s also an adviser for the growth marketing agency Relevance, a company that helps brands differentiate themselves and lead their industry online.You can book him as a keynote speaker here.

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Why Is Verizon Laying Off Customer Service Employees?

Verizon has not announced the exact reason behind the upcoming layoffs, but that hasn’t stopped employees and outsiders alike from speculating about what logic is behind the decision.

For one, Verizon didn’t match Wall Street predictions for the first quarter of 2023, which is enough to launch any company into a frenzy of “restructuring.” The company lost more than 100,000 subscribers in that time, a hefty amount during a recession.

As a result, many believe that Verizon is likely ramping up its overseas customer service department, which will save them money on cheaper labor. Additionally, advancements in AI could be a driving force, many have speculated, as tools announced by Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google have demonstrated that technology is up to the ask of helping solve customer problems quickly and efficiently.

Originally Appeared Here: