Guide the CX era driven by artificial intelligence

How to deliver on the promise of AI in CX without losing trust, control, or compliance INSIDE Foreword Contents Customers want companies to demonstrate that theytruly care about them, and that interactions are morethan mere transactions. At the same time, the tensionbetween autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) and and automate repetitive processes. Increasingly, theyare turning to autonomous agents that require little tono human intervention to interact with customers. This While customers want all the benefits that AI canafford, they are concerned about the potential forhallucinations or misinformation, data breaches,bias, and the use of their personal data. As a result, Section 1The promise of autonomypage 4 To pull this off, customer experience (CX) leaders aresearching for the silver bullet of artificial intelligence(AI) applications to help them better reach and satisfy Section 3The next frontier in knowledge and CXpage 10 Conclusionpage 12 About Procedureflowpage 13 About CX Networkpage 14 Foreword Safety incidentis an unplanned or unwanted eventthat can interfere with work and could do long-term To apply AI governance, leaders must first speak the Governancerefers to the policies, processes, roles,and controls that make AI reliable, responsible, and The potential for a safety incident that could harmbrand reputation is precisely why readers of thisreport should continue reading. Completed inpartnership with Procedureflow, this report features Human-first CXis about prioritizing humanconnections in every interaction with customers. Guardrailsliterally prevent people from falling orbeing hit and refer to safety measures applied to AI Governance of AI in CX helps professionals grow closerto their customers and build a trusting relationship.In fact, entering into the new unspoken contract withcustomers requires trust, control, and compliance. After Human in the loop (HITL)means people willcollaborate with machines to ensure accountability Model cardis a short document that comes with amachine learning (ML) tool to describe its abilities Prompt governancereferences the practice ofensuring prompts align with business objectives, Evaluation suiteare tests that users can applyto assess performance, reliability, and fairness ofadvanced technology, particularly AI and ML. The promise of autonomy (KPIs) like customer satisfaction (CSAT), average handletime (AHT), and containment, but also ensures that humanoversight remains central to the customer experience.” CX is entering a whole new world. AI is taking onincreasingly more complex tasks. Specifically, it takesfull ownership of actions, including handling inquiries,offering customer support, and providing documentationof interactions with customers. Once reserved for simple,repetitive tasks, the machines are becoming morecapable of handling nuanced issues with little to nohuman intervention. While the swiftness of advancementand capabilities of the technology are mind blowing,they also give people understandable anxiety. operational efficiency but also elevates the role ofhuman agents as empathetic problem solvers. The key to success is thoughtful orchestration: AI handleswhat it does best (speed, scale, and consistency),while humans step in where empathy, creativity, and Most experts agree that wise leaders keep humans atthe center of their business. And one important questionarises in the quest for effective governance: When “The real differentiator lies in defining clear boundaries for autonomy. AI should operatewithin the framework of governed knowledge, systems that ensure every automated Some have suggested reframing AI in CX as a humanamplifier. This idea refers to humans and technologycollaborating like colleagues, so the machines cantake care of the grunt work, while humans step in when Sarah Jeanneault, vice president of marketing at Procedureflow “Autonomous AI is rapidly reshaping CX, and some ofthe most promising implementations strike a balancebetween automation and human empathy, just like theagentic AI journey we’re embarking on at Michael Kors,”says Ebrahim Hyder, vice president customer serviceNorth America at Michael Kors. “Across industries, we’re The promise of autonomy responses, predictable and repetitive questions thatfollowed a script. What’s changed is the move towardconversational AI that fills the gaps where those scriptsfall short. These systems can now identify intent, recall “The most promising examples of autonomous AI inCX right now are in call centers,” says Doug Shannon,a thought leader and keynote speaker on AI in and empathy. But automation must be designed with What leaders should strive for is keeping people and AIaccountable. The goal with AI in CX should be to delivermeasurable improvements without sacrificing humanoversight. Besides adding an extra layer of safety, having “The most promising uses ofautonomous AI in CX are not aboutreplacing humans, they are about liberating