Moazzam Kamran, Head of Global Marketing, Avanza Solutions
Published originally here
Technology is ever evolving. We have seen amazing accomplishments globally from the birth of the internet, hailed as one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, to the advent of cloud computing revolutionising how we store and process data. Right now we are at the cusp of something big, a mind to match ours.
Anyone who is a keen observer of technology knows that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been on the block for quite some time. We have all heard how it is set to evolve the way we drive, to the way we buy/invest, to how we interact with the world around us through smarter personal assistants etc. We have also heard from leading minds like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk etc. that AI is risky business; building a secondary intelligence modelled around human intellect might pose a challenge for humanity in the years to come.
All that being said we are officially on the path to cognitive systems that, if used properly, will open the door to much greater progress and efficiency. One way where business could lead the case on how cognitive systems are being used is by looking at our consumer interaction points.
Technology has changed the way consumers interact with businesses, from a single brick and mortar touch point to multiple touch points including but not limited to the internet, telephony, branch, ATM, mobile etc. the list goes on. Businesses have opened up the window on how they engage with individuals. But that creates an entirely new set of challenges.
Consumer experience is integral to business continuity. In a quest to make life simpler, we have failed to address one critical issue: how negative interactions can reshape the worth of any organisation. Businesses seek to deliver a uniform experience to customers and our Omni channel approach backed by human implementation has left a void in what could be a well-oiled well-orchestrated success strategy.
Company representatives who regularly work with customers are at times not able to respond to rapid fire queries, understand customer sentiments and have access to structured customer data. Cognitive computing can help enhance the ability of said agents by providing specific action items by gauging the mood of a customer through a sentiment engine, or fetch values on a customer form through auto populate features. Among other things they can also automate first level customer engagement to free up human agents to handle more complex queries and because of its adaptive nature the system it is always learning.
This type of insight and engagement is no longer just a hypothetical scenario. At Avanza Solutions, we have been keenly examining the changing landscape of customer interactions and the application of Cognitive platforms therein. We have been closely working with cognitive platforms globally to bring next generation Cognitive Customer Interactions and analytics to the market. Avanza being one of the first movers in this space now offers a fabric of smart and self-learning solutions that adapt, learn and grow with any and every customer interaction not just improving efficiency but making the entire organisation smarter and more consumer-centric.
The need of the day for organisations is to understand that a global customer now exists, one who is well read and well-travelled. To cater to such a demanding customer, organisations need every edge they can get and cognitive platforms will pave the way for how well they can understand a customer who embraces the best and dismisses anything close to mediocre. Technology has traversed borders and for us to not be invested into new age solutions would surely signal demise.