We surveyed a number of customer service/experience leaders, from many of today’s leading brands, in our community to get their predictions for 2018. Over the coming weeks we will be releasing their thoughts on specific CX topics including customer expectations, channels, operations, technology, use case studies/data, and security/risk.
Click here to catch up on Part 1 – Customer Expectations, Part 2 – Channels, Part 3 – Operations, and Part 4 – Technology.
The fifth and final installment of this series focuses on thoughts on use case studies/data and security/risk.
Use Case Studies/Data
• The need for user case studies (the how to) will be paramount – what roadmaps and examples are being implemented – Who are the leaders in this area.
• Knowledge on how/where to start OR if they should – where do you start, what are the technologies, etc. what is AI and what is it NOT? It is NOT automating simple tasks (self-service).
• Measure the customer experience –What are the right metrics, how to measure unassisted channels, etc.
• The one other topic is the ROI of customer service – what linkage have companies made with data, tying NPS/CSAT to revenue, or a customer service touch to future behaviors (engagement, purchases, advocacy), or the type of service recovery (refund, no future to future behaviors, etc).
• Surveys: We will see more of a change from asking to predicting.
Security/Risk
• Fraud Prevention: I think that what we’re going to start to see is a recognition that the “customer experience vs. security” is a false dichotomy, because it focuses on criminals rather than customers.
• Brands will realize that authentication and identity early adopters will invest heavily in real-time authentication solutions across all channels – but primarily phone and digital. The key concept will be real-time or near real-time – brands will be looking for something that happens “seamlessly” behind the scenes.
• Phone fraud has been growing exponentially over the last few years as a result of the EMV chip migration on credit cards, disproportionate security investments into other digital channels, and the simple fact that human beings answer telephones.
• We’re seeing not just banks affected by it, but even retailers like Dunkin’ Donuts. Anyone with a loyalty program is vulnerable. I think we will see a fundamental tension between customer experience and fraud mitigation arise in 2018 – that is, brands struggling to do away with their fraud while not interrogating their customers.
To download our 2018 Predictions in its entirety click here.
