In 1999 Joseph Pine II wrote the book, The Experience Economy, which explained the transfer from customer service to customer experience. Since then practically most enterprises have embraced what is broadly referred to as CX.
Today – driven by the two forces of societal change and generative AI — we are about to move into CX 2.0. To understand what the new model might look like I selected four visionary leaders who each have reinvented their industry: (Non-profit) Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO, AARP where she leads the largest non-partisan non-profit with the world’s most widely distributed magazine with over 38 million readers; (Health) Ishan Patel, CEO, Audien Hearing, who really is the Steve Jobs of hearing by creating the first affordable hearing aid which in a few quick years has moved from his garage to being the world’s top selling affordable hearing aid with 500,000+ customers nationwide ; (Technology) Steve Bandrowczak, CEO, Xerox the iconic company who has transformed itself to be the leader in workforce transformation through advanced utilization of data; (Media) Michael Fabiano, CEO, ESG News Corp. & recent Head Americas, The Associated Press where Fabiano is known for pioneering AI in media. We gathered together on March 27, 2024 at The Harvard Club for an in depth conversation.
What emerged were three core ideas:
1. Human Centered: Customer experience will be replaced with the higher concept we called, The Human Experience.
2. AI to AI Conversation: Companies are designing products for humans to interface with artificial intelligence – companies need to consider a simultaneous future where and business AI deals with one’s personalized AI assistant.
3. Crowds Generate Better Ideas: The role of people gathering to brainstorm is still the most powerful element and like a dam breaking on innovation.
The Human Experience: Jo Ann Jenkins CEO AARP, Ishan Patel CEO Audien, Steve Bandrowczak CEO Xerox, ... [+]
THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
The next major shift in Customer Service will occur where humans have their own digital assistant. This exists today but will become exponentially more sophisticated over time.
As a backdrop to today’s environment Bandrowczak explained, “Technological change today is as slow as it will ever be and ensuring your clients are ready for that change is paramount. As the consumer and enterprise worlds collide, the expectation is that solutions support the consumer experience while providing enterprise-level services that make them more productive.”
The concept of the digital assistant is explained by Fabiano, "I envision a world where we all have a customized personal digital assistant that knows our preferences, follows us on multiple devices and rooms, prompts us for actions, and endeavors to make our lives easier."
One’s assistant will understand their preferences, likes and dislikes, so their whole human interest can be covered; it will also anticipate potential needs in any transaction. For example, when purchasing a refrigerator or travelling, the digital assistant will communicate with other digital assistants and create the exact right solution, removing all friction and saving time. Jenkins shares the need to incorporate this new world into everyone’s everyday life, “As AI and other new technologies take hold, we will have to find new ways to deliver value and evolve our customer experience. I believe we have a responsibility to help everyone, including older adults and underserved populations, navigate the explosion of digital technology and successfully incorporate it into their day-to-day lives.”
The power will come from machine learning so that true essence will be unleashed. The irony is that the machine intervention will actually fully elevate the experience from customer to human. Over time there may be an emotional attachment for some to their assistant. This will create ethical and moral questions as digital assistants start to manage areas of our lives and some become attached.
Patel sums up the human experience concept and how it relates to organizations embracing this new world, “The shift from customer experience to human experience forces entrepreneurs and innovators to have a purpose beyond just profit. It demands that we understand consumers’ shifting behaviors, their needs and how AI is revolutionizing CX.”
THE MISTAKE TO AVOID – DESIGN FOR HUMANS & AI
Many organizations will jump headfirst into trying to determine what humans want in an AI interaction; unfortunately most will make the mistake of designing this solely for the human. Instead the journey in any transaction or relationship will need to be designed both for the human and the machine.
Bandrowczak explained the next step, which will in most cases be the right partnership, “Most companies understand the need for seamless human and AI interaction; however, many recognize they need a partner to help them adjust to this new way of working.” Fabiano reinforced, “Product developers will need to take a bold leap and design for the future of machine to machine transactions, where humans are driving the outcomes but digital environments are accomplishing substantial underlying communications."
Part of this means as system engineers design the user journey and determine say the 6 entry points to their companies service model they will have to add several additional journey entry points for AI and digital assistants – AI to AI solving problems.
Patel outlines AI’s central role in this new model. “AI makes it easier for companies to constantly receive customer feedback and use their feedback to develop even better products that have a profound human impact and further enhances the human experience.”
A deeper element is that everything will be based on the underlying data. A significant question will emerge as to who owns the data as it flows between two disparate systems, the users and the corporation – and in our discussion we did not come to any clear conclusions other than “data is the new oil”.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DIALOGUE
The reason these breakthrough ideas emerged is because the five of us talked for over two hours and shared a common human experience – enjoying dinner with non-stop free flowing brainstorming on the menu; and that is the magic we all encountered, thoughts shared engender deeper thoughts.
What was also interesting is out of curiosity I wanted to see how generative AI would handle this discussion and we utilized several tools to record the three hour dinner discussion. We found that AI created 46 pages of notes and the almost 20,000 words was too much for AI to decipher. The net/net is that this article was just written and edited by good old human brainpower.
The conversation was summed up by Jenkins as for the global role and balance of how we use these technologies, “Society as a whole must have the access and resources needed to take advantage of the opportunities that new technologies offer. We need to step up our efforts to ensure that new technologies such as AI are fair, reliable and accurate; transparent; hold providers accountable; and are equitably distributed and accessible, so everyone enjoys the benefits.”
