I recently read an article which suggested Intelligent Self-Service (ISS) is entirely automation or AI based.
At 4 Roads, a lot of our work hinges on delivering and implementing Intelligent Self-Service solutions for clients - but to say it’s only about technology is a viewpoint I have to say I fundamentally disagree with.
There’s no doubt that Intelligent Self-Service (ISS) tools such as chatbots, communities and personalisation are vital for creating the rapid, seamless shopping experiences that today’s customers have come to expect.
But when it comes to more nuanced issues or questions or support, it doesn’t take a behavioural psychologist to understand that most people want to speak to a human being.
Even Amazon – the grandad of e-commerce – never loses sight of this important balance, which is one of the reasons for its rapid expansion and success.
Amazon uses an automation-first process to guide you toward the answers you need. If the customer community, reviews or chatbot AI can't solve your problem, you are then passed to an operator automatically, without the need to enter any more information. The operator "knows" the customer and can help effectively and quickly.
We delivered a similar “hybrid” Intelligent Self-Service solution at a Hitachi Vantara conference in 2019, which won a BIMA award.
Hitachi Vantara needed help answering delegate questions at their technology stands. To solve this, we created a six-foot ‘totem’ that incorporated stunning visuals to allow users to interact with how a hardware rack solution would look once it’s created to match their needs.
It enabled a deeper depth of product information to be demonstrated in a way that wasn’t previously possible, while also engaging users with an intuitive chatbot function that uses artificial intelligence to answer questions about the product range, escalate complex queries to a sales representative, and book face-to-face appointments.
This balance between technological and human interaction is what Intelligent Self-Service is all about.
Having spent much of 2020 online, consumers now are more confident about speaking to businesses through ISS tools, which is fantastic. After all, Intelligent Self-Service tools have the power to really revolutionise customer-business interactions.
But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we’ve also been starved of human contact for a long time.
For optimal customer experiences, businesses must be able to offer consumers the best of both worlds – all the benefits that automation and AI can offer, underpinned by the reassurance of human contact, should they need it.
Knowing your customer and knowing their intent is the most valuable business commodity at this time.
How 4 Roads builds intelligent self-service.
First published on LinkedIn on 25 February 2021.
