Competitive companies will embrace these trends as opportunities for 2018, especially trends that impact knowledge management. Smart companies anticipate trends and act. Are you ready? Keep that question in mind as you read the following.
1. AI will continue to dominate the customer support and knowledge management landscape. Basic consumer questions are easily answered. The power and capabilities of AI are growing at an exponential rate, and AI solutions are now being created at a cost that smaller companies can afford.
2. AI will support both customer and employee. More companies will see AI as a tool to support the agent and increasing access to knowledge management. The AI program will be able to listen in to a conversation between a consumer and agent and quickly provide the agent with information that answers the consumer’s queries. IBM CEO, Ginni Rometty, notes that reversing the letters AI makes it IA, which also means Intelligent Assistant. In this case, the IA supports the agent in supporting the consumer.
3. Convenience will drive customer service and strategy. As usage of mobile devices to do business has grown, the concept of convenience has taken hold and will explode in 2018. Just as Uber and Lyft disrupted the worldwide taxicab industry, making knowledge management and access to the data more convenient will be the disruptors in the coming year. Convenience is the next stealth customer service tool.
4. Self-service consumer support will continue to grow in popularity. Consumers expect the businesses they patronize to offer support that is easy and convenient to access. Multiple studies show that consumers seek answers to questions first on a company’s website. This does not mean finding the customer service phone number to call. Consumers want to find the answer. In addition, video will continue to grow in usage as a powerful method of answering FAQs. How-to videos have a dual purpose: answering FAQs and marketing a product by demonstration. Customer service is now marketing!
Is your company keeping up with customer service and knowledge management trends, or is it reactive rather than proactive? Have you embraced the current technology to offer a customer experience that is convenient, engaging and useful? The tools are here to use to make 2018 a truly great year for you, your company, and your customers.
