According to two international customer experience (CX) surveys, generative AI is giving respondents new impetus to propel service and data-privacy standards.

Based on two international surveys of customer experience (CX) trends among consumers and enterprises in 2023, one CX firm has released a report predicting massive industry transformation this year.

The two surveys involved 2,818 consumers and 4,441 customer service and experience leaders, agents, and technology buyers from 20 countries (and organizations of all sizes) in July and August 2023.

Some of the trends discerned from the surveys that are most relevant to regular readers of DigiconAsia.net were:

    • In the Asia Pacific region (APAC), India and Singapore respondents were leading the charge with generative AI adoption and implementing it into their customer journey.
    • Chatbots were evolving into advanced digital agents: Generative AI and its “evolved chatbots” were improving consumer interactions by facilitating personalized, instant and interactive experiences, according to the respondents.
    • As consumers expect more engaging and interactive experiences, firms that want to lead in CX will need to transition to tools like conversational commerce, live streaming and voice, and conversational commerce, according to the survey data.
    • Amid escalating privacy concerns and rising demands for AI-enhanced personalized experiences, CX leaders were predicted by APAC respondents as the new drivers of data privacy: Instead of IT teams, CX teams were cited as the new drivers integrating security seamlessly into CX for protection and customer-friendliness.
    • AI transparency and decisioning will be the rule, not the exception: To respondents, transparency in AI is simply non-negotiable. Since generative-AI CX is trained on large sets of data, there will be a very real danger of tools exhibiting bias or discrimination. Some 63% of consumers were concerned about potential bias and discrimination in AI algorithms and decision-making.

According to Maureen Chong, Regional Vice President (Asia), Zendesk, the firm that revealed its findings: “Businesses in Asia need to stay ahead of the curve by identifying key areas of investment in their CX and AI strategy to protect their customer base. We already see that consumers in the region are ready for change: 71% percent of them believed that generative AI will completely change the way they interact with a company within the next two years. Businesses need to go beyond adapting to ongoing consumer needs. They need to embrace transformative technologies like generative AI as a catalyst for a resilient and forward-looking customer experience strategy, and make a commitment to ensure its ethical use.”