The technology, which includes the attention-grabbing generative AI, is expected to boost customer experience and business productivity.

According to predictions for 2024 released by Forrester analysts, seven trends will affect different industries, including technology and innovation; business-to-business (B2B) marketing, sales, and product; AI and automation; and customer experience.

Said the firm’s VP and Senior Research Director, Frederic Giron: “In 2024, (the) Asia Pacific (region) is bracing itself for a year of exploration and potential growth, with GenAI at the center of it all. The promise and potential of GenAI, combined with a new wave of technological innovations, will inspire more APAC tech and business leaders to follow in the footsteps of trailblazers and fuse the power of AI with their transformation efforts to drive business outcomes.”

Here are the predictions:

    • Customer eXperience (CX) will improve for the first time in years, thanks to generative AI (GenAI): The key to CX improvements in 2024 will be behind-the-scenes GenAI that helps customer service agents answer questions faster and better, resolve CX issues on first contact, and leave customers feeling heard.
    • Agencies will invest in custom AI solutions for enterprise clients: The top 10 advertising agencies will spend a combined US$50m in partnerships to build custom AI solutions that enable their clients to scale personalized marketing campaigns and brand experiences.
    • Enterprise AI initiatives will boost productivity and creative problem-solving by 50%: GenAI is poised to increase productivity across all IT roles — not just among developers. Additionally, business, technology, and marketing leaders’ investment in GenAI in 2024 will augment employees’ creative problem-solving time by up to 50% — driving customer-centric innovation and creating greater business value.
    • APAC firms will struggle to operationalize customer trust: Doing right by customers earns their trust and loyalty, but not many firms have taken this effort seriously or imbued it within their corporate culture. By the end of 2024, 25% of APAC’s largest firms will have vocalized their strategic commitment to customer trust, but only 5% will have effectively codified that commitment through measurement and organizational KPIs.
    • Clouds platforms will launch ‘prompt engineering’ services to no avail: Cloud hyperscalers will announce either a preview or the general availability of prompt engineering, the process of structuring text so that it can produce better results from a GenAI model. Enterprise adoption, however, will be limited: 80% of enterprises will add prompt engineering talent internally to drive model grounding and value delivery.
    • Regulators will have GenAI in their sights: Businesses will need to identify apps that increase their risk exposure due to violations in how personally identifiable information is handled with AI. Firms will also need to investment more in third-party risk management.
    • Generational differences will alter B2B buying preferences: In 2024, 40% of buyers (mostly millennials) will demand early access to B2B product experts. When engaged in face-to-face buying, these buyers find personal interactions with product experts more meaningful than all other in-person activities.