In today’s time, every sector across the globe is welcoming digital transformation and undergoing revolutions. To gain efficiency, simplify operations, and lower costs, organizations are looking to adopt new-age technologies. Thanks to the digital wave, many firms have been able to explore numerous pathways to increase overall enterprise performance through breakthroughs in Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence.
In the next few years, India's workforce automation is likely to be bandwagoning. The benefits are obvious: automating and repetitive back-office chores frees a team to focus on more complex tasks that need a certain skillset, resulting in enhanced productivity and a more streamlined process.
Nonetheless, digital transformations are now covering past unimaginable connections with customers. Digital connection puts businesses in unprecedented direct contact with their consumers and as any conventional firm knows, good customer engagement requires the human touch.
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Businesses have always provided human support to aid and address client concerns that were destined to be answered by real human connections in the past. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has surpassed all sectors and changed the notion of digital adoption, replacing traditional human assistance by evolving with new-age technology. However, the fact of the matter is that both of them co-exist together and change the customer experience in corporate sectors.
Human touch's importance in a digital world
Personalisation is always important in business sectors to differentiate the company from the competition and show consumers what the company is all about. In the digital era, there is no scarcity of entrants. The broad array of digital services now available to businesses of all sizes has trigger in a surge in online brand presence across all industries.
However, creating anything for a company used to entail hiring an expensive, experienced individual and waiting for months to get the completed product. Due to technological advancements like AI, a small business can now also develop a highly functional and professional-looking project in a couple of hours at a low cost and within less time than ever before.
This is great news for every small, big and new enterprise, but it has made the globe extremely competitive. To differentiate themselves from the competition, companies must connect with customers and provide something more. It's no longer only about who can provide the lowest price; it's also about who can provide the finest customer service. There are hundreds of aspects that go into building a great customer experience, but one of the most important one is your ability to connect with customers on a human-level. However, for the growth of the company, the human touch plays an influential factor in this digital-driven era.
Thus, it is true that new-age technologies such as AI are not replacing the overall stable structure of human interaction, but they are evolving as assertive technologies that are innovating and transforming it.
According to Forrester, companies that combine AI and human assistance are more effective at enhancing customer happiness (61 percent), agent satisfaction (69 percent), and agent productivity (66 percent). Simply said, dynamic AI bots relieve human assistance from basic, repetitive and tiresome jobs. This implies that implementing AI doesn't quite obliterate or demotivate existing customer support representatives.
Ways to keep the human touch in a digital world
Memorable experiences: Consumers remain attached to experiences that are engaging, rewarding, unique and memorable. A customer remembers their experience with the business if they think that the product they need is what the business is offering. There are numerous things that a company can do to stay at the top of the customer list, such as surprise gifts, personal and effective customer service, maintaining a distinct presence on social media, etc., just to name a few!
Communication on social media is personal and human: The consumer is always surrounded by AI bots and they are increasingly talking to them. However, sometimes they do not wish to deal with robots all the time. This is the reason why some companies are turning away from the old, traditional style of managing their brand presence on social media and adopting the modern style.
Some businesses use social media to establish a hilarious presence. Humor isn't the only way to add a personal touch to your message on social media. Some businesses are now pushing their marketing personnel by signing their tweets with their names so that customers will be able to get a sense of the genuine individuals that are working for the company. Even a simple question about what your followers are up to may go a long way. As a result, both types are assisting companies in their transformation into professionals.
Use customer service to learn more about your customers: The customer service team is the face of the business. Every day, they speak with every customer and answer all of their queries. As a result, they are in a terrific position to learn more about their consumers on a personal-level. Traditionally, customer service has been centered on the most difficult-to-reach customers.
When it comes to their questions and inquiries, the clients always want to be heard and want someone to listen to them. They wanted to be regarded as genuine people with valid demands and requirements.
However, in a digital era, customers expect to contact the company whenever they want and according to their communication preferences. And with modern technology tools, it becomes easy to meet the expectations of customers and potential customers.
Prioritising customers over others: Prioritising customers over other market participants is becoming more common. As the market is so competitive, many business owners get too focused on what their rivals are doing and attempt to replicate it, rather than concentrating on what their consumers want. Your objective should be to provide an outstanding customer experience for your consumers since this will put you ahead of the competition.
The bottom line
In the digital era and the age of Big Data, it is easy to get caught up in trends and statistics and forget about the human element of business. The fact of the matter is that consumers in the digital era desire a positive customer experience, which they define as a real-time and personal encounter that they will remember. Customers want to feel that they're a vital part of your company and that choosing you over your competition was a good decision.
This is where BPO service steps in as a blessing in disguise, with a significant role in customer service by surpassing all other corporate objectives for corporations. And without a human touch, you can't have the fantastic client experience that businesses are now keen to associate with BPOs and outsource this crucial element of customer servicing.
-- The author, Divij Singhal, is Founder and CEO of ICCS, a leading provider of BPM and BPO services in India. Views expressed here are personal.
