We need to see better CX use cases for GenAI

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not represent the opinions or policies of TM Forum.

It would have been difficult to miss the inclusion of the term generative AI (GenAI) in nearly every marketing plan at DTW Ignite 2023. The concept of GenAI engines and tools being integrated into BSS was fully on display, but as an industry we could do a much better job of presenting exciting examples of what GenAI might make possible for customer experience (CX).

In many cases, the leading example has been to apply GenAI to more personalized up-selling, and this seems a failure of imagination. For a BSS market that has been preaching customer-centricity for more than a decade, this first go at a GenAI value proposition is disappointing.

So, let’s consider some alternative ideas.

1) Make tech work for people. When talking about the ephemeral “customer” we often forget we are referring to ourselves. What ought to annoy anyone most about connected technology is how frequently it fails to work as advertised. Self-check busted? Wait in the queue for a long time. Connection failed while paying? You’re left in suspense, and not in a good way. Fixed 5G radio not connecting well? You’re left to wonder how to tune the radio with no tools to help. These types of practical issues will continue to plague new tech rollouts for CSP customers. To be a superior provider, a CSP needs to provide superior service. All these ghosts in the machine represent dozens if not hundreds of variables that are difficult for people to diagnose. That sounds like a good use for GenAI – to learn better than people how to make tech solutions work at any level of the ecosystem.

2) Get deeper metrics. Metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) currently take center stage in measuring CX. But why reinvent customer experiences and journeys both digitally and with GenAI only to measure them with the same limited metrics. When CSPs focus on these en vogue dashboard gauges, they often end up managing symptoms and celebrating incremental improvements that don’t translate into overall revenue growth. In a market where growth is necessary just to remain flat, it’s probably time to apply GenAI to uncover the “known unknowns” as well as the “unknown unknowns” that best unlock factors like loyalty and lifetime value growth.

3) Eliminate the fear factor. Let’s face it, tech is scary – it breaks, it does odds thing you don’t expect, and it might accidentally tell all your social connections something you’d prefer it didn’t. For many people, tech fear stems not only from scams and malware, but more simply because it does not communicate like a person – no emotions, no body language, and no way to say “here’s what’s wrong.” While ChatGPT and GenAI are not the same thing, it’s easy to overlook the fact that what made AI useful to people – a tech that’s been around since the 1970s – was a natural language way of interacting with it. Without this interface, the world ignored AI. So, when we apply GenAI to customer experience, let’s remember to bring the natural language interface along to help eliminate the fear of new, smarter tech for our customers and ourselves.

Think bigger and start practicing

Maybe the most important thing to remember about GenAI is that it is really just another tool in the box. But like any apprentice carpenter can tell you, the first time using a new type of power saw may not produce the expected results. It takes time to calibrate and to become accustomed to what the tool can do before it can be used with total precision. The same will be true for GenAI. In the meantime we ought to think a bit bigger about the problem sets it can take on and what it can achieve on behalf of customers rather than what it might achieve for online retail and telesales.