When we talk of Customer Experience, the first thought probably coming to mind is about businesses reaching out to Gen Y and Gen Z. Nothing wrong in that, except that there's an equally important customer cohort that offers a huge opportunity for enterprises to enhance CX or Net Promoter Scores (NPS) – senior citizens! This demographic profile, comprising people 60 years and older, is what we refer to as senior citizens. In India, the number of senior citizens stands at approximately 140 million, and is projected to rise significantly over the next decade. With their global population projected to hit one billion by 2030 and spending power close to $15 trillion, rest assured this group will have huge impact on business going ahead. New vistas expanding CX for seniors Of late, we have begun to see remarkable changes in senior citizens.

An ever-expanding list of benefits and a growing demand for voice interfaces has placed Conversational AI high on the list as a key component for any digital transformation strategy. With everyone from industry analysts and the Board recommending investment, the next question is how and where do you start with conversational AI? There is no doubt that conversational AI will be the defining technology of the next decade. From improving customer service and driving online sales revenue, to new ways of differentiation using voice interfaces, the speed with which conversational AI is being embraced is breathtaking. According to Gartner by 2020, 25% of customer service and support operations will integrate virtual customer assistant technology across engagement channels, up from less than 2% in 2017.

Everywhere you look companies are talking about using artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots, or virtual assistants as part of their e-commerce strategy. More often than not, these types of technologies are still in the "hype" phase: a lot of speculation, but not much implementation. AI has yet to become mainstream in practice, but we have become really good at collecting information. The proliferation of devices, digital touchpoints and social media platforms has led to an explosion of rich data. And while true AI is the promise that we'll no longer be required to analyze this raw data, we still need technology to turn data into actionable insights.

Artificial intelligence and bots are still in the early stages, but for a group of brand representatives, utilizing these emerging technologies is simply about being where their customers are – and more and more, that involves being in their homes and on their phones. In a panel at SXSW, Talk to the Brand: AI, Bots and Conversational Marketing, the discussion centered around pushing forward their new bots and gauging the response to the technologies by their consumers. Moderator Fred Schonenberg, founder of VentureFuel, first asked if we really needed bots in our lives, and the response from the panel was decidedly'yes'. A good bot does one thing really well, and that's it. If it can crush it, that's key," said Sam Olstein, global director of innovation for GE Corporation. "Bots and AI can make our lives easier," said Chris McCann, CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com. "Consumers change, and we have to be there." He added that they need to look where people are spending their times, and often ...