As digital technologies like AI become ubiquitous, the automotive industry has an opportunity to respond to customer needs as they arise based on real-time collected data and insights. Sayer offers an example of the dreaded service indicator light coming on. Typically, a customer would see the dashboard light and follow up with a mechanic to get a diagnostic code to classify the issue. But Sayer paints a picture of a connected vehicle that draws on data from a wide internet-connected ecosystem that provides a customer with a diagnosis of the issue via phone notification. Even further, a connected vehicle can reference service history to suggest and schedule a service appointment and find the most viable navigation route, offering customers even more convenience. Connected vehicles provide OEMs insight into how customers are driving in real time and allow them to make faster adjustments to improve experiences and optimize their manufacturing processes.

When you hear the words "conversational AI," what comes to mind? Most people just consider it to be an advanced form of artificial intelligence. However, conversational AI is something different altogether. It refers to the process in which brands can create a more personalized dialogue with their customers by using natural language processing and machine learning capabilities to create a consistent customer experience across all digital channels. The use of conversational AI has increased exponentially in recent years as brands are becoming more aware of the need for consumer engagement through better customer service.

AI has been revolutionizing the face of customer service globally- more so during the pandemic- with AI-powered chatbots and other virtual agents taking the center stage. An increasing need to offer streamlined end-to-end customer experience is the primary reason why more and more firms are aggressively investing in modern technology to improve their customer support. However, traditional ways of providing customer service- which was solely based on humans- proved to be tedious both from the employee as well as from the customers' perspectives. While customers (especially the millennials and gen-z users) were tired of pressing buttons to avail themselves different kinds of services, service reps also considered that answering the same questions repeatedly was monotonous. This is why most organizations in recent times have decided to switch to virtual agents, which use AI, ML and other tools to frame and deliver customized responses to different types of customer requests and queries.

In recent times, organizations have been competing with one another to implement chatbots for various reasons, including enhancing customer experience, streamlining processes, and fueling the demand for digital and innovative technologies. Cognitive technologies such as chatbots have become an apt candidate for end-use application as they have high automation feasibility, high potential of accuracy, low complexity and low execution time. Raising the bar through intelligence, virtual assistants have been propelled by advancements of mobile technology. Technology giants are putting their weight on a platform designed to answer ad-hoc queries in real-time and fuel sales as chatbots can remember customer preference and use order history to learn from customer responses to the product advertisements, suggest products, and cross-sell aptly. For instance, if a customer asks for a pizza recommendation with a chatbot, it can remember which pizza the customer ordered and follow up with it when offering a recommendation for another pizza or a restaurant.

Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), chatbots, digital channels and self-service all contribute to delivering an improved customer experience - but AI adoption runs the risk of customer frustration if not applied thoughtfully to the end-to-end customer and agent experience. We will look at how to define and implement the right mix of automation and human touch - making sure consumer trust and relationship doesn't get lost in digitization.

Before breakfast, I check my Facebook and LinkedIn newsfeeds for a quick synopsis of the day. As I jump in the shower, I hit "download" on a recommended movie on Netflix, knowing I have a long flight this evening. While wolfing down my cereal, I click once to buy a gift for a friend's birthday next week. My iPhone pings to tell me that I need to leave now if I want to make that early meeting 54 miles away. And as I get in my car, I use voice activation to play my favorite Spotify playlist, and Apple Maps informs me it will take five minutes to drive to the train station this morning.