What our Stone Age ancestors can teach us about data and AI in CX

The CX Network Debrief is the LinkedIn Newsletter from CX Network. Each week we share our take on a key development in experience management, with links to CX Network resources that can inform, inspire and help your organization’s response.?

This week’s edition takes a look at investment trends in CX and how the Stone Age – yes, you read that right – can provide lessons in career development.

Research conducted by CX Network in Q1 of this year showed that for 550 of our network members the three biggest obstacles when bringing CX investments to life are:

1.????Finding the budget.

2.????Demonstrating the return on the proposed investment.

3.????Overcoming a lack of patience from budget controllers.

These are significant challenges, but they cannot be tackled in isolation. They are three parts of the same puzzle and solving that puzzle can raise your profile as a CX leader and business decision maker.

It’s all about the tools you deploy – and the lessons you can take from history. Pull up a seat...

Our Stone Age, hunter gatherer ancestors discovered how to sharpen stones and used them for simple tasks and challenges, such as cutting, chopping or scraping. As we evolved and our needs adapted, our ancestors realized they needed more precision and speed – fast forward a million years or so and they had hand axes and cutting blades. The earlier tools still had a role, but the possibility and potential of the new tools paved the way for so much more.

After years of being able to cut prices and scrape data, similar things are now happening in CX and precision tools are required for the continued development of the customer experience. If you, as a CX leader, show a hand axe or cutting blade to a colleague who is still using sharp stones, there is a chance you will be seen as a deity – and a very strong chance your budget requests will be granted.

It will come as little surprise that AI-based analytics and data are the hand axes and cutting blades required: compelling and insightful data can be gathered across channels, mined by AI and presented to all departments. The person or department who owns this tool – the data – will be a trusted advisor to decision makers across the business.

As Jim Tincher recently advised us: “When you combine behavioral and operations data – for example, how long it takes to resolve a ticket – with financial data such as retention, you can create a compelling story.”

It doesn’t stop there. Data from customer channels can also inform product and process refinements.

You still need to make friends with the CFO and forge collaboration across departments, but putting data at the heart of this work will supercharge the results – and your standing in the organization. Yabba Dabba doo!

Here’s something to inform you…

Here’s something to inspire you…

Here is something to help you…