Swing your sword: AI’s game-changing playbook

Crisp fall air and changing leaves herald the start of football season on high school fields, college campuses and pro arenas alike.

It’s game time! On Friday nights, the lights switch on and bleachers fill for high school games. Saturdays see college towns transformed into a sea of school colors. Sundays bring together families and friends to huddle around TVs, cheering on their favorite NFL teams.

With all eyes on the scoreboard, the difference between a win or a loss hinge on split-second decisions, seamless teamwork and the ability to read and react to complex, ever-changing situations. The quarterback must anticipate the other team’s moves and lead a cohesive offensive strategy—all while under intense pressure.

Now, imagine if your business could operate with the same level of precision, adaptability and foresight in managing the holistic customer experience (CX). You need a quarterback on your team and that’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play. It’s truly the star in the game of modern customer service.

Just as a skilled QB can read the defense and adjust plays on the fly, AI systems are revolutionizing how businesses interact with their customers, providing personalized, responsive and proactive service at every touchpoint. From predicting customer needs before they arise to seamlessly coordinating responses across multiple channels, AI is becoming as indispensable to customer experience as a top-tier quarterback is to a championship football team.

Our recent CX AI Realized webinar series essentially provided a “huddle” to help organizations use AI to call the right plays, make split-second adjustments and ultimately score big wins in customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Swing your AI sword with purpose

To encourage his players to give their best effort and leave it all on the field, the late Texas Tech and Washington State football coach, Mike Leach, would utter “Swing your sword!”

Just as Leach encouraged his players to focus on playing their best game rather than obsessing over the opponent, organizations need to be mindful of concentrating on improving core contact center business objectives.

AI is your sword—a powerful tool to help achieve your goals. Don’t get caught up in the hype, instead, swing your AI sword with purpose.

During the How to Achieve CX Excellence: Cutting Through the AI Hype to Deliver CX Outcomes webinar, Bradley Shimmin, chief analyst, AI & platforms at Omdia, and Michele Carlson, director, product marketing at NiCE, led an insightful discussion filled with best practice tips on how organizations can realize tangible benefits from purpose-built AI for CX.

Forward-thinking companies have quickly incorporated AI to improve customer satisfaction and operational metrics. Omdia found 37.6% are currently implementing or have already moved generative AI into production. Customer support is one of the top three industry areas where generative AI has gained adoption, behind IT and cybersecurity.

“Customer experience is so much bigger and broader than the journey. It really is about the memory. It is about creating this holistic view of the experiences. Even though I've talked to my health care provider, I might have two different questions,” Shimmin said. “It's not a linear journey. I’m on their website. I'm talking with their chatbot, but I really have this other question about something. It's everything together. My overall experience of a healthcare company is not shaped by one dot and then aligned to the next. It’s everything mixed in together.”

Coach Leach was known for his holistic approach to coaching by encouraging his players to think beyond just football, and Shimmin echoes that sentiment in the realm of customer experience, urging a focus on the entire picture. Organizations should maintain a goal of creating a comprehensive, memorable experience for customers that resonates with them long after each interaction.

It's important to maintain a rich, contextual “memory” in AI-powered customer interactions. AI's ability to remember and learn from past interactions is like a well-honed sword—it becomes sharper and more effective with each use.

“The goal is not to simply use AI. The goal is to do the things that you’re doing and do them more efficiently, do them better, (and) improve the experiences. AI is the tool to do that,” Carlson said.

This is much like Leach’s philosophy of not letting fear or insecurity rule your decisions. Don't implement AI out of fear of being left behind; instead, swing your AI sword with confidence and purpose, focusing on how it can genuinely improve your business and customer experiences.

In navigating the exciting yet challenging world of AI in customer experience, take a page from Coach Leach's playbook. Don't be afraid to think outside the box, focus on your core objectives and “swing your sword” – your AI initiatives – with purpose, responsibility and a holistic view of the customer experience field. Remember, it’s not just about having the most advanced AI sword, but about how skillfully and purposefully you wield it.

AI-powered analytics: The MVP driving teams to CX success by empowering every player

One of five-time NFL MVP quarterback Peyton Manning’s most famous quotes was: The most valuable player is the one who makes the most players valuable.

Teamwork is EVERYTHING—in football, in life and in business.

In the Why AI-Powered Analytics Enables Companies to Cruise Ahead in CX webinar, Alexandria Doucet, CXone administrator at Open Network Exchange, talked more about the journey of implementing AI for agent and customer experience requires a comprehensive approach that combines innovation, organizational readiness and an understanding of both customer and business needs.

She and Lauren Maschio, senior manager, product marketing at NiCE, talked about the ins and outs of AI-powered analytics to drive organizational success.

In the world of customer experience (CX), the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in analytics is becoming increasingly pivotal. Much like Manning’s quote, AI analytics in CX is proving to be the MVP that elevates the performance of customer service agents across the board.

Consider this real-world example from Doucet: “Agents focusing on the language that they use within their phone calls have created a better guest experience, resulting in a decrease in escalation. It is more acceptable for an agent instead of saying ‘I don't know,’ and making them sound not knowledgeable to say, ‘Let me go ahead and research this for you so I can give you the best answer.’ That has a totally different delivery than ‘I don't know.’”

This transformation in agent behavior at ONE didn't happen by chance. It was the result of AI-powered analytics that provided insights into customer interactions, allowing for targeted coaching and improvement.

By analyzing vast amounts of customer interaction data, AI can identify patterns, trends and specific language use that correlates with positive customer outcomes. This information empowers managers to provide data-driven, personalized coaching to their agents, focusing on areas that will have the most significant impact on customer satisfaction and resolution rates.

AI analytics elevate the entire customer service ecosystem. By identifying best practices from top-performing agents, AI systems can disseminate these insights across the organization, creating a culture of continuous improvement and excellence.

The impact of this AI-driven approach extends beyond just reducing escalations. It can lead to increased first call resolution (FCR) rates, improved customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) and even boost sales performance as agents become more adept at addressing customer needs effectively.

ONE specializes in technology and customer care solutions for the travel and hospitality industries. By expanding its contact center insights, ONE achieved several targets for more effective and efficient interactions. Overall call volume has been reduced by 30%, with 20% fewer call escalations.

Supervisors also established a new coaching model that emphasizes specific categories and soft-skill behaviors on a per agent basis. The discovery tools save an average of four to five hours per supervisor per week. Now, supervisors spend more time working directly with agents or addressing other areas for contact center improvement.

In essence, AI analytics in CX is not about replacing human agents but about augmenting their capabilities. It's about creating a synergy between human empathy and machine intelligence, resulting in a customer service experience that is both efficient and deeply satisfying for the customer.

As we move forward in the age of AI-enhanced customer experience, it’s clear that the organizations that will thrive are those that leverage AI analytics as a catalyst for making every agent as valuable as possible to the customer and the organization.

Game of inches: Lessons from a CX transformation at digital real estate leader

Show me the money! It's not just a catchy line Cuba Gooding Jr.'s football player character famously exclaims in “Jerry Maguire.”

Realtor.com is seeing tangible results after revolutionizing its approach to customer experience after spending the last two years transforming CX quality analytics from a compliance-focused exercise into a revenue-generating powerhouse.

Dustin Emmerich, senior manager of revenue enablement for Realtor.com, recently pulled back the curtain on this game-changing shift. In the How to Advance CX Quality Analytics for Revenue Growth webinar, Emmerich highlighted how the open real estate marketplace firm is advancing CX quality analytics to realize a host of benefits.

“Realtor.com now scores 100% of CX call interactions automatically for compliance behaviors, allowing our quality team to shift from scoring three calls per customer service representative (CSR) per pay period to driving business insights at scale, optimizing our business and unlocking future revenue,” Emmerich said.

In another iconic football film, Al Pacino as Coach D’Amato in “Any Given Sunday” delivers a powerful speech about life and football being a game of inches: You find out life’s this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game—life or football—the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it.

This philosophy resonates deeply in the world of customer experience, as demonstrated by the digital real estate leader’s recent transformation of their quality assurance process. In the high-stakes game of customer service, every interaction, every second and every word can make the difference between a satisfied customer and a lost opportunity at building lifetime brand loyalty.

Realtor.com recognized that their traditional approach of manually reviewing just three calls per representative per pay period was leaving too much to chance. It was like trying to judge a football team’s performance by watching only a few plays from each game. They needed to see every play, every interaction.

Evaluating 100% of customer interactions on all fronts with AI purpose-built for CX enabled Realtor.com to spot patterns, identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions that impacted their entire operation.

These improvements stemmed from coordinated optimizations—or “inches.” By focusing on critical details across every call, Realtor.com achieved significant gains in efficiency and customer satisfaction.

But perhaps the most profound change was in the role of the quality assurance team itself. Realtor.com calls it a “windfall of information.”

The team transitioned from simply grading calls to becoming strategic partners in driving business insights and unlocking new revenue opportunities. They moved from playing defense—ensuring compliance and basic quality to playing offense—actively identifying ways to improve the customer experience and boost the bottom line.

In the game of customer experience—as in football—success is often determined by those who can consistently execute on the small details while keeping sight of the bigger picture. The transformation of Realtor.com shows that with the right tools and mindset, organizations can turn those inches into yards, driving their customer experience—and their business—down the field to victory.

CX AI: The ‘clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose’ solution

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose is Coach Taylor’s signature phrase to pump up his team in “Friday Night Lights.”

Just like in football, it resonates in CX by offering a sense of hope and optimism that mirrors the power of AI in today’s business landscape.

Clear eyes reflects the clarity that comes with purpose-built AI solutions, enabling companies to see their customers more clearly—through data, insights and a greater understanding of every interaction. This clarity allows businesses to discern what’s truly important: delivering exceptional, personalized experiences at every touchpoint.

Full hearts symbolizes the passion and dedication companies put into fostering meaningful connections with their customers. With AI-enhanced CX, agents are empowered to approach every interaction with empathy and confidence, knowing they have the right tools to create moments of delight. When businesses combine this clarity and passion, they are unstoppable.

Much like Coach Taylor’s iconic words, implementing AI for CX ensures your business moves forward with strength and optimism. With CX AI seamlessly integrated into operations, expect impressive improvements in customer satisfaction, loyalty and efficiency.

Propel your business forward with clear eyes focused on the future, full hearts invested in every customer and a winning formula that guarantees business success. With the right CX AI tools and mindset, you simply can’t lose.