“Alexa set my alarm for 7 am.”
Seems uncanny to think how easily that phrase rolls off the tongue for so many people, a concept 10 years ago that would’ve seemed foreign, out of reach and, frankly, ridiculous.
But in this modern age, virtual assistants are as common as free delivery and extravagant bagel toppings, and we are becoming more dependent on them to give us the experience we desire. In fact, some experts have even coined us as ‘The experience generation’.
Luke Chong and I had the pleasure of attending Accelerate World’s seminar on Tuesday, titled ‘Digital Transformation and Making Effective Change with Digital Humans.’ The seminar was hosted at IBM in Auckland’s waterfront. It was an honour hearing from the men and women at the forefront of the Digital Human movement and learning how deep the roots run in New Zealand’s ever-expanding AI market.
Our innate cognitive function engages three different steps: sensing, understanding, responding. While this sentience is reserved for humans (and some animals), we are ever drawing closer to it being available in advanced AI. In fact, we might already be there.
While we heard from a range of speakers, were demonstrated a range of use cases and interacted with highly personalised and developed Digital Humans, the biggest eye-opener, from a Digital and Customer Experience standpoint, was the direction we are heading when it comes to a brand’s interaction with people. Gartner predicts that in 10 years, 85% of interactions with a brand will be non-human or, more accurately, Digital Human, backed by AI and Machine Learning.
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When we think about the interactions we have with major global brands, a lot of interaction still requires detailed human input, much of which is mundane and time-consuming. For a brand, the cost and customer experience implications provide an opportunity too tempting to refuse, and it’s becoming highly probable that we’ll be interacting with AI more and more for situations such as initiating a loan pre-approval, fitting a garment or diagnosing an illness.
From a digital perspective, a range of opportunities exist. We were presented with a demonstration of how interactive Digital Humans can replace the outdated survey and NPS process for businesses, and it reminded me of an impending reality we have approaching our offerings as well - Voice SEO.
While in the past, virtual assistants felt like a novelty, the advancement and personalisation of Digital Humans are changing the narrative to one of necessity to stay competitive and profitable in a digital age. Here at OSS Group, we are privileged to already have the capabilities of IBM Power AI and Watson behind us in helping our clients execute effective digital transformations, and it won’t be long until it becomes a core part of our CX’n’D strategy.
If digital transformation through the adoption of Digital Humans is something you see value in, come talk to us. Be it for customer experience, internal improvement or more, our team members have the capabilities, partnerships and minds to be the drivers that put you first in the race for a digital future.
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