Customer Experience Emerged the Top Use Case among Enterprises Using Conversational AI

Conversational AI stakeholders report that the primary motivation for implementing virtual assistance was the need to give customers 24-hour support. However, providing 24-hour support isn't the only reason companies are implementing virtual assistants.

Fremont, CA: Rasa Technologies, the leading conversational AI platform for large-scale customer and employee engagement, has commissioned Dimensional Research to survey product leaders, engineers, and executives working on virtual assistants. Customer experience has emerged as the most popular use case for enterprises employing conversational AI.

One thing is consistent across industries as diverse as healthcare, telecommunications, retail, and financial services: customer experience is critical. Businesses invest heavily in customer experience because even minor improvements at scale are multiplied, leading to increased growth and retention. Customers now expect personalized experiences, 24-hour support, and instant access to the brands with which they do business, and businesses that can differentiate themselves become market leaders.

Key findings include:

Customer-facing virtual assistants outnumber other use cases by a large margin, with the need requirement for 24-hour support driving development.

Although organizations reported using assistants for internal operations as well as customer-facing operations, 72 percent of organizations use their assistants for customer-facing operations. Sixty-four percent were motivated by the ability to provide customers with support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Conversational AI stakeholders report that the primary motivation for implementing virtual assistance was the need to give customers 24-hour support. However, providing 24-hour support isn't the only reason companies are implementing virtual assistants. Cost savings came in second place, with 59 percent of respondents choosing it. Many organizations receive thousands of calls each week for simple requests, many of which can be automated. Companies that use virtual assistants can save money by removing simple requests from support queues, freeing up human agents to handle more difficult problems.