By Shishank Gupta, SVP & Head of the Digital Workplace Ecosystem and Microsoft Practice, Infosys
In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, elevating stakeholder experiences is at the forefront of innovation. Central to this evolution are transformative tools like ERP systems, sales CRM, and low-code/no-code platforms that drive productivity from the office to the frontline. These solutions not only streamline operations such as finance and supply chain management, ensuring seamless efficiency across the board, but they also have a profound impact on business outcomes. For instance, a sales agent utilising an AI-enhanced CRM system can achieve greater connectivity with end-users, leading to heightened customer satisfaction and increased sales. Similarly, a business analyst leveraging an ERP system for supply chain management can optimize inventory decisions, resulting in improved cash flow and operational agility.
Organisations are looking to enhance stakeholder engagement and deliver exceptional service to end clients by leveraging a partner ecosystem and creating bespoke solutions in untapped areas. AI significantly enhances CRM data integration with analytics, refining client services and enabling proactive problem-solving through historical data analysis. This proactive approach not only resolves issues before they escalate but also fortifies customer loyalty, translating into long-term business growth. In operations, AI boosts contact center agent productivity by intelligently routing tickets and providing real-time recommendations, reducing the need for human intervention and allowing businesses to handle higher volumes of customer interactions more efficiently, ultimately leading to improved service levels and customer retention.
AI in operations
AI enhances ERP systems by integrating them with other systems and data sources. Low-code/no-code platforms help connect traditional ERPs with various data sources, allowing easy data exchange. AI analyzes this data, driving innovation and fostering more strategic business decisions. Connecting contact center data with CRM systems demonstrates the strength of integrated solutions, improving customer service and operational efficiency. These platforms make integration faster, enabling quick improvements based on client needs, boosting adoption and efficiency, and leading to significant business impacts such as cost reductions, enhanced customer satisfaction, and increased market competitiveness.
Driving innovation and agility
AI plays a crucial role in driving innovation and agility. It helps turn data into actionable insights quickly, supports real-time decisions, and adapts to customer needs. This agility not only enhances the speed of response to market changes but also ensures that businesses remain competitive and relevant. By automating routine tasks, AI allows people to focus on creativity and innovation, changing workforce roles for more meaningful work. This shift improves job satisfaction and ensures ongoing learning, which speeds up value delivery and builds client loyalty. The resultant business impact is evident in the form of increased employee engagement, improved productivity, and sustained growth.
Humanising AI
While AI enhances customer experiences, it might reduce human interaction. How do we emphasize the need to add a human touch? At the end of the day, our customers are humans, and their experiences should reflect that. AI can sometimes result in monotonous and predictable interactions since it designs based on existing data and best practices. The key is blending AI’s efficiency with human creativity. By quickly learning from past practices, we can introduce unique nuances that differentiate our services from standard AI solutions. This approach not only allows enterprises to harness AI’s power while delivering distinct human experiences but also leads to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty, which are critical for long-term business success.
The future of work with AI
There is growing concern that AI’s ability to manage mundane tasks and its advancements in creativity could potentially reduce job opportunities, making employees overly reliant on AI and requiring new training to maintain creativity and engagement. However, AI is just another transformative force, much like past innovations. We’ve seen waves of change before—RPA, automation, and even the industrial revolution. Each wave didn’t eliminate work but transformed it, prompting people to acquire new skills.
The business impact of this transformation is profound, as it opens up new avenues for innovation and growth, leading to the creation of entirely new markets and opportunities. Human creativity is boundless. When manual tasks were replaced by machines, people adapted and learned.
As technology evolves, so do opportunities for creative problem-solving. Imagine being asked 100 years ago what happens after horse carts. We progressed to cars and rockets. While we couldn’t predict rockets back then, innovation continued. The future is unpredictable, but history shows that with each advancement, new challenges and opportunities arise. Just as calculators replaced manual calculations, freeing us for more interesting pursuits, AI will automate tasks and lead us to new frontiers. Whatever comes next, we’ll find innovative ways to embrace it and drive business success through adaptive strategies and forward-thinking approaches.
Conclusion
AI will be instrumental in reimagining workflows, crafting new experiences, and channeling human talent into creative and strategic activities. By doing so, we unlock new potentials and drive impactful change across industries. AI’s role in transforming customer experience is not just a technological upgrade but a paradigm shift that requires careful implementation and continuous innovation. By balancing AI’s capabilities with human creativity, we can ensure a future where technology enhances human potential and delivers exceptional value to all stakeholders.