Unlocking the Power of Conversational AI Platforms to Maximize Your ROI
Forrester has recently released a new report on conversational AI for customer service. This report is in line with similar reports compiled by other major analyst firms such as IDC and Gartner. These reports focus on the top platforms that many companies are using to create conversational AI product experiences for their employees and customers. This trend is occurring at a time when AI agents have become dominant in discussions about how companies can use conversational AI to orchestrate business processes.
Conversational AI platforms play a pivotal role in enhancing business operations and driving ROI growth through improved customer interactions and operational efficiency. When strategically implemented across multiple touchpoints, these platforms enable businesses to engage with customers in a personalized and timely manner. By integrating AI chatbots or virtual assistants, organizations can deliver round-the-clock customer support, manage inquiries more effectively, and minimize response times. Furthermore, the utilization of conversational AI facilitates the collection of valuable customer data, offering insights into preferences and behaviors that empower businesses to customize their offerings and marketing strategies. This tailored approach nurtures higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately translating into enhanced ROI and business success.
Although OpenAI and Google are well-known, companies like OneReach.ai and Cognigy may not be familiar to everyone. However, they are among the platforms highlighted in Forrester's report, which emphasizes an important but often overlooked aspect of the market that is crucial for scalable implementations of generative AI.
There is a gap between the short-term capabilities of generative tools and the long-term strategies that organizations need to effectively utilize conversational AI technologies. Major analyst groups seem to recognize this, as platforms designed to orchestrate these technologies are aimed at delivering the real business value that organizations are seeking.
The new AI technology of generative AI (genAI) and large language models (LLMs) will deliver natural conversations useful to customers. This will require a fraction of the time and effort compared to traditional conversational AI toolsets.
According to the Conversational AI Forrester Wave™, traditional AI vendors need to revamp their solutions to incorporate the following features:
Orchestrating various AI resources, including LLMs and genAI, to ensure the right resources are used at the right time for the best possible customer experience.
Providing guardrails such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vectoring, and specific and finely tuned LLMs to make genAI safe for customer-facing interactions.
Helping their customers find secure spaces, such as RAG-driven FAQ applications, to begin their genAI self-service journey.
Managing transaction workflows to deliver positive customer experiences while meeting business requirements.
Future-proofing brands’ self-service offerings with flexible technology that will keep up with the exponential advances of genAI.
The result of this transformation is improved chatbots and intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) that can be delivered more cost-effectively than ever before, all thanks to the capabilities of LLMs and genAI. Vendors in this Forrester wave have completely revamped their offerings by placing LLMs and genAI at their core.
