In this roundup, what stands out is the often-multinational nature of CX partnerships and collaborations. And rightfully so, given that CX is an area of global relevance and interest, universal in application and recognition. Of the 10 companies highlighted in the roundup, two are Japanese-based—the cosmetics giant Shiseido Group, and middle market insurance firm Aioi Nissay; one hails from Germany—the airline conglomerate Lufthansa Group; and one is Australian—the travel and roads agency known as Transport for NSW, from the Australian state of New South Wales. The remaining six companies are American CX providers from California, Texas, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Details follow.
Qualtrics Selected by Shiseido Group for Global EX Program
Qualtrics has been selected by Japan’s Shiseido Group to help improve employee wellbeing, productivity, and development as the cosmetic company embraces diverse work styles aligned to the changing needs of its workers. With Shiseido refining its hybrid work model, the company says partnering with Qualtrics will be critical in providing information and guidance on news ways of working and in creating a rewarding experience for its 46,000 global employees.
As part of the Japanese cosmetics firm’s “Think Global, Act Local” approach, Shiseido is standardizing its global employee experience (EX) programs with Qualtrics, the creator of the experience management (XM) category and the XM platform for businesses to attract engaged customers.
Through access to ongoing employee feedback captured by Qualtrics, Shiseido leaders will be able to identify issues and take action to improve EX within the work environments being adopted. Shiseido will also be able to pinpoint issues that affect EX or the company’s ability to attract, retain, and develop talent.
Founded 150 years ago in Tokyo, the family business that started out as Japan’s first Western-style pharmacy has grown to become that country’s largest cosmetics firm and the world’s fifth largest. Shiseido has operations in approximately 120 countries and regions around the world.
Kibo to Personalize Digital Experiences of Lufthansa Group Customers
Kibo, the Dallas, Texas-based provider of a unified commerce platform for the middle market, has been selected by Germany’s Lufthansa Group to provide engaging personalized digital experiences for customers of the global aviation conglomerate.
Lufthansa Group, which operates Germany’s largest airline, and also owns and operates Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Swiss International Airlines, will leverage the Kibo Personalization software to optimize web and app experiences for both airline passengers and visitors looking to book travel across various digital touchpoints.
With Kibo, Lufthansa Group says it found a solution to deliver fast return on investment (ROI) from smart features like testing and experimentation, including the deployment of cutting-edge, one-to-one personalization. The Kibo platform combines headless e-commerce, enterprise-grade order management, and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven personalization from Kibo subsidiaries Monetate and Certona.
NICE Helps Japan’s Aioi Nissay Insurance Achieve Efficiency Gains
NICE, the New Jersey-based provider of contact center CX platforms, says the use of its Advanced Process Automation (APA) solutions helped Japanese insurance firm Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance to significantly increase operational efficiency, cut costs, and reduce average handle time (AHT) at the insurance agency’s emergency call center. Neva, the virtual attendant of NICE, is providing automated, real-time guidance to 1,000 Aioi Nissay frontline agents, while advanced unattended robotic automations are streamlining dozens of routine digital processes.
Aioi Nissay provides non-life insurance products and support for customers across the globe, operating its Anshin24 contact center as an emergency helpdesk for car accidents and other urgent events. Because most of the tasks that must be accomplished during these interactions are complex, Aioi Nissay sought an automation solution to reduce dependence among its agents on time-consuming and error-prone manual activities.
Powered by a data-driven intelligent decisioning engine, NICE APA solutions help identify the processes that are the best candidates for automation and guidance, enabling organizations to optimize process operations and identify areas for improvement. With Aioi Nissay, Neva’s capabilities enabled the Japanese insurance outfit to deliver better service directly to its customers with greater efficiency, speed, and accuracy, the Japanese insurance officials say.
Moreover, the unattended robotic automation technology from NICE slashed reputational risk and costs for Aioi Nissay, allowing the company to reinvest the time and money it had saved into other areas of the business.
Algolia Helps GoFundMe Increase Engagement by 15%
Algolia, the San Francisco-headquartered provider of search as a service, says its InstantSearch and Query Suggestions features have increased conversion rates for GoFundMe by 15% and have boosted click-through rates from primary searches, resulting in greater donations for the global crowdfunding platform.
For GoFundMe, Algolia’s search and discovery platform has been critical in helping prospective donors connect to their causes, or discover new ones that appeal to them. Algolia’s InstantSearch is a predictive search feature that tries to anticipate and guess the most likely completion of a user’s search query, while the Query Suggestions feature generates suggested search terms based on the searches other users are conducting.
With the new features in place, Redwood City, California-based GoFundMe says it has enjoyed success in building an “exceptional” user experience, which has made it easy for the company to deepen its investment in search and discovery capabilities, as demonstrated by the addition of Algolia’s InstantSearch and Query Suggestions features to the GoFundMe website. Adding the two Algolia features enables GoFundMe to create so-called discovery pages, where users can browse fundraisers by specific categories.
Alvaria is the Workforce Choice of Australia’s Transport for NSW
Alvaria and its Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) solution has been selected by Transport for NSW, the transport and roads agency for New South Wales, Australia, to keep its workers productive and engaged.
The Australian agency had been looking for a solution that could be easily integrated with the voice, live chat, and back-office functionality of its omnichannel contact center. The choice to go with Alvaria, the Massachusetts-based provider of global contact center solutions, was not hard because company research showed the Alvaria solution was the best product in the market, says Mark Uremovic, resource planning manager at Transport for NSW.
Among the features that proved helpful to the Australian agency were the Alvaria WEM capability to build and customize reports without difficulty in Employee Datacenter, and the ease with which Transport for NSW workers could request schedule trades, apply for overtime, or request time-off directly—all done through a mobile device.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
