The News: Qualtrics has introduced the next generation of its XM platform, XM/os2, which represents the biggest change to the platform since XM originally came out. This next generation combines Qualtrics AI and new generative AI that will be used for personalized content, real-time recommendations, and targeted actions across every Qualtrics product. The company also announced it would be investing $500 million in AI over the next 4 years.
Some of the specific product enhancements include:
- New generative AI in Qualtrics FrontlineXM
- Generative AI within XM for People Teams that will automatically summarize employee feedback and behavior data
- Qualtrics Research Hub is being enhanced with the ability to type in a question and get insights and answers immediately
- New AI-powered dynamic feedback capabilities
The full Press Release, including availability timeline is on the Qualtrics website.
XM/os2 Launched by Qualtrics
Analyst Take: Qualtrics has announced the next generation of its XM platform, XM/os2, which combines Qualtrics AI, new generative AI abilities, and, according to the company, the world’s largest sentiment database in the world. Many of the announcements focused on acting with empathy for deeper customer and employee relationships, and the ability to personalize and act at scale.
“AI is accelerating the ability to take action in the right way to help companies act quickly, decisively, and more precisely on their experience data and to automate critical actions and create more meaningful and relevant interactions. This deepens relationships between organizations and the people that matter most, all while respecting privacy and operating transparently and responsibly, which is critical. The rate at which AI is accelerating is creating an inflection point. And we’re responding by supercharging experience management with AI,” says Qualtrics CEO Zig Serafin.
Qualtrics has been leveraging AI, including large language models (LLMs), for years to create efficiencies and build scale, but with a focus on solving real-world problems its customers are facing. This enhanced platform expands its generative AI capabilities across the entire product set.
Related Article: 5 Questions with Ellen Loeshelle, Qualtrics Director of Product Management, Intelligence Platform
The Numbers
Qualtrics is certainly going big with its announced financial commitment, and has been emphasizing the volume of data in its system, gathered via a broad set of touchpoints, as well as the actions the platform is enabling:
- More than 3.5 billion conversations and interactions are captured and analyzed each year.
- $500 million AI investment over the next 4 years.
- In the last 12 months alone, Qualtrics AI analyzed more than 2 billion human conversations and more than 1.6 billion data points.
- In the last month, Qualtrics AI has delivered more than 200 million recommendations for customers to act on.
- There are more than 12 billion experience identities in its system. This number has been growing more than 50% year over year.
- Qualtrics automates more than 2 billion actions.
- There are 20,000 customers building on Qualtrics from industries all over the world.
This experience data set is ingested by Qualtrics’ AI models, helping to find opportunities and points of friction to deliver recommendations and inspire action.
Key Takeaways
Increased focus on productivity and efficiencies. Many of the announcements focused on how AI would be helping customers avoid some of the more mundane parts of data collection. This includes capabilities such as helping frontline teams have better call summaries via Qualtrics Automated Call Summaries or quickly summarizing employee feedback and behavior data for managers. Qualtrics spotlighted an interesting use case in its Qualtrics Video Feedback, using AI to find trends, quotes, and insights to create reports quickly.
Functions to support empathy. Generative AI is being used to give frontline support agents the background needed to respond to customers in a more personalized and empathic way, with suggestions recommended based on the comprehensive customer profile data in Qualtrics ExperienceID. This data can include a caller’s emotion and history of interactions. On the employee side, Qualtrics XM for People Teams gives managers a view into employees’ overall wellbeing, not just as a one-time, fixed point, but as a continuous feed.
Deeper personalization at scale. Qualtrics uses the interconnected Experience ID, iQ, and xFlow as the core to its enhanced platform, all which have AI layered in to automatically group customers and send ChatGPT-powered actions with their own OpenAI account. Qualtrics offered the example of an airline passenger providing feedback after a lost piece of luggage and having the most appropriate and relevant follow-up questions sent to them, which will help get to resolution quickly and offer solutions to smooth over that bad experience, based on factors such as their preferences, how often they fly, and where they are going.
Impressive investment numbers from Qualtrics, along with some solid (and practical) use cases for customers. It will be interesting to track where those AI investment dollars will be applied next.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
5 Questions with Ellen Loeshelle, Qualtrics Director of Product Management, Intelligence Platform
Qualtrics Announces General Availability of Manager Assist
Author Information
As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.
She brings more than 20 years of experience in technology research and marketing; prior to her current role, she was a Research Analyst at Omdia, authoring market and ecosystem reports on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and User Interface technologies. Sherril was previously Manager of Market Research at Intrado Life and Safety, providing competitive analysis and intelligence, business development support, and analyst relations.
Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.
