MELVILLE, N.Y., December 14, 2021 – Businesses increasingly see customer engagement as a competitive differentiator, especially in the post-pandemic era. Yet, the large majority of executives worldwide (82%) believe the challenges to managing engagement with customers will only grow, according to a Verint-sponsored report by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services.
As businesses approach their third year affected by the pandemic, the report, Automating and Scaling the Soft Skills Critical to Customer Experience in a Digital World, highlights how companies are finding ways to better know their customers, engage effectively with them, and deliver improved business outcomes.
R “Ray” Wang, founder, CEO, chairman, and principal analyst at Constellation Research, says customers are expecting the various parts of a company to speak with a singular voice. “If your channels aren’t in sync – if the customer’s interactions with your contact center, your mobile app, and your website aren’t in sync – the customer won’t have patience for that,” says Wang. “They’ll move on.”
Ritu Jyoti, group vice president for worldwide artificial intelligence and automation research at IDC, recommends companies pursue AI- and cloud-powered digital transformation. “This is no longer a choice,” Jyoti says. “AI-powered digital transformation, in the cloud, is the number one tool in your arsenal for gaining a competitive advantage, at least from a technology perspective.”
Powered by advanced artificial intelligence (AI), digital-first customer engagement solutions deliver human-like conversations across every channel, provide real-time resolutions to the customer, support valuable agents, and drive positive, measurable business outcomes.
Alight is the leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions. Alight allows employees to enrich their health, wealth and work while enabling global organizations to achieve a high-performance culture. The organization has developed a sophisticated chatbot called “Lisa” that uses natural language processing – a form of AI – to respond to inquiries from its customers.
“Lisa is supported with a team that’s constantly reviewing data behind the scenes, evaluating how we’re answering questions, and the relevancy of our answers, and also providing insights into where we might want to create new topics or enhance existing ones by adjusting our algorithms,” says Ibrahim Khoury, Alight’s director of product development.
“We’re seeing a rapid transformation in the way organizations interact with customers,” says Verint’s Heather Richards, vice president, go-to-market, digital-first engagement. “The pace of digital adoption and consumer expectations are unprecedented, and this report outlines why companies are moving forward with digital-first strategies to improve interactions and customer engagement.”
Alight’s Ibrahim Khoury, Verint’s Heather Richards and HBR’s Alex Clemente will outline the top takeaways from the report and share how companies are rapidly adopting digital-first customer engagement solutions and adapting to changing customer expectations on a webinar, “Improving Customer Experience in a Digital-First World,” at 1 p.m. ET on January 20, 2022.
About Verint
Verint® (Nasdaq: VRNT) helps the world’s most iconic brands – including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies – build enduring customer relationships by connecting work, data and experiences across the enterprise. The Verint Customer Engagement portfolio draws on the latest advancements in AI and analytics, an open cloud architecture, and The Science of Customer Engagement™ to help customers close The Engagement Capacity Gap™.
Verint. The Customer Engagement Company™. Learn more at Verint.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” including statements regarding expectations, predictions, views, opportunities, plans, strategies, beliefs, and statements of similar effect relating to Verint Systems Inc. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and they are based on management’s expectations that involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. For a detailed discussion of these risk factors, see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2021, and other filings we make with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and, except as required by law, Verint assumes no obligation to update or revise them or to provide reasons why actual results may differ.
VERINT, THE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT COMPANY, BOUNDLESS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT, THE ENGAGEMENT CAPACITY GAP and THE SCIENCE OF CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT are trademarks of Verint Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries. Verint and other parties may also have trademark rights in other terms used herein.
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.
