With all the talk of robots taking over, it is comforting to see more research that shows that the human touch is as important as ever.

While companies are rightly piling into technology such as AI, machine learning, and virtual assistants to improve efficiency and CX, a recent report has found that the human element cannot be ignored.

As the cost of artificial intelligence (AI) comes down and its applications become more widespread, companies are increasingly exploring and executing implementation. Fifth Quadrant spoke with Ryan Lester, Director of Customer Engagement Technologies at LogMeIn to get his views on AI, chatbots, contact centres, and what LogMeIn’s products can do for customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX).

Airlines have long struggled with customer satisfaction issues and in recent times we have seen an increasing number of horror stories linked to air travel customer experience (CX), from racism, to forcible removals and the recent death of a passenger’s dog. Granted, all of these examples were from the US so it isn’t surprising that airlines are in the bottom third of industries tracked by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. But they can serve as a guide on, what not to do for Australian airlines.

Fifth Quadrant has just released its 2018 Australian Contact Centre Benchmark Report which reveals that almost three-quarters of the industry (73%) is striving to improve customer experience (CX) through technology that optimises agent performance and delivers a more customer-centric channel offering.

Australia Post is trialling an autonomous delivery robot. (Supplied: Australia Post)

By Kate Letheren, Queensland University of Technology

Amazon’s launch in Australia (today) is likely to put fresh scrutiny on the speed of Australia Post’s own deliveries. To that end, Australia Post is trialling the use of robots to deliver parcels more promptly.

Research finds that consumer trust in a postal brand can influence willingness to purchase from an online retailer who ships with that carrier. Positive perceptions of postal services are not just important to the services themselves, but also to the online retailers who use them.

I recently had an opportunity to have a short chat with Steve Barker, ANZ Chief Operating Officer at Acticall Sitel Group. Some of topics we covered in the interview include, the evolution of Customer Experience, the growing pains associated with the roll-out of the NBN, some new developments coming from Sitel over the next year and more... I want to thank Steve for taking the time to talk to me and for sharing some insights around, what he feels are, the technologies to watch and that will enable the further evolution of Customer Experience over the next several years.

Voice is still the dominant channel for B2C communication however, based on current trends, it's likely to represent less than 50 per cent of all interactions within the next two years.

Motivated by the desire to improve service levels while also reducing costs, businesses are investing in alternatives such as email, chat and social as they strive to establish omni-channel contact centres to support their operations.

The vast majority of business executives today claim that a critical aspect of their business is Customer Experience delivery (CX). According to Gartner, today 89% of companies surveyed are primarily competing on CX.