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Generative AI and now AI Agents
are changing
customer relationships.
And today we're here to look at
six industry-specific examples
to discuss what's changed.
Hi, everyone. I'm Nicole Smayling.
I'm here with our featured
speaker, Kate Leggett from Forrester.
-Hi, Kate.
-Hi there.
And in the next 30 minutes,
we'll be exploring how Generative AI
and AI-powered agents are changing
customer relationships.
And we'll look at six industry-specific
use cases across Financial Services,
Health, Consumer Goods,
Non-Profit, Communications and Automotive.
We'll also see a customer story
featuring AI.
If you're watching us live, feel free
to add your questions in the chat
throughout the presentation and our team
will be monitoring and responding to that.
All right. Now let's meet our guest, Kate.
Kate, thank you so much
for joining us here today.
Happy to be here. Thank you.
Well, could you tell us a little bit
about your experience with
customer relationship management?
Sure.
So I'm a VP and Principal
Analyst here at Forrester,
and I lead the CRM practice.
And I've been covering CRM
for over a decade,
including CRM vendors and all of the new
innovations in the space.
I also help organizations
shape their CRM strategies and operations.
Wonderful.
Well, let's jump right in.
How are tools like Generative AI
and now AI-powered agents
that can define their own actions
how are those changing
customer relationships?
That's a great question.
So, GenAI, it can analyze
vast amounts of data
at an unprecedented speed and scale.
And in the context of CRM,
AI, specifically Gen AI and agents,
let businesses surface
all these undiscovered patterns
and trends in their customer data
and take action faster than ever.
Essentially what it's doing, is it's
creating this new layer of
easily accessed customer
intelligence in the CRM.
What's the impact?
So Gen AI is really valuable
to the front office
customer-facing teams,
because they can use all these
new AI tools to create better
customer experiences that drive
revenue growth, customer
satisfaction, and loyalty.
So, for example,
marketers can use AI to identify
new customer segments and understand
their specific needs.
And that helps drive
more personalized campaigns.
Sales, they can use AI to automate
routine rote tasks like
data entry, and it allows them
to surface customer insights
faster to be able to close more deals.
And in customer service,
AI can help with things like data entry
and knowledge creation,
saving teams time to focus on
building deeper relationships
with customers
and all the repetitive tasks.
There's no question that the marketplace
sees the potential of AI-powered CRM.
In a Forrester study, we found that 89%
of all respondents said that
AI strategy and capabilities are important
when partnering with a CRM vendor.
And this number has increased by 112% since 2021.
-112% in just a couple of years?
-Yeah, that’s right.
Wow. Well, we often hear successful use of
AI depends heavily on data quality, too.
So, how is the importance of
customer data changed now
with all of these new AI tools?
Good customer data is absolutely critical
for an AI-powered CRM because
data quality directly impacts the accuracy
and effectiveness of the AI models.
Complete, accurate, and accessible data
means more valuable insights
and recommendations.
So first party data,
that's information about your customers,
is the most critical component.
Then you can enrich that
with second party data
from trusted partners. And
third party data
like behavioral or journey data
to create a more comprehensive
customer profile.
So this means that high quality data
is essential for success.
It's important to audit your data
and understand what you have
and what's missing
before implementing AI use cases.
And we at Forrester,
we find that customers increasingly
rely on vendors
to assist them on this data journey.
Especially in ensuring data trust and security.
Great points. So let's talk a
little bit about how AI
use cases are changing
customer relationships in industries.
Sure thing.
Okay.
First up is Financial Services like wealth
management, banking, and insurance.
What's the landscape here look like?
Financial Services organizations
are complex operations.
They're juggling
lead and referral management,
customer onboarding, account
management, loan origination
and servicing, card operations,
and financial management.
And their success relies
on a full understanding of the customer
and an ability to
synthesize transactional data,
market insights, and calculate risk.
And that brings us to AI.
We found that 91% of financial services
leaders
believe Generative AI
will benefit their organization.
Why do you think that number is so high?
Well, Gen AI can help them face
the complex challenges
with more data-driven insights
that helps them mitigate risk,
enhance decision
making and operational efficiency,
and drive overall business
performance and revenue.
What kind of improvements
are we talking about?
So, for example, employees save many hours
a week, which, as you know, compounds
across the whole staff and translates
to a really meaningful bottom line impact.
-Wow.
-Ultimately, we're talking about
delivering the quality of service
customers expect at a reasonable cost,
and AI can help them effectively manage
the increasing volumes of inquiries
across all channels.
But great customer service,
It's not only about a better interface
or automating interactions,
it’s also about understanding the intent
of the customer’s inquiry and effectively
resolving that inquiry in a personal way
that builds trust and loyalty.
And that may include routing the inquiry
to an agent who's assisted by AI.
So in other words,
AI is embedded in customer service operations
at every step of the customer journey
and can make a material impact
to a customer's experience.
Great points.
So, to get an idea of what this
all looks like with an AI-powered CRM,
let's walk through a Salesforce
use case for Financial Services.
In this case,
a service rep gets a call from a customer
with a complaint
about a deactivated website.
The customer has had multiple interactions
with other reps,
but the problem still isn't resolved.
So the customer service
rep in the flow of work
uses an AI-powered generate
and fill feature,
which fills in all the necessary
information from multiple sources.
And this allows the agent to consolidate
all of the necessary information
with the right context
without having to repeat the same
questions to the customer over and over.
And the agent is also able to instantly
create a related case without the need
to toggle screens and confidently confirm
that the case is logged to the customer.
So, that’s AI at work in the
Financial Services sector.
Now let's jump into our next use case,
which is Healthcare.
Payers, providers,
and public health agencies
they face the challenge
of reducing administrative overhead
to focus on their patient care.
And in fact, studies show that admin costs
account for 15% of U.S. Healthcare spending,
with a potential cost savings of up to 570 billion.
I'm not surprised by that number.
First, healthcare
organizations are subject to rigorous
compliance processes that are all dictated
by healthcare regulations
to be able to secure complex patient data.
And organizations have to
manage that data across providers,
coordinate patient care across
teams, and deliver personalized
patient experience,
including wellness outreach.
More than that, delivering
personalized patient experiences
requires a lot of effort.
Many of these tasks
are currently performed manually.
And this contributes to the high costs.
So how does AI fit into that picture?
Well, in this landscape,
the efficiencies of AI are a no brainer.
It empowers every healthcare professional
in the equation with what I call a Patient 360.
A detailed medical history, treatment plans,
medication, allergies, and more.
So with this easy, secure access
to that data,
they can deliver more personalized
and effective care.
And with everyone at every stop
on the patient's journey
being fully informed,
a natural bond of trust is built.
Great. Well, let's take a look at
a patient's journey.
We'll look at where caregivers are supported
by an AI-powered CRM
like Salesforce.
In this case, Maria, a 60-year-old patient
with multiple chronic conditions.
She's in her doctor's waiting room
holding a list of her medications.
Her care manager is preparing to meet her
and receives a reminder about a new
AI-powered feature that summarizes
patient history.
The care manager navigates
to Maria's account record page
and uses the feature to quickly
compose a detailed summary
of Maria's medical history, including
past diagnosis, health conditions,
and allergies, medications,
and even care plans.
So when they meet, the care
coordinator can use the summary
to discuss the patient's care
plan and recommend a specialist,
which makes Maria's treatment
less error prone and more efficient.
So that covers Healthcare.
Now, let's jump into Consumer Goods.
All right.
So today's Consumer Goods leaders,
they're prioritizing
increasing their sales and service
rep productivity.
They're gathering insights
about their customers
and they're looking to innovate faster.
And we found that a staggering 99.6%
of executives in this industry
are already experimenting with AI.
So how do you think AI is changing
customer relationships in this industry?
So that's a huge number of people
experimenting with AI.
So AI is revolutionizing customer
relationships in the consumer goods
industry by helping businesses deliver
more personalized experiences at scale.
For instance,
AI-powered demand forecasting
enables manufacturers
to optimize production
and inventory levels,
reducing stock outs and overstocking.
And this ensures that retailers
have the right products
in stock for customers.
More than that,
AI-driven product recommendation engines
can analyze customer purchase history,
browsing behavior, and other data points
to suggest other products.
This personalized shopping experience
helps increase the likelihood of
upsells or cross-sells.
Additionally, AI can automate tasks
like order processing and fulfillment,
and it helps accelerate delivery
and improve customer satisfaction.
Wow. That is definitely impactful.
So let's take a look at an
AI-powered use case for this industry.
So this one is related to product
upsell recommendations.
Scott is a store manager
at a large retailer
and he's facing higher than
anticipated product demand.
And with a sales rep scheduled
to visit next week,
Scott needs to place an
order immediately,
due to rapidly-depleting
inventory.
So when Scott calls
the service team,
they leverage an AI-powered
product upsell recommendation
to analyze this purchase history
and suggest upsell products.
And this proactive approach helps Scott
optimize his inventory
and increase his sales potential.
Okay, so now let's move on
to the Non-Profit industry.
And we know that relies
heavily on donations.
So having the right tools
to effectively solicit, manage,
and organize donations
in this industry is crucial.
How do you think AI is impacting
customer relationships here?
So AI is transforming the way
non-profits engage with donors,
and it helps power stronger
and more meaningful relationships.
So by analyzing donor data,
AI can provide valuable insights
into individual preferences
and identifying patterns
and engagement levels.
And so this all empowers non-profits
to tailor their communications
and donation requests to resonate
more deeply with each donor.
More than that, AI can
automate time-consuming tasks
like donor research
and proposal generation,
and it all gives staff a lot more time
to focus on building deeper
relationships with potential donors.
Also, AI-powered analytics
can help identify
potential churn and predict future
giving patterns.
So all of this helps non-profits
develop targeted strategies
to address donor concerns
and build lasting relationships.
Excellent. Well, let's look at an
AI powered use case for Non-Profit.
In this use case, a major
gift officer needs to develop
compelling and personalized proposals
to attract high net worth donors.
These proposals should highlight
the impact of donations
and effectively convey the
organization's mission and values.
Using an AI-powered feature,
the gift officer can generate
a customized proposal
that includes the organization's
mission, goals, and the donor’s
previous contributions and interests.
So that's a look at how AI can help non-profits
save time, increase their donations,
and build a more meaningful,
compelling experience for their donors.
Now, let's shift to
the Communications industry.
Research indicates that 47%
of communications
service providers believe that
most AI-based
customer interactions
will be fully autonomous
within two years.
Kate, what's behind this shift and how
is that affecting customer relationships?
So communications
companies are turning to AI
because customer expectations
are on the rise and they need a means
to reduce costs and at the same time
improve customer satisfaction.
And AI-powered tools, like
chatbots and virtual assistants,
they can automate routine tasks
and provide 24/7 support
and deliver great experiences
are the answer.
And so as AI evolves, we can expect
even more autonomous
customer interactions.
AI can help identify
trends and patterns
and billing inquiries
and enable businesses
to proactively address common issues
and improve their billing processes.
And this means fewer billing
errors, better cost containment,
and ultimately
a better customer experience.
Funny you should mention billing inquiries,
because our use case focuses on exactly that.
Let's take a look.
In this use case,
a customer calls
a communication service provider
to ask about an unexpectedly high bill,
and the agent uses an
AI-powered panel
and communications cloud
to quickly analyze
the bill and identify
the top charges.
The AI also suggests
possible explanations for the increase
Based on this analysis, the agent
can provide a clear explanation
and recommend a more suitable plan.
And this efficient
and informative interaction leads
the customer to being satisfied
and posting a five star rating.
Okay, so now let's move on
from Communications
to our last industry.
And that's the Automotive industry.
Projections indicate that the
market for the auto industry
will reach $15.9 billion by 2027,
as companies increasingly utilize
vehicle telematics data
with AI for insights.
Now, 15.9 billion.
That’s a pretty big number.
Yeah, it sure is.
What is “driving” that number?
Pun intended.
(laughs) Well,
automotive companies have a
huge amount of data
from vehicles and their drivers.
And so by leveraging AI,
this data can be transformed into
valuable offers and
services for customers.
So AI represents a whole
new horizon for automotive,
and it helps transform
customer relationships
by delivering personalized
and proactive services.
As well, by analyzing vehicle data,
AI can predict maintenance needs
and offer tailored recommendations
and provide in-vehicle support.
And all of this enhances
customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Absolutely.
Well, let's have a look at
our final use case.
How AI is enhancing vehicle
maintenance and customer service.
So here we see a driver
receives a notification
about a potential engine
oil issue. And concerned,
they contact the service center,
and the service team leverages AI
to remotely access
the vehicle's diagnostics
and confirm the
engine oil problem.
AI-powered analysis
reveals a pattern of
high engine temperatures
indicating a deeper issue.
The service team recommends
a comprehensive service visit
to diagnose and repair the problem.
And finally, using
AI-powered scheduling,
the team is able to efficiently book
an appointment for the customer.
Well, that wraps up our AI use cases.
Now, let's see how much of what
we've been talking about comes to life
through a customer success story.
We service the hospitality industry.
We've got a lot of people to help.
60,000 restaurants.
1.7 billion seats filled a year.
It's a lot to do.
The challenge there is that we are
delighting both restaurant and diners
who have very high expectations.
That's really the bottom line.
People don't want to wait
to get their questions answered.
What would happen if the diners aren't
getting what they need?
Now they're angry.
“Hey, you sloughed me off to a bot.
It didn't answer me and I'm grumpy.”
And so now when you have that interaction
with the human agent,
we have to dig ourselves out of a hole.
Maybe we answer the question very quickly,
but they're always going to remember,
“Hey, that didn't work out
well the first time.”
The dream that I have is that Agentforce
answers more questions more quickly.
Success with Agentforce is deflecting
the questions that our customers have,
so fewer things get escalated to a human.
The diners are getting their questions
answered quickly
and we're able to take care of it
without a human resource.
At the same time,
we're looking to let restaurants
do what they do best, and be
the ultimate restaurant platform.
Agentforce allows
our agents to effortlessly
deliver fantastic service
to our restaurants and diners.
Everything is right there for them.
So if a customer goes to our website
needing help
and they can start a chat, they’ll get
our Agentforce service agent.
A diner might ask,
“How do I search for an Italian
restaurant for two on Friday night?”
So we see this great response, personalized
to their question about
Italian food.
With Agentforce, it is a natural
language interaction.
So the diner,
the restaurant says something
and they get an answer to the question,
not an article to go read.
So it's hooked up to our knowledge
base in Salesforce.
We can tell it what information
to show, what not to show.
It seems so seamless is set up.
You don't even need to know
how to input code or anything.
Just simple prompts can
get us all the way here.
Agentforce can also summarize
case history, contact history,
get all of the customer data
right at their fingertips.
The ability to tailor our customer's
experience without giving
Agentforce specific instructions is going
to save our operations team so much time.
Agentforce can answer a
thousand questions, all at once.
And so that's something
that no amount of humans can do.
They can do more
than just answer questions.
They can take actions and get things done.
Having Agentforce take on more
and more responsibility, getting to
more complex questions with both diners
and restaurants, it helps us be better.
If today we are talking to restaurants
for 10 minutes at a time,
cutting that by 2 minutes is huge for us.
Any minute saved is another
bit of time that I have
for my agents to have a more meaningful
conversation. With Agentforce,
it's about empowering our team
members to effortlessly deliver
fantastic service to our
restaurants and diners
and make sure that they are getting
the most out of OpenTable.
That's what success is for us.
Great story.
Now, Kate, what advice
would you give to our audience,
who wants to drive customer success with
AI, particularly Generative AI and AI agents?
Well, I tell them that AI-powered CRMs
offer real business value.
But being able to implement them
correctly is absolutely critical.
So don't chase AI
just for the sake of novelty.
You got to make sure that
your AI strategy lines up
with your overall business
goals and delivers measurable results.
What you want to do is,
you want to start with use cases
that are relevant to your industry
and that offer clear benefits
like increased sales or improved
customer service experiences.
And these use cases
are often easier to implement
and they can quickly demonstrate value.
And remember to ensure that your data
assets are organized and secure.
And to do that, consider
partnering with reliable vendor
who specializes in
AI-powered CRM solutions.
This will help you navigate implementation
and maximize the impact of AI.
And once you have a successful
proof of concept
with real quantified benefits,
scale your AI initiatives.
The rewards are really significant,
and they include
increased customer satisfaction,
improved operational efficiency,
enhanced business growth.
So by taking a strategic
and proactive approach,
you can position your business
for long term success
in the competitive digital landscape.
Kate, thank you so much
for being here today.
We really appreciate your
valuable insights and expertise.
Oh, pleasure's been all mine.
Thank you for having me.
All right.
So today we've explored six industries
and we've discovered
how AI is transforming customer
relationships across the board.
We've seen compelling use cases
and a customer success story
showcasing the power of AI.
Thank you so much for joining us.
If you're looking for more
AI-related content, be sure
to check out Salesforce+,
where you can sign up for free
and never miss an episode.
Additionally, explore our Use Case Library
for more in-depth examples.
Thanks again
to Kate Leggett for joining us.
And for all of you for tuning in.
See you next time.
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Episode 3: Top AI Use Cases
Industry expert Kate Legget from Forrester shares the top generative AI use cases being deployed today.
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