Customers also want them to understand what their needs are and to be able to service those needs. 

While a combination of digital assistants and traditional, human-based contact centres go a long way to achieving that, there are gaps that they can't fill. Until now, it's been difficult to bridge those gaps.

But a new wave of digital experts is stepping into the breach and changing the face of customer experience (CX).  

Different levels of customer need 

To understand why digital experts are becoming so vital, it's important to understand the different levels of customer support and how they can be served digitally.  

The simplest level of transaction that a customer has with a company is administrative. At this level, the customer knows what their problem is and what their desired solution is.

They just want help to process this clear need as quickly and seamlessly as possible. It's like going into a pharmacy knowing the specific cough syrup (your desired solution) that you need to sort out your current sore throat from a mild cold (your identified problem).  

But what if you know your problem but not the right solution? That's when you need the next level of support: assistance. An assistant listens to your problem and then helps you find the right solution i.e. they are solution specialists.

To return to the pharmacy analogy, you ask a pharmacist for assistance when you know you have a sore throat, but you are not sure what specific cough syrup you should be taking to fix it.

They then ask you a number of questions, such as if you suffer from any allergies, to determine which of the products on their shelf is the right one for you. 

Assistance is great as long as you are clear about your problem. It's when you are not that clear that you have identified the right problem that you need the next level of support: advice.

An advisor is able to help you diagnose the root cause of your problem or situation, before then recommending the right solution. In the pharmacy example, you would want the advice of a doctor if, after two weeks, your throat is still sore and the cough syrup the pharmacist recommended is clearly not working.

Your doctor, after a detailed examination of your throat, may inform you that you don't actually have a mild flu. Rather you have cancer of the larynx, which has caused a sore throat. 

Advice is helpful when you are not an expert in the field and you are not sure firstly what your problem or need really is, as well as what the best solution is.

It's also helpful when a wrong decision may prove costly to you. That's why we look to advisors in fields such as medicine, banking, insurance, law and technical. It's because we don't know enough to self-solve ourselves and mistakes can matter.

Understandably, most companies have focused on the low-hanging fruit of administration when it comes to embracing digital in customer service. Here, simplified interfaces and digital workers are being used to make transacting quick and easy.  

Digital assistance, meanwhile, continues to be an evolving field. Many companies have tried building a digital assistant or chatbot, with mixed success. Part of the problem is getting their chatbot to understand free-flowing language.

The bigger problem is getting the chatbot to handle requests or questions where there is not a clear answer i.e. the chatbot still needs to ask more clarifying questions. In most cases, if the customer is not explicit enough in their request, the chatbot struggles to offer meaningful assistance.   

Digital advice, on the other hand, remains somewhat of a holy grail with many regulated companies. This is because the logic of many human experts is built up through years of experience and resides inside their heads and not inside some data source.

Getting a digital expert to learn this through trial and error sounds easy, but in reality, it is very difficult — especially when these decisions have an impact and compliance matters. 

The rise of compliant digital experts

That's starting to change with the emergence of compliant digital experts. These digital experts are capable of working much like human experts, ensuring the right questions are asked and answers are given, in line with business rules and context.   

Digital experts are very good at information gathering, ensuring that they gather all contextual information required to make required decisions. Additionally, they can navigate people through decision-making processes so they not only get to the right outcome, but they can prove they followed the right pathway getting there.  

But it's not just what digital experts do that sets them apart — its how they do it. A good digital expert, for example, always aims to accurately diagnose the root cause of a problem or situation before jumping to solutions.

They are also able to dynamically adapt according to each customer's unique context and do so across multiple interfaces (such as a web app, chatbot, or social media).  

Effective digital experts also keep up with changing business rules and processes and don't become trapped in 'decision-tree' thinking. They stay compliant and risk-aware, meaning that they don't 'self-learn' and randomly go off-script.

They are also able to seamlessly work with existing interfaces, systems and digital workers. This means they operate within existing technical eco-systems, not outside them. 

Consistent, compliant and context-relevant advice 

For organisations that use digital experts effectively, the rewards can be significant. By automating business expertise, contact centre agents are liberated from worrying about what to say and can rather focus on how to say it.

Their digital expert navigates them through the right engagement journey, much like a GPS navigates you through the suburbs. The same applies to customers who can access their very own digital expert via any of the self-service channels.  

Digital experts are lifting the CX bar by offering staff and customers meaningful and contextually relevant advice at their fingertips. For customers, it means they can now get access to an expert at their fingertips. And for staff, it means they can offer expert support without having to be an expert themselves.  

For more information, visit www.clevva.com.