In recent years, companies have been expanding their concept of customer service to a broader goal of creating a customer experience. It’s all about how the customer should have an experience, not just make a purchase. But soon, your company may be expanding that concept even further to include machine customers.
Machine customers are the natural result of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. With more machines and devices becoming “smart” and having sensors and even, increasingly, the ability to make logical decisions, machines, and devices can even place orders.
For a while, you’ve been able to instruct a digital assistant to schedule something or to place an order. But what’s being driven next by AI is the machine customer, a recognition by the machine that there is a need, followed by a decision to order and then taking action to make that order.
A New Direction for Business Leaders
The impact on business leaders is that they will soon be making decisions about how to prioritize technology investments. Forward-thinking leaders will not only embrace an approach that welcomes machine customers but also develop their own machine customers.
The machine customer experience will differ vastly from the typical customer experience in obvious ways, such as favoring streamlining and efficiency over elements like personalization or emotional connection. Here are some examples of how machine customers could play a role in various settings:
On the Road: Your car is a machine customer, scheduling its own preventative maintenance, driving itself to the repair shop, and making decisions about whether it really is time for new tires. In addition, the road itself may become a machine customer, ordering a pothole to be repaired or scheduling a cleaning truck to come through.
At Home: From a fridge that orders groceries for a weekly machine-determined menu to heighten nutritional value to a lawn that determines when it needs watering versus cutting, there are endless opportunities to equip home tasks with AI technology.
At the Office: You might have a conference room that orders maintenance on squeaky chairs or pest control when it detects bugs. When call volume reaches a certain capacity, an algorithm may contact your outsourcing provider for more agents.
Business leaders will have to decide at what level they embrace machine customers, both as a growth strategy and as a productivity enhancement. Catering to machine customers could provide a measurable advantage over companies that don’t, causing companies that didn’t plan ahead with AI investments to scramble.
Staying ahead of technology trends is just one of the ways that ITBroker.com helps your company’s IT business leaders make decisions. Contact us to learn more about how an experienced guide can help you leverage the right technology solutions and prioritize the right steps in your digital transformation.
