Generation AI: What does customer experience look like in the age of generative AI?

Generative AI is not a new concept for brands, but if Adobe Summit 2024 made one thing clear, it’s that we are entering a whole new era of innovation and automation, all powered by this technology.

In the age of generative AI, customer experience is undergoing a transformative shift. Demand for high-impact content and experiences has skyrocketed. To give customers what they want, organisations must deliver personalised journeys built on customer-level insights.

We spoke with leading experience makers from Asia-Pacific to hear how they are leveraging generative AI to reimagine the way they work and improve customer experience.

Hyper-personalised customer experiences

Generative AI is making personalised customer experiences possible at unprecedented scale.

Agility is key for brands to keep pace with today’s customers. Generative AI helps businesses anticipate the needs of their customers and rapidly respond to them with meaningful hyper-personalised experiences.

Cognizant’s Global Head of Marketing Technology, Clay Botkin, is most excited about the role generative AI can play in powering audience segmentation.

“Identifying target segments based upon like-behaviours as well as like-characteristics, that maybe we are not identifying as individuals and as people; generative AI is giving us the ability to do some of those things,” he says.

In today’s digital era, experiences make all the difference. It’s not always easy to make every connection personal, but with generative AI, businesses have the tools to make personalisation a part of every customer moment.

The ability to focus on higher value work

In the Adobe 2024 Digital Trends Report, when asked about the primary methods they are employing to enhance workflow efficiency in 2024, 52% of senior executives identified “automating manual tasks through the use of content AI and chatbots.”

Through the productivity and efficiency gains that generative AI brings, teams across a business can focus on more strategic work, as opposed to repetitive and time-consuming tasks.

“Our workflow has become very interesting in that there’s a lot of things going on at the same time. If we can leverage generative AI to simplify that process… it gives us the ability to enhance what we’re able to do,” says Clay Botkin.

Now is the time for brands to lean into the opportunities generative AI offers. It’s no longer a nice-to-have, it’s business critical. Brands and leaders who aren’t leveraging these tools to power their teams’ creativity and streamline workflows risk falling behind the competition.

Using generative AI the ‘right way’

While generative AI can unlock benefits for business and customers, the significant efficiency and productivity gains it brings are not possible without the right approach.

Before going full speed ahead, brands and business leaders need to have the confidence that the tools they’re leveraging are built responsibly and are commercially safe to use.

In addition to ongoing testing, ensuring that customer data is used in a brand-safe way and with a privacy-first mindset is also critical. According to the Adobe 2024 Digital Trends Report, 38% of organisations with generative AI solutions in place agree that “building trust by embedding responsible data and AI practices” will have a big impact on their businesses.

When done correctly, “generative AI has the power to become a trusted advisor for employees,” says Dr Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Air India.

“It has the ability to understand the data and tell the story behind the data.”

When implemented in a way that respects their customers and aligns with their company values, generative AI can bring unparalleled value to businesses. Core to this process is training, testing, and — when necessary — human oversight.

Business leaders share their advice on generative AI

We asked each leader to give us one piece of advice they would give to other businesses and leaders when thinking about generative AI, this is what they had to say.

There’s no denying that generative AI is here to stay. Embracing it will be the difference between the brands that lag behind, and the businesses that deliver elevated digital experiences to their customers.