Customer-facing applications like chatbots are preferred areas where businesses want to integrate GenAI
A report by the global cloud communications platform Infobip highlights that Indian businesses are gearing up to invest in GenAI solutions to enhance personalized customer experiences. In India, 30% of companies are planning to invest in GenAI, while 4% have already successfully implemented GenAI-powered applications and services in their production environments and are now focusing on scaling them companywide. The findings come from the Infobip report titled “Unlocking the Potential of Generative AI in CX”, featuring research insights from the leading analyst firm IDC.
It is anticipated that by the end of 2027, the proportion of AI investments across the APAC region in GenAI will increase from 15% to 29%. Several business functions are being prioritized for GenAI initiatives – among the top areas that C-Level Execs are looking into using GenAI are Operations (47%), Customer Experience (38%), and Marketing (33%). The report also highlighted that APAC business sectors that are adopting GenAI are also following a similar trend as global top adopters of GenAI, especially within the Transportation and Logistics (74%), Telco, Media, and Entertainment (72%), Financial Services (59%), and Healthcare and Life Sciences (54%) sectors.
Harsha Solanki, VP GM – Asia, Infobip, said, “We are witnessing a significant shift in how Indian businesses are approaching customer experience through the adoption of Gen AI. By automating tasks like delivering welcome messages, product recommendations, and support, GenAI is enabling businesses to provide unified, personalized service across all stages of customer journey. A prime example is Apollo 24X7 that has successfully deployed GenAI-powered solutions by Infobip to create seamless digital experiences for end users, lighten the workload for customer service agents, and improve overall customer satisfaction.” She added, “The surge in AI investments across India and the APAC region, particularly in key sectors signifies that businesses are realizing the transformative potential of this technology to drive innovation and gain a competitive edge.”
How GenAI Improves Customer Experiences
Business leaders have long recognized the importance of having superior customer experiences and improved operational efficiency, but they face numerous challenges that have prevented them from effectively carrying out their CX strategies. Among the top factors include the accelerated pace of tech adoption such as GenAI (33%), rising costs of CX transformation services (32%) and increased digital offerings from competitors (31%).
Leveraging GenAI-augmented solutions may just be the ticket for companies looking for a way out of their CX challenges. GenAI empowers customers to curate their own rich customer journeys and quickly troubleshoot problems while allowing businesses to scale and publish high-quality creations to multiple digital channels. GenAI is also capable of identifying patterns in unstructured data, automatically mapping them to be more understandable for businesses.
Slow Adoption Despite a Record of Successes
Despite the huge potential of GenAI to revolutionize customer experiences, only 18% of APAC businesses are still in the early stage of AI adoption while 64% have either leveraged AI or Machine Learning in selected use cases. Just 18% of APAC businesses have advanced AI/ML capabilities. GenAI’s slow adoption among organizations may be due to certain key challenges that need to be addressed first, such as regulatory compliance and security concerns.
“GenAI is set to transform how we design, implement, deliver, and scale customer experiences. In IDC’s June 2023 Future of Customer Experience Survey, 35% of CX executives believe that innovations like GenAI and Web3 will be most pivotal in shaping their future CX strategies. Amidst economic uncertainties and rising costs, businesses must focus on differentiating themselves through value-driven, empathetic customer experiences to stay competitive in an increasingly digital marketplace,” said Nikhil Batra, Senior Research Director, IDC Asia-Pacific.
With GenAI technology quickly becoming more sophisticated and advanced, Indian brands investing in GenAI are poised to greatly stand out from the competition and drive business growth. Organizations interested in embarking on GenAI customer journeys must choose a seasoned and trained local tech solution partner that is well-versed in conversational customer experiences. Once organizations have cleared the initial hurdles of GenAI, both customers and clients can enjoy the best of everything that GenAI technology can offer.
