Looking forward to the year ahead, it has become apparent that beyond just having their business systems and communications in the cloud, businesses will need to put in place a plan to leverage generative artificial intelligence (AI) within the organisation, or they will be left behind by competitors. Other trends on the horizon include a changed approach to securing talent, personalisation at scale, more remote and distributed work, a growing focus on customer experience and more.
An obstacle holding businesses back has been the migration process to the cloud, which can be complex for larger businesses, but they will ultimately have to make the move, ideally through a multi-year process that sees some processes being shifted to the cloud and bridged with legacy systems. Once they have the foundation in place, they can look to harness the trends that will help drive business value.
Trend 1: Generative AI everywhere
“To be an industry leader in five years, you need a clear and compelling generative AI strategy today,” says the Boston Consulting Group. AI and machine learning (ML) have been making waves for more than a decade and are thoroughly integrated into many of the products and services we buy from major companies. Now, generative AI puts the power to create and intelligently automate the customer experience, as well as internal operations, in the hands of nearly every organisation.
For internal team communication, this offers considerable time-saving potential. Some workflows you can automate or speed up using natural language processing (NLP) AIs are:
- Generating transcripts of team meetings
- Generating automatic calendar scheduling
- Generating first drafts of internal email copy
- Adding automatic proofreading to all internal communication
AI-driven conversations can provide a seamless and personalised experience, which can lead to increased customer satisfaction and conversions. Conversational marketing, which uses AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants to engage with customers in real time, is poised to become even more prevalent in 2024.
Trend 2: The skills solution
We’ve been hearing about the skills shortage for several years now. To address this, organisations are changing hiring practices to place emphasis on selecting candidates with specific experiences and skills needed for a particular role rather than on educational qualifications or age – and this will continue to be a strong trend. We will continue to see increased investment in training and upskilling, particularly around disruptive technologies such as generative AI and skills that will be in demand in an AI-driven economy.
Trend 3: Personalisation-at-Scale
One driver is clearly customer demand, as research continues to show that consumers increasingly prefer companies with a solid commitment to reducing their environmental footprint. On the other hand, as the green economy grows, we’re learning that green solutions often lead to bottom-line growth. For example, L’Oréal has developed personalised cosmetics to match customers’ skin types, and Nike and other manufacturers offer custom shoes in thousands of combinations of styles and colours. This will lead to companies of all sizes offering customised solutions to build stronger relationships with customers.
Brands will be able to collect more data about their customers in 2024, than ever before. This data can be used to personalise communication and deliver more relevant and targeted marketing messages. This will help brands to build stronger relationships with their customers and increase sales.
Trend 4: Remote and distributed work
It’s no longer about companies surviving the pandemic, but about offering flexible arrangements that value the employees’ time and can harness the potential of a global workforce. While we have seen more workers returning to the office over the past 12 months, employers are ensuring that they retain the ability to work with geographically dispersed teams and attract talent from anywhere in the world. For these reasons, we’ll see the number of job postings with “remote” or “hybrid” locations remain well above pre-Covid levels throughout 2024.
Trend 5: The data economy
Data is an increasingly valuable business asset and by 2024, more companies will have streamlined their operations and improved their customer offerings by taking a strategic approach to their data. As a result, they will be ready to take the next step, which is monetising data itself to drive new business opportunities. Leading the way are companies like John Deere, which has pioneered the model of selling data from its sensor-laden farm equipment back to farmers as insights to improve productivity. As access to large-scale data collection and AI-driven analytics becomes increasingly democratised, we’ll see this trend adopted by smaller companies in niche and diversified sectors.
Trend 6: The customer experience revolution
Imagine a line on a graph that rates your customers’ sentiment at every touchpoint where they interact with your company, goods, or services – this illustrates the concept of customer experience. While a company might traditionally build a business model around superior quality or value, in 2024, the impetus is to ensure that every single interaction and experience makes the customer smile. Success here can be measured through AI-driven sentiment analysis augmented by feedback mechanisms.
This means personalised marketing that delivers what they need at the right time, on-time delivery, frictionless setup and installation, and efficient problem resolution. It’s also becoming increasingly common for companies and brands to appoint a Chief Experience Officer to ensure these principles are fully integrated into all business strategies.
Trend 7: The growth of omnichannel
Over the year, we will see increased adoption of omnichannel solutions, which bring together multiple channels of communications, to service a customer on the channel they want at the time of interaction.
Trend 8: More text-based communication
Previously, the default way to engage with an organisation was to phone them. With the proliferation of communication channels, we are seeing a continued shift from voice-based to text-based communication with an annual expected decline in voice volumes of 6.4%. This is fuelling demand for omnichannel infrastructure for day-to-day and contact centre use.
Trend 9: Dominance of video marketing and short-form content
Video marketing has been on the rise for several years, with the popularity of platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels making short-form video content incredibly popular. Beyond just for entertainment, people are turning to these platforms to educate themselves about products and services on the market. As such, brands are now using short-form videos not just for advertising but also for storytelling, product launches & training and customer testimonials – and this trend is expected to continue in 2024.
Trend 10: DEI&B (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging)
There has always been a business case for ensuring diverse and inclusive workforces, but in the age of AI, as we increasingly rely on machines to make decisions that impact humans, it’s more important than ever. Living this awareness can also help you improve communications within your own team. Making sure that all of your team members feel valued and welcome does more than just warding off potential accusations of discrimination. It also creates a much better work climate that allows people to reach their fullest potential in terms of productivity.
With the looming climate crisis and corresponding disasters being broadcast across the news cycle, environmental issues are now perceived as critical by many customers. As a result, it is becoming essential that businesses demonstrate they are environmentally conscious, especially when they are trying to reach younger audiences – think Millennials and GenZ. In terms of communication, that can be as straightforward as including your carbon-saving measures in blog posts and newsletters and highlighting them on your website. Having a DEI&B specialist on your team can go a long way towards helping you optimise copy and vetting public-facing communications.
Is your organisation looking to enhance customer experience and engagement through increased personalisation and giving them a choice of channels through which to communicate with your brand? Submit your details and we will get back in touch with you, or click on the “Chat now” button to speak to one of our agents.
By David Meintjes, CEO of Telviva.
