CXM services in 2024: Four major industries and how they delight customers

The shift towards diversified and future-proof operations is well underway for businesses. 

To maintain this momentum, it’s essential to focus on innovation, determination, and consistently delivering value to customers. In this article, we explore four major industries that have leveraged digital technologies to achieve significant growth.

Financial services: technology enriches customer-centricity

In the financial services industry, there has been an ongoing shift to a more customer-centric business model. Financial institutions have been undertaking transformation efforts aimed at reinventing customer-centricity and personalisation in their products and services. These businesses are more inclined to implement tech solutions to achieve this. For instance, AXA Health, a UK-based insurance company, worked in collaboration with Salesforce to facilitate personalised customer services, with live chats and payment processing.ⁱ

The trend continued well into this year as businesses prioritised customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention in order to manage the intensifying competition.

Though the industry is being disrupted by the macro-financial environment and increasing digitalisation, opportunity remains to foster a positive experience for the customer at every corner. Executives believe advanced technology adoption minimises siloed interactions and helps customer experience teams scale to address soaring contact volumes.

The enormous interest in leveraging Gen AI capabilities and putting it to work will help financial services firms mitigate risk, combat fraud, and personalise customer experiences. Gen AI alone could account for between 2.8 and 4.7 percent of total industry revenue growth.ⁱⁱ

There is massive momentum in the industry for AI-driven solutions. 60% of banks under the supervision of the European Central Bank are already using AI in everyday operations.ⁱⁱⁱ Though some organisations are approaching AI cautiously in view of potential risks in accuracy, data privacy, and cybersecurity, companies that adopt AI are better equipped to weather the global storm, growing faster than their more traditional peers. In fact, surveys show that 75% of financial services companies are achieving the expected value with generative AI initiatives.^iv

Telco: technology keeps the business connected

Some of the largest companies in the telecommunications space began the year with big announcements of merger and acquisitions (M&A), promising a better network experience, greater coverage, and reliable and flexible offers. 

In the UK, Vodafone, one of the largest carriers in the world acquired another major player’s UK telecommunications businesses. Despite some national security concerns posed by the merger, the government has granted security clearance.^v Vodafone were also party to another large telecom transaction when Vodafone Italia was sold to leading Swiss telecommunication services provider —Swisscom—creating a new market dynamic.^vi

Though the industry at large is affected by energy costs and inflation, it has been rebounding from declines in Q1 and is expected to stabilise in the coming months.

Developing climate-related risk management capabilities, establishing a sustainable ESG strategy, and linking these into decision-making are also at the forefront of the telco industry. Businesses grow more when they prioritise ESG commitments: businesses with ESG credentials grow at a rate of 6.4%, which is 1.7% higher than those who do not have ESG on their labels.^vii

Companies spend about 10% of their OPEX on energy and operators now focus on cost-effectiveness; they believe that this can be achieved by responsible business practices underpinned by proper governance and compliance mechanisms.

In the fiercely competitive market, the business of keeping us all connected is proving to be quite challenging as customers demand high-speed, reliable connectivity. Though the path to success has its pitfalls, adopting new technologies like generative AI can provide new profitability possibilities for the industry. Gen AI can help telecom companies increase their return on investment by as much as 8% to 10% in five years.^viii

Retail: technology averts labour shortages

2024 continues to be beset by economic turbulence and rife with unanticipated challenges. The pressures reflect a sharp slowdown, especially in the retail sector. European consumers have reduced their spending substantially in the past quarter.^ix

At the same time, the industry as a whole has remained robust, and technology continues to keep the businesses afloat and affluent. The retail industry is optimistic that AI’s end-to-end transformational capabilities, spanning businesses, experiences, and operations, can unlock their full organisational potential by aligning their operations with their business ambitions.

Retailers have shifted their focus toward future-ready solutions that can also resonate with customers. They believe that factors that affect customer loyalty including customer service, environmental impact, rewards programmes, check-out process, website navigation and functionality can be effectively streamlined using AI. 

While labour shortages have emerged as a big threat to the retail business, industry leaders are prioritising technology to alleviate the problem. Business executives think that when Gen AI can be used to perform tasks such as writing product descriptions, upselling or cross-selling recommendations, creating marketing strategies, and providing automated voice systems, human resources can be saved for much more sophisticated decision-making processes. 

Utilities: technology protects the future of renewable energy

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is happening at a breakneck pace across Europe. At the same time, the industry is facing more complex, competitive disruptions - increasing costs, energy crises, and challenges in building low-carbon tech have proved remarkable setbacks. However, Europe's largest renewable energy producer, Statkraft, has recently stated that occurrences of negative pricing, complicated market regulations, and falling power prices will not damage the industry’s long-term growth.^x

On the other side of the spectrum, utility enterprises are reinventing themselves by embracing digital ways of working. Again, AI’s cutting-edge solutions can help utilities optimise assets and deliver a connected experience to the customers.

In an era characterised by data-driven customer experience, businesses are now taking AI to its natural territory of predicting and preventing outages. AI can support the business in alerting customers about leaks, repair schedules, and inform potential failures, helping businesses reduce energy consumption and emissions.^xi This ability to intervene earlier in the asset failure lifecycle has made industry leaders enthusiastic about the large-scale application of AI and technologies in the industry.

This period is both exciting and demanding for industries aiming to bridge the growing trust gap and address swiftly changing customer demands. Companies that adopt customer-focused approaches and utilise technology effectively have the potential to transform their operations, provide the level of service their customers are looking for and secure their success in the future market.

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