A brief look back at CCW 2019: Heading towards a new standard for customer service dialogue

Three days at Germany’s capital, third time an exhibitor and three major takeaways:  the 21st edition of CCW was held from February 19-21st at the Estrel Convention center in Berlin.  With 270 exhibitors and more than 8000 exhibitors from 46 countries CCW provided an international forum featuring latest technological trends and innovative services in customer dialogue.

Customer dialogue – change is in the air

Customer service is undergoing substantial change in many aspects, be it by introduction of new communication channels like chat, bot or self service as well as by more demanding customer expectations or the trade-offs between analogue and digital customer service. Customer service executives from all kind of industries search for new opportunities to improve their service offerings and create a new standard for customer dialogue. Consequently topics like customer experience, digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) and ethics entered center stage during events, presentations and congress at this year’s CCW. From the numerous conversations we had prior to and following our keynote presentation „Quick Fix, Quick Win - Machine Learning as value-generating factor in customer service“ as well as from our discussions with participants of the guided tour featuring “customer service digitization” we identified three major takeaways:

1. Overview of technology in use: from Excel sheets via automation all the way to artificial intelligence

Here a mixed picture was presented: while some companies already leverage the benefits of AI in customer service and further expand their omni-channel strategy others are still struggling with process automation. One thing is for sure to all of them though: they have to rely on technology in order to offer an innovative customer dialogue and to reach a new standard.

2.Consulting is thin on the ground when it comes to defining the future of customer dialogues

While many companies are willing to adopt AI as well as new communication channels and services like chat bot, self service or App, they still lack the consulting expertise on how to introduce learning systems effectively or how to integrate and operate new communication channels with their existing systems. Workshops and consulting services are key when it comes to leveraging added value from integrating new technologies into existing company structures.

3. From hype via prototyping all the way to experiencing AI coming alive

Some companies are at the forefront when it comes to utilizing learning systems in customer service. Having already passed the prototyping phase they successfully operate the technology – AI can be experienced by employees and customers. We are convinced that more and more companies will follow the same route and the trend is clearly defined towards experiencing AI coming alive in customer service in the coming years. Nevertheless though learning systems in production require continued attention: results monitoring, project support by internal or external experts and the expansion of technology to support additional company functions are the challenges at hand.

CCW 2019 provided an excellent environment for inspirational exchange, new contacts and networking with participants from across various industries. The discussions and conversations we shared indicated that our solvatio X product is exceptionally well-suited to meet the requirements of innovative customer service and dialogue.