Consistency in customer service is one of those things that is just as basic as it is hard to achieve. For one thing, because every detail matters. For another, because consistency doesn't stand alone. It depends on the overall quality of service, on the right use of technology, on your data infrastructure, on your agents. It all melds into one big picture when your customer engages you’re your customer service. It's not said for nothing that the three C's of customer experience (CX) are consistency, consistency, and consistency.

Let’s get ready to rumble in customer service. Our boxing ring is the telecom industry. The challenger in the red corner: a modern contact center. In the blue corner we have the veteran, the call center. It has prepared itself for this fight through an upgrade in digital transformation. The question is: who wins? The condition for victory is to offer each customer generation the communication channel that suits them best. And the price is a leading position in the saturated telecommunications market.

The customer and their experiences with companies was the focus of attention on this sunny but cold Thursday. Cross-industry leaders from different countries gathered in the Rode Hoed in central Amsterdam for the Unleash Omnichannel & Digital Customer Experience Summit on April 11th & 12th 2019. Photo by Marit de la Vera.

 An increasing number of companies want to use artificial intelligence to improve their internal processes across industries. At first glance, initiating and setting on track AI projects seems simple: Just implement some AI-based software, and the company will promptly start to benefit from the latest technology! In reality, however, it is not quite so easy. The preconditions for a truly successful implementation are thorough preparations, well-targeted realization, and permanent monitoring and testing. See the following seven tips for a successful start of an AI project: