Bots, droids and machine learning: The next CX evolutionary milestone?

By Ines Martinez, Co-founder and UX Consultant, Attica Labs | 6 minute read.

I’m not a good photographer. I try, but I don’t think I’m patient enough to take truly great pictures. None the less, now and then I’m able to post genuinely remarkable landscapes. It’s not beginners’ luck. It’s Google’s Photos algorithm. Bots, droids, and machine learning algorithms - to make it easier, we’ll call it “smart tech”- are sometimes hidden in the places you least expect them to be. They are transforming many of our everyday experiences at a speed that we have trouble perceiving. 

By now, most people know that “The robots are coming!” and we even know that when they do, it is going to be huge. But are we doing enough to make sure we get the most out of our newest creation? 

When something is as revolutionary as smart tech is going to be, I disagree entirely with the “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach. While it’s still new and we are still developing it, this is the time to make the hard questions about what we want to achieve with smart tech. Leaving the technical issues aside, let’s take a look at the key questions leaders should consider when implementing smart technology. 

The power of constant learning

My motto is: technology exists to help you evolve your business.

The hype for new technology is sometimes so intense that businesses don’t stop and think about the strategic need they are trying to solve. When I speak to my clients, they usually can point out an operational problem - they are too slow, too much paperwork, the cx has too many frictions -, but seldom can verbalise what truly worries them. 

We are living in an age where businesses are never done. The time where you came up with an idea, you set up a shop, and then you dedicated yourself to run your business operation, it’s over. Businesses are realising that they need to be - or at least some part of it needs to be- in startup mode all the time. Your business today is only the prototype of the company you are going to have tomorrow. 

If you think digital transformation is a one-time thing, you are taking the wrong approach. Just as a living and breathing creature, your business needs to be in a constant process of evolution.

That’s the real revolutionary power of smart technology. By collecting data, doing research, and data analysis at a new massive level, it’s going to find insights wholly hidden to the human eye. It’s going to allow you to be in a consistent process of learning and finding the right path to evolve. 

It matters how your employees feel about it

Did you ever have a snooty know it all coworker? You know the type, the one that always has the right answer, that’s still happy to go along with your boss’s crazy ideas. Collaborating with someone who’s always one step ahead of you and makes you feel invisible, can be daunting. Now imagine that someone is a robot. 

Not so long ago, corporate environments fostered aggressive competition rather than collaboration. In some professions, you still need to be cutthroat to climb the corporate ladder. Even though some people seem to thrive in those environments, for most of us is exhausting, but when the one doing the backstabbing is a robot, even the Wolf of WallStreet won’t like it.  

As technology advances, there’s a scenario we all fear, where robots make us obsolete. But if we do it right, there’s also the possibility of employees getting empowered by smart technology. 

The key is in creating an environment where smart tech and employees can fully collaborate. When employees see how technology is helping them do the job that they love better, they embrace it fully. They give it a nickname and speak about it as a real teammate. But when they perceive it as competition, they only see the friction the technology creates between them and the customer, and they are ruthless in pointing out everything that does wrong. 

Collaboration and diversity is the only way forward. That’s true for human teams and human-robot relationships. 

It’s the leader’s responsibility to show how a company plans to foster collaboration between humans and technology. Just as you used to work in culture and values and teamwork, leaders need to clearly communicate what’s their strategy to incorporate this new type of employee into the team. 

Customers will forgive a cute robot

It’s true for puppies, and it’s going to be true for robots. 

A couple of years ago, customer service bots made their big entrance. Since then, even though they have become more frequent and widespread, they still have lots of room for improvement. Interaction with machines can be frustrating for customers, and that’s why the design is so important. 

It may sound superfluous, but how it looks, sounds, and feels, is going to be part of the experience. This is especially true in the health, education, and hospitality industries, where you need to make the customer feel at ease to have a good experience. 

If robots are going to become a real asset in CX, we can’t just make them smart; we need to make them cute as well. 

You still need to think about the whole journey

When technology is perceived and used as a magic solution to all of the business troubles, it usually fails. 

I see companies going for a technology-centric approach, where they expect better results just by flexing their tech capabilities. Even as smart technology gets a more significant role in making a business competitive, so does the human-centred approach to CX. 

No bot can or should do it all. It shouldn’t be used as a trinket to catch people’s attention. It’s only when it’s integrated into a more extensive and well-designed journey, that they fulfil their potential. 

As customers expect more sophisticated and omnichannel experiences, bots should be considered only as one of the touching points of their journey. If the journey is so good that the customer tends to forget that he interacted with a machine, that’s when you know you are on the right path. 

Stay alert for people and robots in the wild 

We won’t be able to plan for every scenario, so expect to see the biggest ideas come from the interaction of humans and robots in the wild. 

Once we start actually living together and interacting more frequently, new opportunities for cooperation will emerge. The leader’s job is to create an environment where employees, customers, and robots can co-habitate and see what happens. 

Each industry is going to be different, and it’s going to present its own set of challenges. Be prepared to make quick changes and small experiments to find your perfect CX. 

Ines Martinez

I'm a psychologist in the tech world. 

After years of listening to people complain about the software they were forced to use at work, I realised I needed to transition into design and UX. 

Since 2017 I've been part of Attica, a software company from Uruguay to the world. We don't believe in big disruptions, but in helping everyday companies constantly evolve through technology. 

Every day I help clients envision the evolution of their business. My mission is to discover new ways of human / technology collaboration, making sure that every voice is heard. A robot lover, I'm still positive that useful and ethical tech will set us free.