Executive Summary
The excitement about beginning a grand adventure with artificial intelligence (AI) is undeniable. As Constellation Research has recently documented, AI is not just a C-suite transformational project or a functional experiment: AI is a board-level mandate. The question is how and how effectively AI can be brought into the organization in a way that lasts. AI leaders admit that basic customer experience (CX) automation has proven to be the lowest-hanging fruit as they look to cut costs and drive revenue and growth.
However, leaders also admit that the real opportunity with AI is in its ability to drive exponential growth. Common roadblocks have already emerged, stymieing the forward advancement of AI and its capacity to drive that exponential growth. Yet in contact center and core frontline CX functions such as sales and marketing, AI has long been a vital, if not critical, tool in the tool kit. Few would argue that advancements in AI have not unlocked new opportunities for operational and experiential optimization. But it is also hard to ignore that AI adoption and driving meaningful returns from AI have become harder and that adoption beyond proof of concept (POC) experiments into production has slowed.
This report examines five of the most common roadblocks CX leaders experience in advancing their AI maturity. Navigating these challenges will help map new pathways beyond initial POC experiments and into an age of operationalized automations and workflows that more intentionally connect data and processes across CX-focused teams (including critical service, sales, and marketing teams such as the contact center and commerce) to other critical operational business functions.
