Ashish Shah leads the day-to-day operations of Apttus India, and supports strategic initiatives, as a member of the senior team. Ashish brings to Apttus over 27 years of global experience in the industry. He spent 21 years of his career at GE, primarily in the US, rising to the position of General Manager, which he held for the last 5 years of his tenure there. Prior to Apttus Ashish spent the last 6 years as Managing Director of NextGen Healthcare in Bangalore.

Enterprises across industries and regions increasingly recognize the transformative nature of cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning(ML) the Internet of Things(IoT), and cloud computing. While large entities have already witnessed this shift, small and medium enterprises are now riding the digital transformation wave as well. This digitaldisruption, without a doubt, has brought improvements to several aspects of the business. From increased operational efficiency to higher employee productivity the influx of technology plays a pivotal role in streamlining the workflow as well as revamping archaic business models.

One area where technology's impact can be colossal is customer service. Consumers are redefining their expectations taking cues from digital native players like Google Amazon, and Netflix businesses that offer product simplicity multichannel access, seamless integration and segment of one targeting. Within rapidly evolving landscape, let's dive into how organizations can leverage tech based solutions to enhance their customer experience.

Harnessing AI to Offer Tailored Products/Services
A PwC survey of 2,500 US-based consumers and business decision makers found that most business leaders believe AI will be a fundamental part of businesses in the future.

In fact 72 percent termed AI as a "business advantage." The increased adoption of AI across verticals further indicates the growing cognizance of its disruptive nature. By deploying AI-based data analytical tools, businesses can analyze the piles of customer data and utilize it to gain insights into their buying behaviour and preferences.

By deploying AI-based data analytical tools, businesses can analyze the piles of customer data and utilize it to gain insights into their buying behavior and preferences

Moreover AI has the ability to learn continuously and grow smarter with every new set of data that it assesses. Using deep learning algorithms, AI can also predict what kind of products, services, and offers will appeal to a certain segment of consumers. This, in turn, allows businesses to provide customers with personalized experiences. Companies in sectors like banking, retail, and hospitality have promptly integrated AI systems into their operations benefiting immensely from the vast amount of data available at their fingertips. For example banks and financial service institutions capitalize on AI's insights to recommend account upgrades during specific events in their customers' life, such as when individuals are getting admissions into college or getting married.

Introducing Virtual Assistants to Facilitate Height ened Customer Engagement
When it comes to handling hundreds and thousands of customers on a daily basis, intelligent interactive tools such as intelligent virtual assistants help businesses keep their consumers engaged at an individual level. How ever it's important to make a clear distinction between virtual assistants and chatbots, the latter of which comprise most industry bots in play today. Chatbots pretend to be human, but really act like machines while intelligent virtual assistants think and act like a real personal assistant. Chat bots are highly script driven and dictate user flow while intelligent virtual assistants support a multidirection flow that understands business language and allows users to refer to things in context, change their minds, and ask follow up questions.

By deploying intelligent virtual assistants, companies are now able to enhance the customer experience by providing a seamless communication between the company and the end consumers. These virtual assistants provide intelligence that makes smart choices for the user offers personalized recommendations, and proactively provides actionable in-sights. Combining the intelligence of AI-driven virtual assistants with human expertise, businesses have made significant improvements to their customer service.

The unprecedented growth of technology has inevitably ushered in a new era where modern enterprises face an unpredictable future that is also brimming with possibilities. As more organizations take a customer first approach, technology acts as an enabler.

By leveraging the digital transformation, they can provide greater accessibility, convenience, personalization, and ease of use, which translates into better customer experiences. Indeed, the emerging technologies of today will help both B2C and B2B businesses to revamp their customer service.