AI in Customer Care: It’s Not Just About Chatbots
Guest article by Matt Zelen is Chief Customer Officer at Act-On Software, a marketing automation provider.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being deployed in customer care – a phenomenon people often associate with chatbots. But in B2B, these automated conversational assistants that pop up on web pages and in applications are just one part of the picture, with AI advances transforming an array of post-sales activities and experiences.
Consider that by 2020, according to an oft-quoted Gartner projection, intelligent automation will manage 85 percent of customer interactions. In the B2B world, this means dramatic changes across the customer service spectrum – from on boarding to ongoing care to the renewal process. Machines can now identify patterns in customer behaviour and help determine courses of action to make the customer engagement as successful as possible.
And what about the other 15 percent of customer interactions that are managed by humans? One of AI’s most powerful attributes is its ability to predict when a customer relationship is running into trouble, giving companies advance notice to engage with high-touch service.
Thus, it’s apt to think of AI not as a replacement for human customer service – computers will never be a substitute for human empathy – but as a super-smart assistant. The assistant supports an organisation’s need to be more effective and efficient in mobilising the right resources to assure customer success while also maintaining personalisation.
Here’s how AI can specifically help in the three stages of customer care. In all three, the magic of AI is its ability to predict success or failure based on the patterns of similar customers with similar use cases in the past.
On boarding: The first step for any company should be to deeply understand what value its product offers and how the customer measures ROI. Then, AI can be used to see if customers are implementing the product in the intended way and when they’re not.
Upon determining that an implementation is veering off course, the AI system can recommend the best way to proactively engage with the customer -- whether that’s high touch or electronic outreach -- based on signals in the customer’s actions or behaviours. And if electronic is determined to be the right choice, the system can show the best route. For example, it can get as granular as showing that the best way to attract a certain buyer’s attention is through a LinkedIn message rather than an email.
The AI system then can learn from how successful the method of outreach was or wasn’t and incorporate those insights in future interactions.
Optimisation: After on boarding is complete, companies need to know whether customers are continuing to derive optimal value from the product. Are there behavioural changes suggesting otherwise? What is responsible for them? Has an advocate for the product changed jobs?
The AI system can pick up on this digital trail of clues and initiate a conversation with the customer through the channel that works best for them.
Renewal: Based on information from the previous two stages, the AI system can segment customers into a variety of buckets – such as likely to renew, uncertain or at risk, as well as other factors such as the customer’s profitability to the company – and recommend best next steps.
All of this allows companies to maximise their human customer service resources. They end up with an automated, intelligent system that addresses the majority of customer needs, but also a talented team that knows how to deal with more complex situations.
It’s worth noting that another benefit of AI in customer care lies outside customer care itself: The knowledge gained about how customers work with the product can then provide a feedback loop to the entire organisation on the features customers are using or need, thus influencing the product roadmap.
AI is an invaluable tool in enriching the customer relationships that businesses work so hard to develop. Just as on the pre-sale side, intelligent automation can have a profound impact on companies’ efficiency and effectiveness in promoting satisfaction throughout the customer journey, in ways that go far beyond chatbots.
Five sustainable gaming companies that provide great inspiration to startups wanting to do good in the world.
From 31 January, businesses moving goods from the European Union (EU) to Great Britain (GB) will need to comply with new UK safety and security declaration requirements.
Its simplicity has made transitioning from traditional tobacco to vaping a breeze for many.
Bitcoin, the digital currency conceived in 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, is a financial phenomenon. Despite the volatility of global markets, it has demonstrated remarkable resilience.
From university students and young entrepreneurs to senior executives, imposter syndrome remains a common thread in everyone’s personal career journey.
It was more of a gut feeling that led us to the intersection of digitalisation, mobiles and the democratisation of payments. Paynetics felt strongly about making moving and managing money right for everyone and started building a platform that covers it all.
I’m Simon Goodman and I started out in PR, where I was introduced to the noble Choc Ice working on the Cadburys account. At the time they were looking to upgrade the humble choc ice.
In 2017, Matt launched Borrow A Boat, aka the ‘Airbnb’ of boats, making waves in the charter industry by offering a modern marketplace solution with the aim of making boating more accessible, affordable, flexible and inclusive for all.
Founded in 2021 by Alisa Patotsakaya, Immersive Fox is a text-to-video generation startup that specialises in providing businesses with AI-generated videos for sales and customer communication.
Samantha Gilchrist, co-founder and CEO of The Gilchrist Collection, shares her life as an entrepreneur.
Co-founded by Conrad Poulson in 2014, Huq has been at the forefront of utilising cutting- edge technologies and innovative mobility research methods.
Going from employee to founder was a huge leap of faith. I announced the agency just a few days after turning 26 and like most 26-year-olds, I hadn’t ever owned or run a business before.
Patchwork Health was co-founded by Dr Anas Nader and Dr Jing Ouyang with the mission to make truly flexible and sustainable working a reality for all healthcare staff, amid the current workforce crisis.
After a lifetime working as a project manager for some of the world’s largest tech companies, Jeb Buckler set up Startup Giants PLC to ensure that no good tech concepts should go to waste.
So, I encouraged Ben to officially incorporate The Handbag Clinic as its own independent luxury handbag offshoot in 2013 – all still operated through our ecommerce platform at the time.
I’m Diana Babics, founder of Nourish Awards. I began in finance (accounts and auditing) before deciding this simply wasn’t for me. I then headed off to university as a mature student, initially to study art and design and latterly interior architecture.
greenworkx is co-founded by two education sector workers, Mat llic and Richard Ng, who are passionate about the planet and believe reskilling and upskilling UK workers into green jobs is future-proofing the economy.
Blaise Hope, founder and CEO of Origin Hope, brings two decades of media experience to his groundbreaking content partnership venture.
Co-founded by Nisha Ramisetty and Sam Williams, the idea for Naksha was born in 2020 when cooking became an escape during lockdown.
Charlene Hurlock was inspired by her daughter and her best friend who independently started swapping their pre-loved clothes. Aside from being a Mum, Charlene's background is predominately in global exhibition sales and media advertising.
In North America, Iced Teas (Coldbrew) is a bustling £2bn marketplace. Yet, in the UK, despite being the second fastest-growing soft drink sub-category (after cold brew coffee), there is still a lack of appreciation for brands like Kaytea.
I’m Melissa Gauge, founder of SpareMyTime. I left my corporate role in 2016 to set up a City-based business with a couple of partners and another business by myself, an online platform.
Founded in 2006 by Amelia Peckham and Clare Braddel, Cool Crutches & Walking Sticks aims to empower those who need support to walk.
I’m Gerry Lianos - the co-founder of Raffolux, an online raffling platform that gives people the chance to win amazing prizes for a low cost and support charities close to their hearts.
Jason Tim is the CEO and co-founder of CloudSmiths and has been CEO for the past two years. Prior to this, he held previous roles at the company such as Managing Director and Sales Director.
My name is Lucy Bramley and I'm the founder of Ruched & Ready, one of the UK's leading size inclusive fashion labels helping women embrace their curves and feel confident.
KBF Enterprises was established in 2008 by Managing Director, Kieran Fisher and is the business behind two of the most recognised sports nutrition brands in the UK – Bodybuilding Warehouse® and Warrior®.
Matt Cater is co-founder of Clix Technologies, an innovative new company that offers the UK’s only mobile-first, fully customisable, Web App-based smart lockers.
Ben Maruthappu is a London-based doctor and CEO of Cera, a multi-award winning digital-first home healthcare company, which has grown 100-fold in the past three years, now delivering over 50,000 patient appointments a day.
The Natural Love Company was founded by friends and wedding photographers Ben Foster and Barney Walters. The Cornwall-based business was launched as a result of their previous careers being put on halt by the pandemic.
As the CEO of Botify, Adrien has had both a global and notable career, co-founding Botify back in 2012 and thereafter relocating to the United States from France. Adrien is passionate about shifting the organic search marketing landscape.
Sançar has spent years leading marketing teams at high-profile startups, including Typeform and Hotjar. Early in his career, he struggled to set work-life boundaries and lacked a clear understanding of his personal wellbeing needs and values.
Co-founded by Mike Robertson and Adrian Brown, AbbeyCross is the world’s first B2B trading and compliance marketplace, focused on improving underlying market infrastructure for Emerging Market (“EM”) currencies.
My name is Derk Roodhuyzen de Vries and I am the CEO and co-founder of Fixico. Alongside my business partner Mark van Laar, we created Fixico back in 2014 to revolutionise the car repair industry.
Linkup was founded by the two Manchester-based entrepreneurs, Jack Peagam and Ben Whatson, as they aim to step away from ‘traditional' career paths and combine their shared passion for creativity with business.
Emilie Vallauri is a 27-year-old program manager at Techstars with a passion for innovation. Born and raised in Nice, France, Emilie studied business and political sciences before embarking on a career punctuated by innovation and supporting startups.
Zsuzsa has been instrumental in growing Antavo from a startup to a scaleup. As Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder, she is transforming the company into a unique loyalty technology vendor, offering a next-gen, best-in-class solution to the loyalty sector.
Software engineering and product development is my specialisation - and I have had a wide range of experience across the industry. I had a brilliant 22-year long career at IBM, working across a number of roles, which I really loved.
Holly Zoccolan is an entrepreneur and Founder of new parenting app, Carol. Before Founding Carol and entering the tech space, Holly built successful online wellness brand The Health Zoc in 2016.
Anna Gudmundson is the CEO and co-founder of Sensate, a device that emits infrasonic waves that are synchronised to resonate with the specially composed hemispheric audio in the app.
Rebecca is Senior Vice President of Clients, Partnership and Creative Transformation at CreativeX, provider of an industry-first AI driven data platform to help the world’s most loved brands including PepsiCo, Nestle and Facebook achieve creative excellence.
Early-stage entrepreneurs across the UK with a clear social or environmental mission are invited to apply for EASI26 – the Entrepreneurs' Award in Social Innovation – before the 31st March 2026 deadline.
University of Edinburgh spin-out BIOCAPTIVA has raised £1.58 million in a new funding round and launched its first product in the US.
The appointment represents a key step in AppsFlyer’s continued evolution as the Modern Marketing Cloud, helping brands unify measurement, data collaboration, and activation across increasingly complex digital ecosystems.
However, the findings underline a clear truth for business leaders – human connection remains a powerful driver of commercial performance, and leadership confidence.
SPORTL, a London-based pay-as-you-train fitness booking platform, has launched today across app stores after closing a £250K pre-seed funding round backed by industry experts.
With this investment, Uvionix will accelerate its product release and expand its market presence across the US and Europe.
The company's technology will have innovative applications in infant nutrition, cosmetic and dermatological, and cognitive industries.
This funding will accelerate Mulder’s mission to tackle the transparency and compliance challenges that complicate the medical device supply chain.
Tangible, a software platform for decarbonizing construction has raised $3 million in a funding round co-led by Prologis Ventures and Pi Labs. Additional investors include Foundamental, Silence VC, and RE Angels.
DBLX, led by CEO and Co-Founder Nicky Hoyland, collaborates with global enterprises to enhance their people experiences. The company’s offerings include immersive digital content, bespoke platform development, and strategic consulting services.
Bitcoin, the digital currency conceived in 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, is a financial phenomenon. Despite the volatility of global markets, it has demonstrated remarkable resilience.