Three Questions with the Director of Customer Success at expert.ai
If a recent BCG study is any indication, most companies are planning to implement AI and generative AI in 2024. However, the reality of adoption and implementation is much more complex. The same study found that most organizations are dissatisfied with their progress and “aren’t doing enough to realize the full benefits of AI.”
But what about the AI projects that don’t fail? The BCG study identified five characteristics of organizations that are succeeding with AI. These AI “winners”
- Invest in topline growth
- Upskill systematically
- Are vigilant about cost of use
- Build strategic relationships
- And implement responsible AI principles
At expert.ai, we believe that a key element of what sets winners apart—something that underlies each of the characteristics identified above—is working in partnership with your tech providers. As a technology partner, we’re invested in your success. As part of the process of creating a fit-for-purpose AI solution for our customers, we collaborate with them to define and monitor adoption processes in the context of their business objectives and organizational needs.
To explain what such a collaborative relationship looks like and why it’s so important, we sat down with our Head of Customer Success, Ramona Aubry, to learn more.
Why is Success with AI So Difficult?
AI represents not just a technology revolution, but a profound cultural shift. Its integration requires new processes, demands fresh skills, and challenges traditional methodologies, all with the pressure to move quickly.
All of these factors make AI challenging to implement, which is why it’s so important to have a solid strategy in place, ongoing executive buy in and a close relationship with your AI partners to support you through these transformations.
AI deployment is not a finite project but an ongoing evolution. It demands a sustained strategy, patience and determination to weather the journey. And, the journey is different for every organization. Also, you may have numerous pilots and proofs of concept to get to your defined objective—this is normal.
We advocate for a structured approach that is built around the enterprise and their specific context:
- Identify and prioritize the most suitable use case, fostering alignment among teams and technologies from the start.
- Develop a compelling business case, establishing initial benchmarks for accuracy and time to value.
- Focus on addressing well-known issues and projects with a high return on investment.
We share more tips for helping teams prepare for AI implementation in this guide for AI project success.
What Does Adoption Look Like on Day One and Beyond?
When you introduce new tools, we know that you want to get functional as quickly as possible. During onboarding, it’s about being able to get users started on the platform easily and in a timely manner. The adoption path must accommodate the range of different users and skillsets. We tailor our strategies to accommodate our customers’ tech familiarity. Whether you are a new customer, a seasoned user or somewhere in between, it’s important to be able to meet our users wherever they are.
For example, we have an adoption program that helps our more advanced technical users take advantage of the platform in a more autonomous way. We help you explore how the technology works under the hood and provide training to help you optimize the solution and unlock new features and use cases. It’s easy to get locked into a certain way of doing something for a certain project or use case, and we don’t want our users to have tunnel vision. Therefore, we work closely to make sure they are leveraging the features and capabilities of our platform to their greatest potential.
Whether it’s day 50, 100 or 400, it’s important to make sure users are up to date. We roll out regular updates to inform users of the latest features and new ways of doing things. We offer comprehensive training sessions and workshops, as well as self-paced and live training sessions as part of our continuous educational support.
Which Metrics Matter for Tracking Platform Adoption?
Because we’re constantly looking at how customers are using the platform, this gives us valuable insight into many aspects of adoption. We can identify our power users, the users who need a lot of assistance versus those who use it autonomously, and which users aren’t using the product at all.
Power users can play a key role in successful adoption. Because they are widely and proficiently using the platform, they are pivotal in driving the change management process that accompanies the use of a new technology. Recognizing and supporting these users helps foster wider adoption and utilization.
We also look at include the number of projects that have been deployed with the platform and the number of projects that have been stalled. This allows us to proactively address any challenges customers may be facing.
What’s the Connection Between Customer Success and ROI?
Customer success isn’t just about ensuring satisfaction—it’s about delivering value.
Our customer success team is focused on ensuring that our technology and solutions are driving quantifiable business value. To achieve this, we work with our teams to establish clear metrics in terms of how value is measured. This provides the foundation for tracking progress and measuring success along the way.
From the early stages of the project and throughout the journey, we’re guiding our customers to enable ROI calculations based on the milestones set across the customer journey (time to first value, MVP, go-live, etc.). Having clear metrics and measurable progress empowers our customers to scale and expand their AI projects with confidence.
Conclusion
Implementing AI is not a one-time project but an ongoing evolution that involves close collaboration with technology partners, tailored strategies and continuous education to drive adoption and development with confidence. In our approach, customer success is synonymous with delivering measurable ROI, and partnerships play a critical role in laying the groundwork for an AI solution that delivers lasting business value.
