IA and automation transform customer journeys. The technologies are ready: to those who invest the benefits of a more fluid, reliable and centered user relationship now.
From simple digitalization to increased experience: 40 years of evolution of customer journeys
Customer relations, and the customer journey in particular, is an almost perfect reflection of major technological developments. At the time of paper mail and minitel, the exchanges were slow, linear and mostly physical. At the turn of the 2000s, the massive equipment in personal computers allowed the first online courses, still stammering. The explosion of the smartphone a few years later opened the era of “mobile first”, generalizing access to services at any time and any place. In short, for forty years, customer journeys have evolved at the rate of major technological ruptures, carried by the promise of an ever faster, more fluid, more accessible experience. Now we are at the dawn of a much deeper transformation. Thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, digital identity and secure archiving, digital routes become instant, personalized and fully automated.
Indeed, via crumbs (electronic identification means) and digital identity portfolios (ID-Wallets), strong identification is rapid and reliable. The intelligent processing of documents, or intelligent document processing (IDP), makes it possible to verify, extract, control and reliable supporting documents, drastically reducing the risks of documentary fraud. Furthermore, with electronic signature and convincing value, online contracting benefits from a solid legal base (which will be further strengthened when entering the EIDAS V2 directive). Finally, biometric control, alteration analysis and intelligent algorithms make it possible to detect fraud with unrivaled efficiency rates. Thanks to these tools, organizations can thus now build routes where identification, contractualization and archiving are completely fluidified, and in accordance with the GDPR and European directives. But even more so, virtual assistants boosted at the generative AI will soon be able – based on specialized LLMS – to pilot this customer relationship and the entire course: from customer reception to the signing of the contract, or even to take charge of the proactive management of the file.
Act today to build the customer experience of tomorrow
If all the technological bricks necessary for this mutation exist, and are for the majority mature, their integration into coherent and fluid routes remains a challenge for brands. Current monolithic information systems are often not designed to support fragmentation and hyperpersonalization on the way to becoming the norm.
To build these enriched customer experiences, not only at the interface but also in the quality of the treatments, this implies for companies to decompartmentalize on the one hand their back offices, based on interoperable platforms, and on the other hand automating flows by nevertheless guaranteeing human supervision and compliance with the standards in force (GDPR, EIDAS, etc.). In other words, this requires rethinking architecture if around a modular logic (microservices, API-first), to reduce silos between the collection, processing and validation of data, and to integrate IDP platforms.
The temptation could then be great to wait for these transformations to become widespread. It would be a strategic error. Because if the digital identity is still emerging (there is less than 10% the share of the French population which actively uses a digital identity to date), it is in rapid growth, carried by numerous national and European initiatives. Even more, by 2027, the general acceptance of digital identities (via certified wallets) will become an obligation for many sectors. Furthermore, the recent example of the SNCF, criticized for its inability to accept France Identity as a means of evidence, shows how much not to anticipate new uses can affect brand image and create immediate distrust on the part of users, targeting customer relations.
In an ever more focused world, a poorly thought out customer journey represents a loss of direct competitiveness. Not to anticipate is to risk tomorrow to be unable to meet the requirements of a prospect accustomed to a fluid and hyper-personalized experience. The future of digital routes is already there. It belongs to those who will choose to activate it now.
