Gartner defines the market of AI in communications service provider (CSP) customer and business operations as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. They are either capabilities embedded in CSP-specific operational technology (OT) applications (such as channels, CRM and other business support system [BSS] applications) or industry-agnostic horizontal applications delivering AI/machine learning (ML)-based customer and business operations in CSPs. CSP customer and business operations refer to marketing, sales, customer acquisition, customer journey, billing and revenue management, revenue assurance, and related risk management. The scope of AI products covers data readiness, life cycle management of algorithms and their application to CSP customer and business operations. AI in CSP customer and business operations helps CSPs utilize AI/ML to generate insights and automate business processes across various customer and business operations areas. These areas include marketing, sales, configure-price-quote (CPQ), order management, product management, billing and revenue management, customer journey and care, revenue assurance, and fraud/risk management. Examples include intelligent chatbots utilizing natural language processing for customer interaction use cases to automate call center operations. These products assist with insights and automation and help CSPs manage the life cycle of AI/ML algorithms, gradually enabling ModelOps/AIOps.
Customer data platforms (CDPs) are software applications that support customer experience use cases by unifying a company’s customer data from marketing, sales, service, commerce and other sources. CDPs unify customer data to facilitate its output to coordinate profiles between cross-functional systems, create segments and/or audience targets, optimize offers and/or decisions, and inform analysis while distributing insights that create triggers for other experiences.
Gartner defines Social Monitoring and Analytics as the process of collecting, measuring, analyzing and interpreting the results of interactions and associations among people, topics and ideas from social media sources. These solutions are different from social marketing management tools that may include social analytics capabilities as part of a broader platform, which also include capabilities for content publishing, distribution, and engagement and customer service capabilities. Social Monitoring and Analytics vendors enable users to monitor and analyze conversations happening on social media about their brand, competition industry, and topics relevant to their target customer segments. These tools collect data from various online sources and help users analyze themes, sentiment and perceptions
Gartner defines a voice of the customer (VoC) platform as one that integrates feedback collection, analysis and action into a single interconnected platform that helps understand and improve the customer experience. Sources of feedback extend beyond direct surveying to include other, more indirect and inferred sources. VoC platforms enable leaders responsible for functions such as customer service, marketing, or sales to better manage the customer experience (CX) through a deep understanding of customer needs, motivations, goals and behaviors. The resulting insights trigger recommendations and actions across the enterprise.