Why partner-powered customer experiences are better than going it alone

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a CX Summit event for EMEA, hosted by our partner Five9. I was a panelist for a discussion entitled "The CX Tipping Point: Where AI and Humans Meet". During the panel, we had a lively discussion around the game-changing nature of AI and what it means for customer service, contact centers, and service agents.

The discussion with Five9 included many themes, such as:

• Customers increasingly demanding new communication channels
• How service teams can apply AI to understand service activities and customer demand
• How technology companies can partner, to deliver new customer experiences across all channels, from one unified solution

Five9 and Oracle both recognize that we can't deliver what our customers want without strong partnerships. That’s why we pool our resources and maintain focus on our core strengths. Frankly, we can provide more value by working with Five9 than we could by competing with them in the area of voice. The same is true for Five9 in the areas that represent Oracle’s core competencies. Together we’re more than the sum of our parts.

Oracle and Five9 together can provide a differentiated offering that’s rooted in data. That may not be surprising to most since Oracle's roots are in data. However, Five9 collects so much data in voice that has historically been “dark” or unavailable. Now through the Five9-Oracle partnership, our companies have teamed to bring new data to the forefront of CX, fueling AI engines that help create predictive, unique, and hyper-convenient experiences.

For example, instead of routing customers to departments, we can now match customers with agents who are best suited to build a long-term relationship. For example, a retail company that sells sporting goods can now route a potential fishing enthusiast to another fisherman who is on the call queue rather just sending them to the “next available agent.” Or a young person engaging with a brand on a digital channel may be presented an agent in her same demographic and may then be presented with modern tools such as video chat or augmented reality enhancing her experience. These scenarios weren’t readily possible through disconnected systems, but through a partnership like Oracle-Five9, the next generation of customer service is now a reality.

Customer experience becomes increasingly fluid every year. The brands that will likely survive and thrive will do so through continual transformation of their customer journeys, tweaking, adjusting, and experimenting on a constant basis. Taking this into consideration, Oracle and Five9 work together in increasing the agility of our solutions, allowing our customers to gain a competitive advantage.

In the end, this incredible technology ties back to people. I started my career in a contact center, and it wasn’t the modern contact center that exists today. I was stuck at a desk reading scripts with no flexibility or empowerment. As an agent I was merely an extension of the machine, limiting my ability to make any real customer impact.

Fortunately, for both agents and customers we are entering a golden age of customer service. By drawing data from every interaction and putting it to work, we can use the power of AI to supercharge how our agents connect with customers and differentiate these engagements when a customer does require (or prefer) a human interaction. Every customer experience can be spectacular. And we're just getting started, as we have much more coming soon that will showcase the strength of our partnership and continue to prove to our customers that partner-powered customer experiences are better than going it alone.

To learn more, check out this video about how Oracle and Five9 are better together. Or check out the replay of Five9’s EMEA summit.