Importance of Digital and Human Factor in Enhancing the Customer Experience

Posted by mycloud Hospitality on October 10th, 2018

Despite the fact, digitalization is used in ubiquitous ways to automate all areas of operation and is expected to change our life standard to a different level; still the human interaction continues to be the primary factor in enhancing the customer experience.

According to US Consumer report, more than 6–10 about 65% value “staff interaction” and it highly influenced their decision to buy more products from a brand. Another 65% reported they are highly influential when a well-trained staff educated and cared for them.

Since many businesses are quickly moving towards automation, it is more important to understand the effects of technology and how new innovations affect customers. In this blog post we will find out the excellent ways to enhance the customer experience and succeed with your business.

Human Factor and Digitalization

The Artificial intelligence and chat bots are biggest trend now and customer expectation has enormously changing with these new technologies; many organizations are attempting to utilize it in every possible way, to both encourage their work and to accomplish consumer loyalty. In any case, that doesn’t imply that the human factor ought to be ignored. Actually, it is strongly recommended not to dismiss exactly how the human factor is vital for customer experience.

A Forrester report suggests companies should put “human needs over technology”, bring innovations into the core of the business, depend on KPIs that make sense to what you are endeavoring to achieve, and strike a harmony between customers needs and those of employees and society”.

In spite of the fact that it isn’t possible to precisely predict future improvements in the realm of technology, it is clear even now that, in numerous everyday issues, machines will replace humans. Indeed, even the hospitality business isn’t safe with the ongoing improvements in Artificial Intelligence.

Having said that, it is most likely safe to assume that humans will in any case want to interact with other human rather than chat-bots or robots as nothing can supplant sympathy, empathy and comprehension, which is something machines are incapable of. From this point of view, humans are not replaceable with regards to managing clients directly.

Digital Factors

When we discuss digital factors with regards to customer experience, we are, obviously, referring to various technologies that automate operations and manage customers and improve the general customer experience. For example, hotel managers may implement hotel reputation software to enable them to get an understanding into their customer experience and enhance their reputation and online presence.

Another good example is a hotel PMS which is these days utilized for an extensive range of functions, for example, booking reservations, billing, food and beverages operations, housekeeping management, revenue management and whatever else that may influence online hotel reputation management.

Apart from hotel software solutions, digital POS (Point of sale) systems have turned out to be increasingly popular over the couple of years. It is said to be a standout amongst the best showcasing techniques that can enable you to furnish your audience with engaging connect related with your brand or services.

Digital POS has ended up being a great solution for a wide range of businesses, as it offers various advantages, for example

§ Seamless integration — Digital POS systems can coordinate with your accounting systems and oversee different kinds of information.

§ Streamline Payments — Instead of experiencing a tedious procedure with regards to installments, this system enables you to process transactions the moment they occur.

§ Reduction of Human Mistake — Having to track your inventory manually can be a real drag. However, with the assistance of digital POS, you can track deals continuously as they occur, without including any manual work.

§ Client relations — Digital POS empowers you to enhance your client experience by maintaining adequate staff and stock.

§ Distribution to online channels — It allows easier distribution to online channels. Having a direct distribution channel helps you to offer your services or products directly to the end clients, without the need of a middleman.

§ Services and facilities via smart phone — When it comes to in-room entertainment, an ever increasing number of clients like to depend on their smart phones. Radio, TV and different types of entertainment provided by the hotel are getting to be outdated to the clients as they can stream videos and music on their gadgets. One review found that up to 55% of clients said that the accessibility of mobile content affects their choice to stay.

As you can clearly observe, the choices for enhancing the customer experience digitally are for all intents and purposes boundless as there are many more software systems designed particularly to convey a consistent customer experience.

Finding the correct balance

In conclusion, when we figure out how both human and digital factors contribute to client experience; it is safe to conclude that the best choice is the correct blend between these two. In spite of the fact that hoteliers depend on technology to ensure their customers’ desires are satisfied, the significance of the human connection can’t be underlined enough. The nature of connections your customers have with your staff impacts how they will rate your client service.

As indicated by Marko Vucinic, Senior Vice President and Acting Head of Hotels and Hospitality Group at JLL Middle East and North Africa, “Some hoteliers want to have technology features because that’s what people increasingly expect, but they need to maintain a human factor as that’s what guests are paying for. Hoteliers need to figure out the right balance for their particular product and decide which functions can be automated”.

In addition, we need to understand that the objective of technology is to contribute to the general customer experience, without supplanting human interaction, which still stays significant. Digital factors mean the experience of the guests, while human factors transform a great experience into an even better one.

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mycloud Hospitality
Joined: September 3rd, 2018
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