Jan Thijs.
Still finding yourself stuck waiting on hold, talking to a bot that doesn’t help, or being bounced from one agent to another?
You’re not alone - customer frustration with poor service is still surprisingly common. In today’s hyper-competitive environment, service quality isn’t just a differentiator - it’s a deal breaker. According to our research, 64% of customers globally say service quality is the single most important factor that separates one company from another. And when service falls short, the consequences are real - 87% of customers who've had a poor experience say it would drive them away from a brand for good.
This makes customer experience one of the most powerful levers for growth but delivering great service consistently is harder than it looks. Many organisations still struggle with siloed teams and disconnected data, leading to fragmented customer journeys that damage trust. The way forward is to bring everything together – how you work and how you engage. A Unified Customer Stack helps do just that. It starts with an AI-enabled data foundation and ends with an AI-powered customer experience, connecting insights, systems and teams to deliver more personalised, seamless interactions at scale.
Scaling generative AI where it matters most
It’s not just theory. Our research shows that businesses applying generative AI to customer growth can see 25% higher revenue over five years compared to those focused solely on productivity. Think about what that means for industries like banking, where competition is fierce, and innovation is essential. National Australia Bank (NAB) is a powerful example of how generative AI can drive both employee productivity and customer experience transformation when applied with purpose and discipline. Working in partnership with Accenture, NAB has moved quickly to test, learn and scale AI solutions across the organisation. Starting with just six use cases in mid-2023, NAB has since expanded to more than 20 generative AI initiatives, from speeding up legal reviews to improving code quality. The goal is to cut manual work, drive faster outcomes and improve customer experience, all while embedding strong data and AI guardrails from day one.
How to scale AI across the customer value chain
The thing is, scaling AI takes more than just the right tech. It’s about building a foundation that works across your customer organisation - from marketing to sales to service. That means laying the groundwork with a robust data strategy, bringing your business and tech teams together, and creating a culture that’s ready to embrace AI.
Strategic investments in enterprise-grade AI platforms are helping organizations move beyond pilot programs to scalable AI-driven transformations that directly impact customer experience. By leveraging AI to enhance key functions like marketing and communications, businesses are streamlining operations, improving targeting, and driving better customer engagement at scale.
Here’s how you can start thinking about AI in your own business:
- Executive leadership and ownership
AI reinvention starts at the top. Organizations realizing the greatest value from generative AI are 6x more likely to have leaders who deeply understand its potential. CEO sponsorship and clear P&L ownership ensure AI investments are directly tied to business outcomes and not isolated technology experiments. The most effective leaders are leaning into high-impact initiatives that tackle core business challenges, not just incremental gains.
- Building technology and AI fluency across leadership
As AI rapidly evolves, closing the knowledge gap across boards, executives and business leaders is essential. Organisations investing in AI fluency at all levels are better positioned to make bolder decisions, accelerate adoption and unlock faster returns.
- Reimagining high-value processes
The greatest value from generative AI comes from reinventing critical processes end-to-end. Integrate AI agents to reduce inefficiencies and enhance workflows. Redesign work by tackling processes across silos and use gen AI to reinvent entire domains, processes and customer journeys rather than launching narrow use cases
- Establishing data as a foundation for reinvention
AI is only as powerful as the data that fuels it and for CMOs and CCOs, that means getting much closer to the data than ever before. Organisations achieving enterprise-level value are nearly 3x more likely to have a comprehensive data strategy in place. That includes structured, unstructured and synthetic data pulled together to create actionable insight at scale. It’s this foundation that powers more accurate targeting, more relevant experiences, and faster reinvention.
The real power of generative AI lies not in standalone tools, but in integrated systems that unlock new levels of speed, relevance and personalization at scale. AI is not just a back-office play. For CCOs and CMOs, it's a frontline capability that must be harnessed to drive growth, build customer loyalty, and deliver differentiated experiences that set your brand apart in a competitive marketplace. The time to scale AI and lead the charge in customer experience transformation is now.
Jan Thijs, Data and AI Lead at Accenture Song