3 Customer Experience Game Changers From the Toronto Tech Summit

The world of customer experience is changing rapidly. If you don’t keep up, you’ll get left behind. That was the focus at the 6th annual Toronto Tech Summit, a Genesys-sponsored event that emphasizes revolutionizing, modernizing and crafting incredible experiences through technology.

This year’s sold-out event brought hundreds of attendees together at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto to learn from area leaders in customer experience. The summit featured discussions around innovations in this space during keynotes, lightning talks and panels.

And one message was clear at the event: The industry is transforming, and we need to do more than adopt technology to keep up. We also need to learn from our customers. Genesys understands this, so we’re taking several giant steps into the future to ensure that we’re ahead of the game.

Here’s a look at the three game-changing technologies that speakers agreed are transforming the industry.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

It was once said that AI will become as critical as electricity—engrained in everything we do. But there’s no point in having it if no one is there to turn on the lights. That’s why Genesys Blended AI for Customer Experience is a game changer; bots and automation need the influence of the human touch.

“AI is so powerful, but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t care about people,” said Janelle Dieken, Senior VP of Solutions and Product Marketing at Genesys, during a keynote. And, as Dan Rood, VP of Product Marketing at Genesys explained, we put people at the center of everything we do—emotion is the currency of experience, and you need people to understand and empathize.

Genesys AppFoundry partners also understand this, and put it into practice. During a panel discussion about how AI disrupts customer experience, Mike Murchison, CEO at Ada Support, shared details about the exciting work his company is doing with Genesys on conversational chatbots. “These bots are not meant to replace agents, but to remove repetitiveness—giving agents about 30% more time,” said Murchison.

Yves Normandin, CEO at Nu Echo, also introduced the value-added projects they’re working on with Genesys that will build symbiotic relationships with agents and bots. These projects are in addition to integrations that are available for customers in the AppFoundry marketplace, such as NuID, NuSkills and NuCorder. 

2. Asynchronous Messaging

The ways in which we communicate have changed. And Warren Levitan, Co-founder and CEO at Smooch, hit the nail on the head when it comes to keeping up with this change.

“Companies must meet customers where they are, at the right time, and maintain context,” noted Levitan during his informative lightning talk. In the age of the digital customer who uses all types of smart devices, most people spend five times longer in messaging apps than they do on phone calls. And Generation Y consumers spend eight times longer in messaging apps than email.

Genesys Messaging for Apple Business Chat meets consumers where they want to communicate. According to Apple, 200,000 iMessages are sent per second—that’s billions daily. We want to deliver the seamless experiences that customers want by turning smart devices into smart channels. As Rood explained, “We are just trying to build a better message in a bottle.”

3. Blockchain

You probably hear the buzzword blockchain quite a bit, and it’s important to understand the vitality of the technology. Blockchain allows digital information to be distributed, but not copied. “The Internet wasn’t designed to be secure,” said Alex Manea, Chief Security Officer at BlackBerry, during his fascinating keynote. “Blockchain, however, is secure by design.”

Cybersecurity can’t be an afterthought; it must be a crucial part of the customer experience strategy to protect information from hackers. Blockchain technology is resilient and transparent, providing a secure foundation for the future. The more we build on blockchain, the more secure and connected our world will be.

That’s a Wrap

This year’s summit was truly filled with so much valuable information. There were discussions from companies who partner with Genesys to empower agents with AI and chatbots, fascinating presentations that covered the magic of blockchain to secure the future, and much more.

And attendees took home more than just information and best practices. Genesys also raffled off a several prizes, including a Google Home, an Apple iWatch and an Amazon Echo Spot, to lucky winners who were active on social media using the trending hashtag – #TOTechSummit.

The Toronto Tech Summit brings together a growing community of professionals who want to keep up with the latest and greatest in technology and customer experience. To explore ways you can be a part of the future with Genesys, check out our open positions.

A special thanks to our amazing sponsors who helped make this event a success: Paytm Labs Inc, Cogeco Peer 1, ESET, Achievers, York Link, AdeptMind, Rangle.io, Smooch.io, 247 Labs, MaRS Discovery District, DMZ, Startup Toronto, and the City of Toronto.