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f you visit Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, you’ll find that the receptionist, Nadine, is likely to remember you by name. If you have a minute to spare, she may even remind you of when you last met and what you spoke about.

The long-haired, human-like social robot who comes with her own personality, moods and emotions, has been welcoming visitors since last year. And if her creators have their way, Nadine will be in homes of the future, playing games with the young and caring for the elderly.

In Indonesia, Telkomsel’s Veronika came back as a virtual assistant that is present 7x24 hours. This service makes it easy for customers to interact directly through social chat platform using LINE, Facebook Messenger and Telegram. As part of Telkomsel’s mobile digital lifestyle experience, it was made possible using artificial intelligence, customer analytics and human interaction to generate a self-service that provides a better, faster and more precise customer experience.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come of age and it is making user interfaces simpler and smarter. Thanks to technologies from natural language processing and computer vision to machine and deep learning, AI is taking on increasingly sophisticated roles. Think of Spotify where AI curates content based on your listening habits, or OCBC’s Emma, an AI-powered chatbot that gives customized home and renovation loan advice.

These developments represent opportunities for businesses to improve customer experience, grow revenue, and free up employees’ time to address more complex queries and issues. OCBC is a case in point — in just three months following its January launch, Emma handled 20,000 enquiries and helped secure US$7.25 million in new loans.

We predict that in five years, more than half of a company’s customers will select its services based on its AI rather than its traditional brand. In other words, AI is about to become your company’s digital spokesperson.

As AI capabilities mature, more people will interact directly with it. Businesses that use AI to create value for their customers will become more competitive and relevant as the number of people using AI in their daily lives increases.

Our Technology Vision report puts AI as one of the most important trends with 85 percent of the 5,400 IT and business executives surveyed reporting plans to extensively invest in AI-related technologies in the next three years. Four out of every five executives agreed that AI will revolutionize the way they gain information from, and interact with, customers.

The magic of AI is in its ability to engage. Take Bus Uncle — the Singapore bus arrival timing app — which is not only informative, but also has a witty and local personality. He may suggest that you use your 15-minute wait to “lim kopi”, Singlish for “drink coffee”, or tell you that there’s enough time to “confess to your crush”.

Building Bus Uncle on a natural language processing engine using both Singlish and English helped drive engagement and adoption with millennials and an older – and increasingly tech-savvy – generation. Within three months of its release, Bus Uncle recorded more than a million chats.

Its success has since spawned another Singlish-slinging chatbot — Grant Uncle — which provides easy-to-understand information to small and medium firms keen to tap government grants.

So how can businesses ensure AI is a relevant and powerful tool for them? And how can they use it to meet evolving customer — and employee — needs and demands?

It begins with recognizing that AI is a core competency that demands C-level investment and strategy. Businesses need to look at their business models and channels, and identify where AI is relevant. Once that is done, they can provide training to staff that has been freed-up from more mundane jobs for higher skilled roles.

Consumers have already shown their readiness — even eagerness — for AI. The attitude of Singapore consumers has changed with many that are keen on using intelligent technologies to make buying decisions. About 40 percent of Singapore consumers are open to using sensor-based digital services that pre-emptively address their needs without human intervention, according to our research.

Some innovations may not completely meet expectations, or even fail, but with the right feedback, it will be possible for businesses to move forward. This may be the case for Indonesia, since service is key, with growth of 17.27 percent year-on-year, provides close to 55 percent revenue to the economy at $512 billion.

There will be new regulations to govern the new spaces created by AI, e.g., data privacy and ethics. And companies that get involved in these discussions earlier rather than later will have the opportunity to shape regulations, and be at the center of new developments.

Of course, AI is not without risks and challenges. The growth of platforms and ecosystems mean that customers are likely to experience brands through third-party user interfaces, which companies may not have control over. A poorly implemented AI on someone else’s user interface can damage relationship with your customer. Bad customer service has cost businesses in Singapore $26 billion as consumers switch brands, according to our research.

And while AI can interact with an infinite number of people at once, it needs continuous fine-tuning and constant development. The 24-year old creator of Bus Uncle, Abhilash Murthy, found himself hastily bolstering the bot as early as day-four, when it crashed continuously from unexpectedly high use. Today, he continues to experiment with content and is exploring partnerships that will ensure that users remain engaged.

While these risks of employing AI must be considered, to not do so is to invite irrelevance. As Elsevier CTO Dan Olley noted in 2016, “If CIOs invested in machine learning three years ago, they would have wasted their money. But if they wait another three years, they will never catch up.”
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Sam Liew is Accenture’s ASEAN managing director for technology and Leonard Nugroho is managing director of technology consulting at Accenture Indonesia.