I listened to an interview this morning with the editor of Confused.com on the subject of driverless cars. She described how consumers are confused about what cars we should be investing in: petrol, diesel, or electric in the face of ever-changing government policy.

 

The notion that we can hail a driverless car to use then send away when we reach our destination could soon be a reality. Think of the convenience, stress reduction and lower environmental impact! The technology is there, but how would it relate to everything else that exists?

 

This week at the Conservative Party Conference, Sajid Javid announced that automated taxis would be available in under two years. This heralds an ambitious policy which in isolation sounds perfect, but in tandem with other events may prove problematic.

 

We are living through unprecedented pace of change, and whilst the direction of travel towards a future of automation powered by machine learning is clear, the consequences – intended and unintended - are not.

 

In our human world we are striving for greater diversity, fairness and equality, but of course we all struggle with bias. With the wrong programming, a slight bias can become a much greater one, and when we have machines which become more intelligent than humans as we will in future, we need to hope that ethics and governance keeps pace with technology development.

 

Organisations across all sectors are grappling with the extent to which they employ assisted service to improve the communication they have with customers. Finding an equilibrium between human, machine and hybrid is a conundrum unless there is definitive comparative data.

 

This theme will form a core part of CCA’s 25th Annual Convention, where customer service professionals from across industries will gather to share ideas and best practice on this and an array of other CX-related topics. Visit our new Convention site for a look at what’s in store!

Have a great weekend!

Anne Marie