In the final season of the NBC sitcom “Superstore,” employees at a fictional big-box retailer realize they need to elevate their customer service to stop their location from being shut down by corporate during a shift to online sales. Although a fictional storyline, the episode satirizes a significant challenge faced by current retailers: how can companies retain customer loyalty and differentiate their online experience in an increasingly digital environment?

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the online trend that has fundamentally changed the way people shop. Many consumers have shifted to purchasing everything from household staples to clothing and gifts through online retailers. With an increasingly digital customer experience (CX), companies are rethinking the way they meet consumer needs. Digital sales and remote workforces complicate CX delivery and present challenges for companies hoping to stand out in the diverse landscape of e-commerce.

In what is being termed retail’s “second digital transformation,” companies realize that it is no longer enough to simply provide an online shopping platform. Instead, CX is what will differentiate companies in the future and drive customer loyalty and satisfaction.

To help meet the modern CX needs of companies, Google Cloud recently announced an expansion of its strategic partnership with Genesys, a company focusing on cloud and CX. Together, the companies will use Genesys’ CX expertise and the AI and machine learning capabilities of Google Cloud to develop AI-driven CX applications.

“Today’s consumers expect instant and exceptional service experiences at the click of a mouse or tap of a smartphone,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. “Partnering with Genesys will help build the future of digital customer service, as businesses and service teams bring together artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics to deliver the best possible outcomes for consumers.”

A recent Talkdesk report summarized an  October 2020 survey of retail professionals and consumers across global markets. The report found that customer expectations for digital CX continue to increase as satisfaction with current platforms plummets. The survey found that 58 percent of customers felt their most recent online retail experience was not personalized to their needs. Most customers (68%) also reported that a single adverse experience with customer service would negatively impact their loyalty to a company.

AI will play a critical role in this transition to cloud-based contact centers. AI will help automate manual and straightforward tasks, allowing CX agents to focus on more complex issues. Beyond the resolution of routine problems, companies can also use AI to personalize CX with recommendations and tailored interactions. Of the CX professionals surveyed, 75 percent said that AI would be necessary for innovating the online experience of consumers.

A 2021 Genesys report on the current state of CX found that the most common strategic priority for CX teams was using data and AI to personalize services. This was followed closely by a strategic priority of enhancing data analytics to gain real-time insights into CX.

“Consumers have the authority to instantly change the trajectory of an organization’s future and an industry’s relevancy,” said Tony Bates, CEO and chairman of Genesys. “To thrive in this new customer-led landscape, companies must deliver the personalized experiences people want. Google is a pioneer in deep consumer knowledge and partnering with such an innovator will be a true game-changer for customers and employees around the world.”

Genesys will offer a private edition of its Multicloud CX on Google Cloud to offer a secure and scalable platform for companies delivering comprehensive CX. This expansion of the two companies’ multiyear partnership will further develop AI and machine learning applications as well as data analytics to deliver next-generation CX services. The partnership combines Genesys’ extensive experience in CX with Google Cloud’s AI and data analytics capabilities. Both teams are working to improve customer journeys, automate customer service, integrate AI into multi-factor authentication, and find new ways to integrate conversational channels into CX by leveraging Google services like Maps and Search.

Within Google Cloud, Genesys will also take advantage of the platform’s Contact Center AI, BigQuery and Kubernetes Engine. With a Chrome extension, Genesys makes it possible for companies to access CX solutions directly through Chrome OS. Using the extension, customer service agents can access Genesys tools on any web page, helping them to expedite the delivery of information and solutions to consumers.

The basic architecture of the Multicloud CX private edition platform utilizes three different levels. A unit includes all the Genesys and third-party services required to create a single service instance hosted within a single region or data center. A unit group then brings together a network of individual units to create a platform covering all geographic regions. Finally, a unit pair, which naturally includes two units, is included as part of a larger group located in a specific region. The platform is optimized to deliver a highly available and resilient infrastructure, whether deployed in the cloud or hosted in a private data center.

Multicloud CX services must be run in Kubernetes (GKE), but any third-party service can be run either outside or within the engine. With GKE, real-time and historical data can be used to inform maintenance, control and customization across cloud environments.

Genesys recommends deploying GKE using node pools, including general node pools to deploy most of the Multicloud CX services and real-time node pools to deploy voice services.

Woolworths is a large food retailer in Australia that transformed its CX using Genesys and Google Cloud services. The grocery giant integrated the Genesys platform with Google Cloud Dialogflow to create a virtual assistant named “Olive.”

Using conversational AI, Olive is a smart interactive voice response (IVR) tool that provides comprehensive customer assistance. Woolworths also used Genesys’ open APIs to create a custom smart search feature that allows shoppers to voice their concerns to Olive. The IVR then cross-checks the concern. If applicable, the tool can process a refund and even text customers to confirm any changes.

“We’ve seen a massive shift to online shopping since the pandemic, creating rapid growth in interactions with our contact centers,” said Alex Colorado, engineering manager, Conversational AI at Woolworths. “To help our contact centers manage the influx of calls and chats, we developed our voicebot, Olive, by integrating the Genesys platform with Google Cloud Dialogflow. Having conversational AI capabilities enables us to be more customer-focused so that we can interact with our customers in whatever way feels natural to them.”

Retailers will need to differentiate their online shopping platforms through exceptional CX and rapid resolution of consumers’ problems. AI can help automate routine and mundane CX to allow customer service agents to focus on complex issues. However, most retail companies lack the resources to develop custom AI tools to support their in-house CX. With platforms like Genesys Multicloud CX, companies can take advantage of Google’s AI and data analytics innovations to deliver customer service. In the future, it will be interesting to see how companies diversify their approach to AI-driven CX solutions, by including IVR and chatbots, to stand out in an already saturated online retail environment.