In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, customer experience has become a crucial factor in the success of any startup organization. With the advent of artificial intelligence, businesses now have access to a wide range of tools and techniques to enhance their CX and customer support capabilities. But how can businesses evaluate where they stand in terms of implementing AI into their customer support strategies?To shed some light on this topic, we sat down with Craig Stoss, the Director of CX Services at PartnerHero. Craig is a veteran CX professional with extensive experience in the field of AI and technology. In our conversation, he shared his insights on the current AI landscape and how businesses can successfully incorporate it into their support strategies. During our discussion, Craig emphasized the importance of assessing your organization's readiness for AI implementation. This includes evaluating your current infrastructure, data, and resources, as well as identifying any potential roadblocks that could hinder successful implementation. Craig also highlighted the importance of choosing the right AI tools and techniques to suit your specific business needs and goals.But AI implementation is not a one-time event; it requires ongoing monitoring and adjustment to ensure continued success. Craig stressed the importance of continuous testing and evaluation of AI-powered CX and customer support solutions to identify areas of improvement and address any issues that arise.In addition, we also had the pleasure of having ChatGPT the large language model trained by OpenAI, provide insightful commentary and add to the discussion.TimestampsQuote Highlights "I would argue that if AI fulfills the promises of doing the research part of a job for you, so understanding the industry, understanding the technical nature of the problem, doing that pattern recognition, data analysis for you, then the softer skills become much more important to focus on because the human element is now that differentiator. And that is the difference I would see happening." "We need to focus more on critical thinking, and we have to also, especially with the use of AI, start to understand what the guidance AI gives us means. Do we just blindly accept what the AI says, or do we have to apply a critical layer, a human layer to that?" "Customers are now becoming frustrated when the support agent is following a scripted response or triaging that doesn't make sense or doesn't even have the ability to provide contextual support. So the perception of support professionals has already changed and I do see that continuing. We need to focus more on critical thinking and we also have to, especially with the use of AI, start to understand what the guidance AI gives us means."