HFS Top 10: Digital Associates Services L Accenture
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HFS Top 10: Digital Associates Services Service provider solutions: using conversational tools for business outcomes Excerpt for Accenture January 2021 HFS Research author: Melissa O’Brien, VP Research “Taking a OneOffice approach to enterprise operations requires a shift to focus on both the human elements of business and intelligent technology to “support human experiences. We’ve been following the development of automated conversational tools and their role in this shift for several years, but this discussion has recently accelerated and matured. Advanced conversational tools in the enterprise are ‘digital associates’ that work for and with people to create better experiences, and focus on business outcomes, across their stakeholder ecosystems.” Melissa O’Brien, Research VP, HFS Page 2 © 2021, HFS Research Ltd Excerpt for Accenture 1 Introduction, methodology, and definitions 4 2 Executive summary 12 3 Top 10 results: Digital associates services 2020 15 4 Provider profile: Digital associates services 2020 19 5 About the author 22 Introduction, methodology, and definitions Introduction—What are digital associates, and why do they matter? ● Digital associates services are at the top of the building blocks of conversational tools, which are client-focused, use various pieces of the ecosystem, and are typically developed as part of a broader business or IT services relationship (as distinguished from the many products and platforms that are less customized). This is not about design and implementation only - but solutions that are embedded in management/BPO deals. Slide 6 provides an overview of the digital associates ecosystem. ● Why “digital associates”? – This report updates the Cognitive Assistant Services Top 10 of 2018. We have shifted the nomenclature for several reasons. First, the term “cognitive” is over-used and often a misnomer. Second, “cognitive” capabilities are not always necessary for effective business outcomes. ● Many of the enterprises we spoke to are building from the bottom up, seeking assistants with the potential to be more cognitive. At the moment, many solutions address more mundane and repetitive elements. ● There is a range in the sophistication of the conversational design and ability to incorporate AI and analytics. (See slide 8.) – Digital associates are an essential element of sharing information, insight, and, most importantly, communication between all of an organization’s stakeholders. They are an important tool in the OneOffice for enabling augmented employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX). (See slide 7.) ● For the HFS Top 10: Digital Associates Services report, we assessed 17 service providers for how well they are helping their clients embrace and realize results from deploying digital associates services in a wide array of business and IT functions. ● This report rates how well each provider performed across a defined series of execution, innovation, and voice of the customer criteria, showcasing the overall leaders and top 10 performers by sub-category. We’ve included detailed profiles on each provider showcasing their performance, strengths and development areas, and key facts. Page 5 © 2021, HFS Research Ltd Excerpt for Accenture The building blocks of service provider digital associates solutions Client-focused, using various pieces of the ecosystem and a combination of internal and partner tools, typically Service developed as part of a broader provider Service providers profiled in this business or IT services relationship solutions report, logos on slide 9 Focused on specific geographies, Niche vendors industries, or use cases Products and Broad-based packaged digital Enterprise software platforms * Levelcustomization of and associates products products (Profiled in separate specificity to industry or process or industry to specificity Top 10 report)** Primarily cloud providers focused on customizable NLU capabilities Developer-focused tools and and libraries platforms *Logos for illustrative purposes, not exhaustive **See Digital Associates Products Top 10 2020 Page 6 © 2021, HFS Research Ltd Excerpt for Accenture The digital workforce is a critical pillar of the HFS OneOffice™ Digital associates are a huge part of HFS’ OneOffice, particularly as it affects EX as part of the augmented workforce and CX across all of the elements of digital, touchless, personalized engagement. “Digital associates are augmenters of the human experience for both customers and employees. The more sophisticated (and embedded) they become, the more value they add to a OneOffice experience and mindset.” —Phil Fersht, Founder and CEO, HFS Research Page 7 © 2021, HFS Research Ltd Excerpt for Accenture Digital associates are the hottest emerging form of HFS’ Triple-A Trifecta value ● HFS developed the Triple-A Trifecta to provide a framework that unifies how digital transformation change agents work together to deliver business outcomes. The Trifecta consists of automation, Exponential smart analytics, and artificial intelligence. Two critical points to note are Automation value – The Trifecta elements intersect with each other. While each element of the Trifecta has a potential distinct value proposition (automation drives efficiency, smart analytics improves decision- • Superpower: Increases making, and AI solves business problems), there is increasing convergence between the efficiency and productivity three elements. For instance, smart analytics are increasingly reliant on AI tools such as • Tech examples: RPA, RDA, natural language processing (NLP) to conduct search-driven analytics, neural networks for data exploration, and learning algorithms to build predictive models. BPM, scripts, macros, rules – The Trifecta is nonlinear and without a definite starting point. Transformation is not a linear engines, low code/no code progression. Enterprises can start anywhere across the Trifecta. It is not necessary to start development platforms with basic automation and then advance to AI-based automation. However, it is critical to understand the business problem that you are trying to solve and then apply the relevant value lever or a combination of value levers. ● All of the above applies to the development of digital associates. Not all of the use cases we reviewed for this report fully leverage the potential value of all three elements, but, as an ideal, digital associates will have a fundamental capability of all three. Analytics AI – Automation: Even the most simplistic rules-based chatbots are automation tools aimed at • Superpower: Improves • Superpower: Solves increasing efficiency. decision making business problems – AI: More sophisticated conversational chatbots will leverage NLP (natural language processing) to improve the user experience, to handle more complicated customer queries, • Tech examples: Data • Tech examples: and to understand intent or informal language. ingestion, reporting and Machine learning, – Analytics: Often, digital associates will leverage embedded analytics to help with visualization, predictive computer vision, natural personalization or aid in decision making, for example, when a live sales or customer service and prescriptive modeling, language processing, agent uses a DA to determine the next best action or what product to cross-sell or up-sell to decision support, process digital associates, deep a customer. intelligence learning Digital associates that make use of all three legs of the Trifecta stool are better poised to be power-packed tools for solving business problems. Page 8 © 2021, HFS Research Ltd Excerpt for Accenture Service providers covered in this report Page 9 © 2021, HFS Research Ltd Excerpt for Accenture Sources of data This report relied on myriad data sources to support our methodology and help HFS obtain a well-rounded perspective on the digital associates capabilities of each of the 17 service providers covered in our study. Sources are as follows: RFIs and briefings Reference checks HFS surveys Other data sources • RFIs—Each participating • We conducted reference • Each year, HFS fields multiple • Public information such as vendor completed a detailed checks with 43 active clients demand-side surveys in which press releases and web sites. RFI. of the study participants via we include vendor rating • Ongoing interactions, • Vendor briefings—HFS detailed phone-based questions. For this study, we briefings, virtual events, etc., interviews. drew on more than 2,100 with in-scope vendors and conducted briefings with their clients and partners. executives from each vendor. vendor ratings from 2020 enterprise demand-side surveys. Page 10 © 2021, HFS Research Ltd Excerpt for Accenture How we assessed providers for the digital associates services Top 10 We assessed and analyzed each of the criteria outlined below specific to digital associates’ offerings Execution—33% Scale and maturity (33%) Breadth of services (33%) Delivery capabilities (33%) • Clients—number and scope of relationship • Global presence for digital associates (consumption) • Flexibility and ease to work with • Revenues • Services functions and use cases • Use of digital associates internally • Headcount • Industries served • Talent and resources Innovation—33% Vision and roadmap (33%) Design for business outcomes (33%) Technology enablement (33%) • Growth • Design capabilities • Cultivation of proprietary IP • Thought leadership • Co-innovation and collaboration approaches • Use of partners to develop digital associates • Investment in R&D • Delivery of business outcomes