A coffee with… David Morton, chief revenue & customer officer, HGS UK

As chief revenue and customer officer at autonomous customer experience firm HGS, David Morton sets and delivers strategic growth for the business, and ensures HGS is aligned with its client’s goals.

HGS is a digital customer experience firm that offers its clients, automation, chatbots, and real-life IT experts. As customer experience, its clients cover many industries such as, but not limited to, agriculture, gaming, and food and beverage giants.

It’s predicted that 95% of customer interactions could be AI-powered by 2025, but how can this be done with customer happiness in mind? Morton has the answers.

What is your zone of interest?

Of course, within our industry, digital transformation — including artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, and automation — is front of mind. However, I also like to keep it simple. I always deliver what was promised, building great relationships and providing value to our customers — these are my core principles.

Without that solid foundation, how can you expect your clients to trust you to deliver more complex solutions which could quite feasibly be business-affecting within the client’s world? Given we have established trusted relationships, my team is subsequently equipped and supported to have more meaningful client conversations. They should be provided with the time to understand more about our client’s business, their specific vertical markets, their competitors, and the future direction of travel that is likely to come to the fore.

Having a good understanding of those technologies which purport to deliver increased efficiency, reduce costs, and optimise processes is always of interest. However, my specific focus will always be on the ‘so what’. I look at what the deliverable, measurable outcomes are, as well as the ROIs that those solutions have proven to deliver — not just the marketing collateral, which talks to the art of the possible.

How are chatbots changing customer experience?

Are they changing, or have they already changed customer experience? In 1966, when Joseph Weizenbaum created the first chatbot ELIZA, did he ever consider the industry that he might have created? Leaping forward to 2011 and the launch of SIRI and the now global proliferation of that technology, SIRI is nothing but a virtual assistant, which is essentially a chatbot. Used wisely, with foresight, great technology and back-office integration, chatbots have proven to be a great tool.

Nevertheless, when deployed tactically, simply to take out costs, chatbots are the frustration of many. Chatbots are but one of many automation solutions which are fundamentally changing the CX space.

Will they take over human customer support? How should businesses handle this?

To a degree, yes. There are clear benefits to deploying automation solutions, including chatbots, with some organisations choosing to fully automate their customer interactions and others considering automation as one element of a customer journey. For instance, a simple transactional processing, such as the balance of an account.

For more complex interactions like mortgage applications, then for some, a fully automated interaction is acceptable, whilst for others, a human-in-the-loop interaction is more appropriate. Brands need to carefully consider when and where to deploy such technology solutions, what the expected outcomes are, and what benefit it delivers to the customer.

What is your ideal experience with chatbots and humans when making a customer request?

Firstly, allow me to have a fully automated transition should I choose. Secondly, allow me to have a conversation with an expert via my channel of choice when I want. Thirdly, allow me to transcend channels (i.e. an initial digital automation journey into a voice or video call with all data transferred) when required. Finally, ensure that the entire process is seamless, with next-best-action solutions, a 360-degree view of me as a customer and the ability to complete my journey with minimal effort.

Whilst this process might look a little like a unicorn for many, it is eminently doable and should be ‘business as usual’ as opposed to the ‘ideal’.

How do you recharge your batteries during the working day besides caffeine?

Well, firstly, I’m a significant coffee consumer… double shot, extra hot, flat white! But when I’m not working or drinking coffee, I love to spend my time decompressing with either road biking, mountain biking, skiing, climbing, or running. As an ex-royal marine commando, I do love to challenge myself and pretend that I’ve still got it!