A robotic lawn mower
If you think you’ve finally gotten a handle on customer engagement, buckle up.
That’s because “automation is reshaping customer engagement,” according to a recent Forrester report on agents, bots, hardware robots and intelligent self-service solutions that will address customer-facing problems over the next 10 years. (Self-driving vehicles might also relate to customer engagement, such as with taxis or car services, but they were the subject of another recent report from Forrester.)
“Automation Technologies for Customer Engagement” gives the example of Dallas-based lawn care company Robin Technologies. Because lawn mowing is the least profitable of its offerings, it partnered with tech development firm Dialexa Labs to create a robotic lawn mowing device.
The device lives on the customer’s lawn, recharges from a base station, contains a GPS tracker and is restricted to the property via an installed wire perimeter. Robin handles maintenance, and the new product frees it to concentrate on more profitable lines of business.
Report author and Forrester Vice President J.P. Gownder sees automated solutions taking over a lot more than grass cutting. In fact, they appear destined to handle most — if not all — customer interactions, at least for initial touch points like phone calls or physical store assistance as soon as you walk through the door.
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