Artificial intelligence (AI) is augmenting the speed, efficiency and quality of human work. For companies involved in public-facing industries such as travel, education and healthcare, there is a major opportunity to leverage the latest advances in generative and conversational AI. These technologies can help  free up limited resources, allowing companies to reinvest in front-line services.

Customer engagement is one of the key areas where AI can add value. In a joint study by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) and Oxford Economics, over 1,000 respondents across 12 industries and 33 countries were surveyed. The results showed that 99% of survey participants reported an increase in customer satisfaction as a result of using virtual assistants.

Also, 96% of the respondents from the same survey group reported that their virtual assistants had exceeded, achieved or were expected to achieve the anticipated return on investment.

As more AI use cases emerge, the importance of AI ethics is also coming to the fore. In another IBV study, 85% of consumers said that they considered it important for organizations to factor in ethics as they use AI to tackle society’s problems. In the C-suite, ethics are an equally pressing concern. The number of executives who rank AI ethics as important has jumped from 50% to 75% in just 4 years.

There is growing consensus around how ethical AI technology can deliver substantial value for organizations in public-facing industries.

Realizing the promise of AI

As this research shows, companies that invest in designing, developing and customizing their virtual assistants can unlock significant value for their users—including customers, employees, trading partners and the public.

One example is Trinity ViaggiStudio (link resides outside ibm.com), a company specializing in international study holidays. Traveling to a different country and speaking in another language can be as daunting as it is exhilarating. The organization receives a flood of questions from students, parents and university staff as they research and prepare for their trips. Responding to these questions in a timely manner was stretching the Trinity ViaggiStudio team to its limits, until the company introduced AI to the equation.

By implementing an AI-powered virtual assistant powered by IBM® watsonx Assistant™, the organization has dramatically increased both responsiveness and customer satisfaction. The assistant, named Trinny, interacts with website visitors in real time, fielding 120 frequently asked questions in natural language. Today, the virtual assistant handles approximately 85% of all questions from website visitors, and Trinny’s ability to learn and improve over time means that this AI solution will deliver even more value for the organization as time goes on.

As Trinity ViaggiStudio has a large and dynamic client database, privacy was a key consideration when designing the AI solution. Working with IBM Business Partner® Ubico (link resides outside ibm.com), the organization designed the virtual assistant to process questions and answers anonymously and in compliance with the latest data protection regulations.

Reducing costs and freeing up resources

The IBV’s biennial survey on enterprise AI highlights that advanced adopters of the technology achieved proportionately more financial value from their investments than those who did not. In particular, the study found that AI is  valuable for enhancing customer engagement and maintaining operational flexibility. More than 85% of advanced adopters reported that they are reducing operating costs with AI.

In the healthcare sector, these types of savings are especially valuable, as human and financial capital can be redirected to other services. In the UK, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust (link resides outside ibm.com) delivers state-funded healthcare services to over one million local residents. To care for an aging population with increasingly complex care needs, the organization is continually searching for ways to manage workloads for clinicians and staff while improving patient experiences.

Working with IBM Business Partner SCC, UHCW piloted an AI-powered virtual assistant called People Assist to streamline its HR operations. Built in just seven weeks with IBM watsonx Assistant and trained using IBM watsonx.ai™, the AI solution uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to analyze the Trust’s policy documentation and present responses to the user. This capability provides instant self-service support across all channels and touchpoints.

Since People Assist was launched, the solution has had over 500 conversations with employees, answering questions on topics ranging from car parking to pensions to staff training. In total, UHCW estimates that the virtual assistant will save approximately 2,080 working days a year across several key departments.

Applying robust ethical principles

In highly regulated public-facing industries such as healthcare, the ethical use of AI is imperative. As AI technologies become more deeply embedded into day-to-day operations, it’s crucial to ensure that robust guardrails are in place. Research by the IBV and Oxford Economics shows that trustworthy AI is crucial for maintaining public confidence in the technology.

Here, too, the IBM watsonx™ platform is helping AI innovators make sure that their solutions meet strict ethical standards. In a joint project, Informed Genomics (link resides outside of ibm.com), a UK-based genomics pioneer,  ­and CanSense, an IBM Build Business Partner® and startup revolutionizing bowel cancer detection and treatment, are working together. They are bringing a pioneering AI-powered colorectal cancer screening solution to market.

Hosted in IBM Cloud®, the AI model behind the screening solution is monitored and managed using IBM watsonx.governance™. Using the platform, the team can track the health, accuracy and the potential for drift bias for their AI model, making it easier to demonstrate how the solution reaches its conclusions.

The potential benefits for the UK health system are substantial. By replacing today’s invasive and time-consuming diagnostics with a fast, simple and accurate blood test, the partnership anticipates that the solution will help physicians diagnose colorectal cancers faster. This solution will promote better outcomes and deliver cost savings of up to GBP 300 million a year for the NHS, which ultimately means better value for UK taxpayers.

Creating business value

An overwhelming number of the executives surveyed by IBV and Oxford Economics are convinced that AI assistants have been key to boosting customer satisfaction. According to the study, 3 in 4 executives see ethical use of AI as a source of competitive differentiation.

For organizations in public-facing industries, virtual assistants represent an enormous opportunity to free up people and resources and focus on delivering stakeholder value.