Artificial Intelligence in Customer-Facing Industries
A special issue of AI (ISSN 2673-2688).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 39204
Special Issue Editors
Interests: big data; retail; artificial intelligence; machine learning; information systems
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Following public media, professional journals, and the scientific discussion, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the omnipresent topic of today and seems to become integrated into every part of everyday life sooner than later. Yet, most companies do not even use digital interaction with their customers. In reality, recent studies discovered that 91 percent of business leaders still expect their businesses to see obstacles to the realization of AI*.
However, AI has already changed how customers interact with brands, products, and services. Consider the increase in chatbots and virtual assistants, both of which improve the customization and overall experience of companies (today mainly driven by the innovation of the big tech companies). Three major buzzwords are leading the discussion when it comes to the application of AI for customers: advanced analytics, conversational AI, and robotics.
Advanced Analytics
To deliver a positive customer experience, organizations must maintain a holistic view and ensure that every interaction is consistent across all interaction points in real time. Consolidating data from all customer contact points is an integrated way to map customer behavior patterns, which should be analyzed as quickly and accurately as possible. Based on the integrated data, an interface to the customer, sometimes referred to “Analytical Face”, can be established to understand current customer actions, anticipate future customer needs, and initiate corresponding actions.
Conversational AI
Chatbots have found an enormous interest in recent years. Personal language assistants like Siri or Alexa accompany many people’s everyday life. Artificial intelligence is increasingly changing customer service: Where a consultant used to take care of the customer's wishes, with AI, this experience can be shifted to a personal and automated manner.
Robotics
AI also allows automating task and shifting human work towards machines. Some retailers are already using humanoid robots in their stores. The robot serves the customer as a contact person for simple questions and information or can fetch goods from the warehouse.
This Special Issue on “Artificial Intelligence in Customer-Facing Industries” calls for manuscripts proposing methods of Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL), new approaches, and applications that are facing direct customer interaction in several industries (from retail/trade, tourism to entertainment).
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Human–computer interaction;
- Natural language processing;
- Conversational AI;
- Customer-facing robotics;
- Application of AI, ML, and DL in transportation/logistics to the end-user;
- Application of AI, ML, and DL in marketing;
- Application of AI, ML, and DL in sales;
- Application of AI, ML, and DL in customer services;
- AI/ML/DL for optimization and personalization;
- Advanced analytics;
- Customer-facing applications, methods, and tools enabled by AI/ML/DL.
Dr. Felix Weber
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Schütte
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. AI is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
