High-touch, multichannel engagement is within every brand’s reach, but it requires putting AI in the driver’s seat. Want to learn what’s truth, what’s fiction — and most importantly, how to even start applying AI powered marketing for notable returns? Don’t miss this VB Live event featuring Rusty Warner, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research.

Access this VB Live event on demand right here.

Every day consumers engage with brands digitally, which means customer data has gone from megabytes and gigabytes to terabytes and petabytes. Every click, every like, every search updates a user’s personal information, and with AI, all this knowledge can actually be put to work for you, and used to powerful effect on the customer experience. And that’s more essential than ever.

“We really have begun to be very discerning consumers, because we know that the world is our market,” says Rusty Warner, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. “And when brands don’t deliver, it’s very easy for us to look for alternatives.”

Consumers get greater buying power, but brands need to step up their game to win in those customer moments of need, offering contextually relevant information that solves a problem or meets a desire.

“The ability to do that goes beyond the traditional marketing capabilities,” Warner says. “We’ve all invested a great deal in digital technologies, but they’re really not able to scale to the level of sophistication required to manage personalized offers and communications in this cross-channel world where we are reacting to a customer-initiated interactions more than relying on marketing on a schedule.”

But it’s too easy for organizations to leap without looking.

“Even though I’m a technologist, I recommend that organizations start with a strategy for what they’re trying to accomplish, and how it will deliver business results,” Warner says. “Look at the organization and determine how ready the organization is to get value from the technology investment. And then look for technology that can solve the problem at hand instead of making a technology investment — and then going to look for a problem to solve.”

Above all, that means going beyond being customer-obsessed, and becoming customer-led instead.

“I know all brands will say that they are customer-aware and that they are doing things to serve their customers, but we need to kick that up a notch so that we’re making decisions based on customer behavior — and so our investments are being driven by that customer behavior,” he says. “We have to leverage all of the data that our customers and their interactions are generating, and become insights-driven when we are led by our customers.”

When you get it right, he adds, it will make you more efficient, it will make the organization smarter, it will make you quicker. And as you mature in using the technology, you will begin to optimize the organization and improve your performance. More importantly, you’ll be able to meet those rising customer expectations when it comes to what those customers are looking for.

“So the question for you is, are you ready?” Warner says. “If you’re thinking about AI, are you looking at your strategy? Are you looking at the problem that you are trying to solve and how AI might help? Have you looked at the organization to see if the culture and the processes are ready, and if you’ve got the right blend of skill sets so that the people on your teams can collaborate to get value from AI?”

To find out just how ready you really are, and what it takes to get there, join Forrester, VentureBeat, and Blueshift in this frank discussion on AI, customer data, and cross-channel marketing. You’ll walk away with a solid understanding of what it takes to develop the right processes, people, and game plan.