Editorial
The Gist
- Cultural insight. Cultural intelligence and CX go hand-in-hand, especially in Seychelles, where human connection is prized over technology.
- Dubai's approach. Dubai's "gold standard" of CX emphasizes human-led service supported by tech, valuing empathy and creativity.
- Tech balance. The careful blend of automation and human interaction is vital for a satisfying and memorable customer experience.
As many of you know, I’m blessed to be able to travel the world and experience so many different cultures along the way, and one of the aspects I appreciate the most is how cultural intelligence and CX go together. As I have spoken about so many times before, I believe that human connection is the No. 1 way to provide the best customer experience possible as it’s often the most memorable and the most natural. In my travels, I’ve seen where replacing humans with robotics and AI has been beneficial — but also where it has the potential to go horribly wrong, not just for a business, but for an entire culture.
Below are three different (personal) experiences from around the world that, I hope, will give you pause in rethinking how your own customer experience strategy is approached — especially in an evolving world where organizations are doing their darnedest to focus on quantity vs. quality.
Cultural Intelligence and CX: The Seychelles Where Connection Dominates
In May, our travels took us far away to East Africa, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, to the Seychelles, a chain of islands where island life thrives. It’s a place where internet exists (on some of the islands), but technology does not overrun the country at all.
Our orientation guide (who spent more time with us than probably allotted) told us that Seychelles is a community where people thrive on supporting one another, rather than being consumed by technology. She said that while technology does exist on the islands, generations have maintained their community culture, which is largely intact. When I asked her why she got into hospitality, she explained that besides being the No. 1 industry on the islands, her deep curiosity about people from around the world played a part—a curiosity many on the island share since many never leave. She went on to say that the more she talked about her home country, the prouder she felt about being Seychellois. It was a sentiment I could feel emanating from her as well, and it definitely forged a connection between us.
Lesson Learned: To me, this is a fantastic example of how human pride can motivate and inspire others, creating deeper connections. It seems simple to incorporate into customer experience (CX), yet it's hard to achieve. Why? Pride stems from a belief in what we do and the organization we support, along with a desire to motivate and inspire others. As technology continues to integrate into everything we do, we may feel this less, leading to a higher churn rate among customers who desire a human connection to keep their account alive.
Related Article: Cultural Intelligence Improves the Customer Experience
Cultural Intelligence and CX: Dubai CX Is Led by Humans, Supported by Tech
If you have been to Dubai, you know that the “gold standard” of customer experience is created there, along with utilizing tech to enhance experiences, not overtake them. Never have I been to a city more entrenched in customer experience than this one. Have you ever been to a place where you never have to touch a door handle because someone is there to do it for you? That was every mall, hotel, restaurant and store that we went into. And it was done with a smile and a warm greeting. That is far more memorable than say, a door sensor that opens the door automatically. Need directions within the mall? No need to touch a map — the information staff are everywhere and are happy to either give you directions or escort you to your destination, personally.
My fiancé and I ended up chatting with a hotel valet about his experience moving from Ghana to Dubai to learn the inner workings of the hospitality industry and what he said was, “If you are hired into any hospitality role in Dubai, you feel blessed to be there. We all love meeting new people and providing services to them.” He also noted that unless you have the means to not work, absolutely everyone who lives in Dubai has employment opportunity.
In doing some research about whether humans would be replaced by robotics and AI in the Middle East, I came across a study done by PWC, published March 4, 2023, titled, “Workforce of the Future Middle East Edition.” Out of the whole report, there’s one statistic that stood out: 88% of those surveyed, “… highly value, develop and reward ‘human’ skills such as leadership, creativity, empathy and curiosity.” In fact, this was the No. 1 critical capability listed for the workforce of the future in the Middle East.
Lesson Learned: A strong sense of cultural intelligence demands that a customer experience starts and ends with humans.
Related Article: 3 Ways Diversity Improves the Customer Experience
How People Exhaustion Paved the Way for Tech to Intercede
About three-and-a-half weeks into our travels, we had been to the aforementioned places, along with Amsterdam, Haarlem, Luxembourg, Paris and Antwerp. Needless to say, we had been around hundreds of thousands of people and my “patience with people meter” was running a little low, yet we still had Hamburg, Bremen, Helsinki and Tampere to go.
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By the time we got to Hamburg, I was eager for non-human contact in food delivery, self-checkout lines, and a TV full of channels. I became that introvert who wanted to minimize public interaction for the rest of the trip. That's when it struck me: THIS is why technology has advanced in customer experience — why chatbots, advanced search capabilities, and other AI-driven methods exist — to reduce people exhaustion as much as possible. However, we've swung so far in the other direction that now, we're starting to struggle against the very thing we created to help us.
Lesson Learned: When it comes to cultural intelligence and CX, support practitioners understand there's a delicate balance between automating processes to preserve the human workforce and eliminating that workforce to save money. While we may be exhausted from working hard and managing various personalities all day, it's our responsibility to provide customers with a memorable experience that blends automation and human interaction seamlessly. This approach helps maintain relationships, keep annual recurring revenue (ARR) at a premium, and ensures that our employees remain employed and happy.
By the time my fiancé and I returned from this extensive "world tour," we were inspired to apply our lessons in cultural intelligence and CX to our own businesses. We carefully considered how to better blend the technology that assists us in making agile decisions with the personal effort required to keep customers engaged. As a result, we've transformed our business practices into something we can not only be proud of but something our customers are proud to be a part of.
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