8DECEMBER 2021IN MY OPINIONBy Jess O'Reilly, Regional Vice President, Marketing Cloud, Asia, Salesforce [NYSE: CRM]HOW AI AND DATA WILL HELP CMOS PUT CUSTOMERS AT THE FOREFRONTCMOs looking to get ahead and stand out from competition need to be able to prescribe a hyper-personalized journey and experience for each of their customer­whether they have just 10 or 10 million. But how do they realistically scale customer experience to the millions?AI and machine learningThis is where artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning enter the picture. These technologies, as well as data and predictive analysis, will be a CMO's best partner at work. Consumers have experienced AI-powered marketing done right ­ they now expect personalized experiences to be the baseline, not a bonus.Today's companies face a pressing mandate to create connected experiences, with seven in 10 customers across the world saying connected processes, such as seamless handoffs or contextualized engagement based on earlier interactions, are very important to winning their business.In Asia, 52 percent of customers stop buying from a company because they get a better experience with a competitor. At the same time, 57 percent of Singaporean customers and 53 percent of those in Hong Kong said AI is transforming their expectations of companies.Driving real impactCMOs are now in a prime position to advocate for and extend the use of marketing technologies beyond their own function within the company to drive real impact and business ROI. With AI image recognition embedded in software for sales, service and marketing, brands can go above and beyond to enhance customer experience.With the region's openness towards chatbots--three in five would consider using one--it opens up opportunities for brands to add value to their services and boost customer experience, particularly among millennials as a target audience who tend to be more tech-savvy. For instance, an airline's AI-powered social media dashboard can pick up that a fallen tree
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