Can digital conversations help disaster-proof your business?

“The only thing certain in life is uncertainty.” This quote has been attributed to everyone from Pliny the Elder to John F. Kennedy, which means it’s probably been around longer than recorded history and reflects a fundamental truth about how we live. It’s also a fundamental truth about how we work.

Uncertainty can take many forms, from natural disasters and violence, to supply chain disruptions and software outages. Most recently, the CrowdStrike outage caught the world’s attention when it brought travel to a halt, knocked out TV channels, and even paused surgeries and other medical procedures around the globe. While this was a dramatic reminder that uncertainty could plague our businesses, it’s hardly the first time this has happened, and certainly it won’t be the last. In just the last five years, we’ve seen massive Alphabet outages, watched live cams of frantic efforts to clear the Suez Canal, and experienced the unprecedented impact of COVID-19.

Strikingly, KPMG predicts that “2024 will continue to be a year of more frequent disruptions…from labor, geopolitics, cyber attacks and climate change.” If disruption has become our new normal, what can we possibly do to “disaster-proof” our businesses today?

The fact is, we as business leaders simply can’t plan for every uncertainty, let alone the tremendous disruptions that seem to characterize modern life. However, we can take action to ensure that we’re as well-protected as possible. One of the most important parts of our businesses to protect is our relationships with our customers.

Digital-first customer service

Let’s step back for a moment and remember (I know it’s painful) the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Customer service departments were inundated with requests, cancellations, and pleas to help navigate a crisis that simultaneously shut down the very call centers tasked with responding to them. For many enterprises—ranging from telecommunications to financial institutions and airlines—text-based conversations became a lifeline. As they were forced to shut down call centers and transition to remote work, messaging allowed these businesses to continue serving their customers without missing a beat.

For those businesses that were not yet up to speed with messaging and other digital-first customer service channels, the pandemic was a crash course in its importance. They quickly learned the value of customer conversation analytics, the necessity of expanding to more than one digital channel, and the benefits of incorporating automation and AI to enhance the customer experience. Messaging provided a cost-effective way to answer customer questions, leading to a more convenient and satisfying experience for customers while alleviating pressure on call center agents who were often pushed to the brink.

AI can help with chat

Fast forward to today, and digital conversations remain as crucial a resiliency backstop as ever. During the recent CrowdStrike outage, messaging served as a critical support for some brands that had prioritized customer care through digital channels. Delta, for instance, was praised on social media for providing “the most caring professional support via their customer service chat.”

Amidst all the chaos @Delta is experiencing these days, I have to say that I have received the most caring professional support via their customer service chat 💬 Thanks so much 💕#DeltaAirlines #DeltaCustomerService #Delta @DeltaNewsHub pic.twitter.com/R40PL5g5uu— Dr. Marta Silva (@MSilvaSerrano) July 24, 2024

Amidst all the chaos @Delta is experiencing these days, I have to say that I have received the most caring professional support via their customer service chat 💬 Thanks so much 💕#DeltaAirlines #DeltaCustomerService #Delta @DeltaNewsHub pic.twitter.com/R40PL5g5uu

Moreover, unlike during the pandemic, we now have generative AI at our disposal, adding a new level of power to conversational experiences. This technology can be leveraged both on the backend to support agents with recommendations and suggested language to respond to customers, and on the frontend directly conversing with customers.

If we break down the silos to connect traditional voice-based customer care experiences with resilient digital conversations—and layer in the power of new AI tools—we as business leaders can leverage the strengths of all the channels available to us without ever losing touch with our most important stakeholders: our customers. While digital conversations alone may not completely “disaster-proof” a business, businesses that think seriously about how it as a tool for resiliency will be well-equipped to deal with a world that is certainly uncertain.

Ruth Zive is chief marketing officer at LivePerson and host of the Generation AI podcast.