Latest news with #WilliamONeill
Khaleej Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Nearly half of UAE consumers feel AI not meeting their customer service expectations
More than half (54 per cent) of UAE consumers say that failing to understand emotional cues is more of an AI trait than human, a study showed. According to research by ServiceNow, the AI platform for business transformation, Despite rapid advancements in AI and its widespread use in customer service, UAE consumers overwhelmingly (at least 68 per cent) prefer to interact with people for customer support. ServiceNow's Consumer Voice Report 2025 surveyed 17,000 adults across 13 countries in EMEA — including 1000 in the UAE — and explores consumer expectations when it comes to AI's role in customer experience (CX). Based on the findings of the research, the perceived lack of AI's general emotional intelligence (EQ) is a critical factor in shaping consumer sentiment in this regard. Fifty one per cent feel agents having a limited understanding of context is more likely to be AI; and an equal number say misunderstanding slang, idioms and informal language is more likely AI. Meanwhile, nearly two thirds (64 per cent) of UAE consumers feel repetitive or scripted responses are more of an AI trait. 'The key takeaway for business leaders is that AI can no longer be just another customer service tool – it has to be an essential partner to the human agent. The future of customer relationships now lies at the intersection of AI and emotional intelligence (EQ). Consumers no longer want AI that just gets the job done; they want AI that understands them,' commented William O'Neill, Area VP, UAE at ServiceNow. High stakes, low trust The report also highlights a clear AI trust gap, particularly for urgent or complex requests. UAE consumers embrace AI for speed and convenience in low-risk/routine tasks — 23 per cent of UAE consumers trust an AI chatbot for scheduling a car service appointment and 24 per cent say they are happy to use an AI chatbot for tracking a lost or delayed package. However, when it comes to more sensitive or urgent tasks, consumer confidence in AI drops. Only 13 per cent would trust AI to dispute a suspicious transaction on their bank account with 43 per cent instead preferring to handle this in-person. Similarly, when it comes to troubleshooting a home internet issue, only 20 per cent of consumers across the Emirates are happy to rely on an AI chatbot, with 50 per cent preferring to troubleshoot the issue with someone on the phone. Humans and AI For all the frustrations with AI — almost half (47 per cent) of UAE consumers say their customer service interactions with AI chatbots have not met their expectations — the research does suggest that consumers consider AI as crucial for organizations looking to deliver exceptional customer experiences. For one, in addition to seamless service (90 per cent), quick response times (89 per cent) and accurate information (88 per cent), more than three quarter (76 per cent) of UAE consumers expect the organizations they deal with to provide a good chatbot service. But perhaps more interestingly, 85 per cent of consumers across the Emirates expect the option for self-service problem solving, which does indicate the need for organizations to integrate AI insights and data analysis into service channels to anticipate customer needs before they arise. 'While AI in customer service is currently falling short of consumer expectations, it is not failing. Rather, it is evolving. There is an opportunity for businesses to refine AI by empowering it with the right information, making it more adaptive, emotionally aware, and seamlessly integrated with human agents to take/recommend the next best action and deliver unparalleled customer relationships,' added O'Neill. 'Consumers do not want less AI – they want AI that works smarter. By understanding the biggest pain points, companies can make AI a trusted ally rather than a frustrating barrier.'
Arabian Business
28-05-2025
- Business
- Arabian Business
UAE consumers say AI customer service fails to meet expectations: Report
Forty-seven per cent of UAE consumers report AI chatbots fail to meet customer service expectations, with emotional intelligence gaps driving preference for human interaction, a new report finds. The ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2025, released on 27 May 2025, surveyed 17,000 adults across 13 countries in EMEA, including 1,000 respondents in the UAE. The report examines consumer expectations regarding AI's role in customer experience. UAE consumers prefer human support UAE consumers show a preference for human interaction in customer support, with at least 68 per cent favouring people over AI systems. The research attributes this preference to perceived limitations in AI's emotional intelligence. William O'Neill, Area VP, UAE at ServiceNow, said: 'The key takeaway for business leaders is that AI can no longer be just another customer service tool – it has to be an essential partner to the human agent. The future of customer relationships now lies at the intersection of AI and emotional intelligence (EQ). Consumers no longer want AI that just gets the job done; they want AI that understands them.' The survey findings highlight specific areas where consumers perceive AI limitations: 54 per cent of UAE consumers identify failure to understand emotional cues as an AI trait rather than human 51 per cent believe limited understanding of context characterises AI more than humans 51 per cent consider misunderstanding slang, idioms and informal language typical of AI 64 per cent associate repetitive or scripted responses with AI systems Consumer trust in AI demonstrates clear patterns based on task complexity and sensitivity. For routine, low-risk activities, UAE consumers show acceptance of AI assistance: 23 per cent trust AI chatbots for scheduling car service appointments 24 per cent accept AI chatbots for tracking lost or delayed packages However, confidence drops for sensitive or urgent matters: Only 13 per cent would trust AI to dispute suspicious bank transactions, with 43 per cent preferring in-person handling 20 per cent accept AI chatbots for troubleshooting home internet issues, whilst 50 per cent prefer phone support with human agents Despite frustrations with current AI performance, UAE consumers consider AI essential for organisations delivering customer experiences. The research identifies key expectations: 90 per cent expect seamless service 89 per cent require quick response times 88 per cent demand accurate information 76 per cent expect organisations to provide chatbot services 85 per cent want self-service problem-solving options O'Neill added: 'While AI in customer service is currently falling short of consumer expectations, it is not failing. Rather, it is evolving. There is an opportunity for businesses to refine AI by empowering it with the right information, making it more adaptive, emotionally aware, and seamlessly integrated with human agents to take/recommend the next best action and deliver unparalleled customer relationships. Consumers do not want less AI – they want AI that works smarter. By understanding the biggest pain points, companies can make AI a trusted ally rather than a frustrating barrier.'
Tahawul Tech
27-05-2025
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
UAE consumers believe that AI is not meeting their customer service expectations
ServiceNow, the AI platform for business transformation, has released the ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2025. Now in its third year, the report, which surveyed 17,000 adults across 13 countries in EMEA — including 1000 in the UAE — explores consumer expectations when it comes to AI's role in customer experience (CX). Need to put the EQ in AI Despite rapid advancements in AI and its widespread use in customer service, UAE consumers overwhelmingly (at least 68%) prefer to interact with people for customer support. Based on the findings of the research, this can be attributed to the perceived lack of AI's general emotional intelligence (EQ). More than half (54%) of UAE consumers say that failing to understand emotional cues is more of an AI trait than human; 51% feel agents having a limited understanding of context is more likely to be AI; and an equal number (51%) say misunderstanding slang, idioms and informal language is more likely AI. Meanwhile, nearly two thirds (64%) of UAE consumers feel repetitive or scripted responses are more of an AI trait. 'The key takeaway for business leaders is that AI can no longer be just another customer service tool – it has to be an essential partner to the human agent. The future of customer relationships now lies at the intersection of AI and emotional intelligence (EQ). Consumers no longer want AI that just gets the job done; they want AI that understands them', commented William O'Neill, Area VP, UAE at ServiceNow. High Stakes, Low Trust The report also highlights a clear AI trust gap, particularly for urgent or complex requests. UAE consumers embrace AI for speed and convenience in low-risk/routine tasks — 23% of UAE consumers trust an AI chatbot for scheduling a car service appointment and 24% say they are happy to use an AI chatbot for tracking a lost or delayed package. However, when it comes to more sensitive or urgent tasks, consumer confidence in AI drops. Only 13% would trust AI to dispute a suspicious transaction on their bank account with 43% instead preferring to handle this in-person. Similarly, when it comes to troubleshooting a home internet issue, only 20% of consumers across the Emirates are happy to rely on an AI chatbot, with 50% preferring to troubleshoot the issue with someone on the phone. Humans and AI For all the frustrations with AI — almost half (47%) of UAE consumers say their customer service interactions with AI chatbots have not met their expectations — the research does suggest that consumers consider AI as crucial for organisations looking to deliver exceptional customer experiences. For one, in addition to seamless service (90%), quick response times (89%) and accurate information (88%), more than three quarter (76%) of UAE consumers expect the organisations they deal with to provide a good chatbot service. But perhaps more interestingly, 85% of consumers across the Emirates expect the option for self-service problem solving, which does indicate the need for organixations to integrate AI insights and data analysis into service channels to anticipate customer needs before they arise. 'While AI in customer service is currently falling short of consumer expectations, it is not failing. Rather, it is evolving. There is an opportunity for businesses to refine AI by empowering it with the right information, making it more adaptive, emotionally aware, and seamlessly integrated with human agents to take/recommend the next best action and deliver unparalleled customer relationships', added O'Neill. 'Consumers do not want less AI – they want AI that works smarter. By understanding the biggest pain points, companies can make AI a trusted ally rather than a frustrating barrier'. Download the full ServiceNow Consumer Voice Report 2025 here. Image Credit: ServiceNow
Tahawul Tech
08-05-2025
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
'Our platform reduces costs, mitigates risks and increase revenues – and that's ultimately what customers want.' – William O'Neill, ServiceNow
CNME Editor Mark Forker spoke to William O'Neill, Area VP for the UAE and GCC at ServiceNow, during Knowledge 25 in Las Vegas. O'Neill believes the Middle East marketplace is more than ready to capitalise on the plethora of opportunities in the new era of Agentic AI – but says a big challenge remains the fact that many businesses are still encountering issues when it comes to the governance and compliance that is needed. William O'Neill joined ServiceNow in October 2024, and is regarded as one of the brightest sales leaders in the technology industry across the Middle East region. Prior to joining ServiceNow, O'Neill was Vice-President and General Manager of Qualtrics. During Bill McDermott's opening keynote, the main flavour of the day was unsurprisingly Agentic AI. Many workflows remain largely manual, and many businesses are missing that orchestration layer, but the portfolio of solutions on offer by ServiceNow is accelerating the Agentic AI movement. However, O'Neill conceded that the issue of governance is going to be a challenge moving forward. 'I was the Web Summit in Qatar, and Eduardo Saverin, who was one of the founders of Facebook, and who now heads up an investment firm called B-Capital Group was discussing Generative AI and Agentic AI, and what that all means to organisations across the enterprise space. He pointed out that there is a huge volume of businesses out there that are really struggling to understand the compliance and governance that is required – and it's not going to be solved overnight. We have 65bn workflows per-year, so we own that space, and when you embed Agentic AI into the workflows then the time to value is instant and it's understood. There is a runway and it's incredible scalable, and it's very digestible for the organisation to be able to roll that out widespread across multiple business units and the business case is there. One of the big announcements that emerged from Day 1 of Knowledge 25 was the launch of ServiceNow's new AI Control Tower. He fundamentally believes in the capabilities of the AI Control Tower to govern, manage, secure, and realise value from any ServiceNow and third-party AI agent, model, and workflow on a single unified platform. 'The AI Control Tower is a big announcement for us, but every player is trying to sell you their agents, but if you just jettison an agent into one area then inevitably those agents becomes siloed and disconnected. The AI Control Tower enables enterprises to govern, manage and secure those agents across every single corner of your business to drive maximum value. Jim Cramer on Mad Money has said that ServiceNow is the future of Agentic AI, and I genuinely and personally believe that,' said O'Neill. O'Neill's views were reinforced by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang declaring that ServiceNow is the Central Nervous System of the 21st century for the enterprises space. The conversation pivoted back towards the thorny issue of data governance when it comes to the big players in the Middle East marketplace. 'We are definitely having a lot of high-level conversations when it comes to the issue of governance around data, and how we advise and educate our customers on it specific to their industry, and our very widespread partner ecosystem certainly helps us with our messaging in terms of what we can do, and that partner ecosystem is also enabling us to grow at scale. A lot of organisations across the Middle East are embedding AI strategies that is being driven by the pioneering vision of the Middle East to be a global hub for AI innovation, so in many ways it's a perfect synergy,' said O'Neill. A challenge for many businesses when it comes to AI has been a failure to see ROI on their AI investment, whilst 60% of AI projects in 2024 were abandoned due to incomplete data. O'Neill said that a key differentiator for ServiceNow is their uncanny ability to deliver ROI, and drive incremental growth in both revenue and productivity. 'We solve complex problems, and we are driving incredible productivity across the board. We saved Siemens over 1 million hours in AI-powered workflows. In terms of the productivity that we yield for our customers the ServiceNow platform is very, very tangible and it happens imminently. We are transforming processes that took 30 minutes into seconds, and work that took days is being done in hours. From a top down perspective we are mitigating risk, reducing cost and increasing revenue, and that's ultimately what businesses care about,' said O'Neill. O'Neill praised the leadership across the UAE and GCC region for their bold aspirations and ambitions to be the global leader when it comes to AI. 'In the UAE, and across the GCC they want to be the first at doing things. They want to be the No.1 leader, and they want to be that lighthouse for AI. A perfect example of the type of leadership that really exemplifies how the region is so unique, is the decision by Abu Dhabi to become the world's first fully AI-native government by 2027, and I mean it's just an incredible statement. They are investing $3.5bn into the program, and are planning to automate all government processes and deploy over 200 AI solutions across all sectors, and we want to be part of that, and we want to help them get there. They want to completely reimagine and revolutionise citizen experiences that's never been seen before,' said O'Neill. In terms of the ensuring businesses are ready for Agentic AI, O'Neill believes that enterprises across the Middle East are better-positioned than most again due to the mindset that exists across the region. 'During the keynote Jensen said that he wants to get to a point that his business still operates if everyone of his employees call in sick, and honestly that's where we are building to, and that's where we are headed. The Middle East wants to be a leader in AI, it wants to be No.1, and when you foster that sort of environment in terms of leadership then it trickles down and touches everything, and that attitude makes the region so Middle East is where everyone is going, and that's where the investment is going. The Middle East is more than ready for the Agentic AI era, in fact it's more ready than most.' O'Neill concluded an excellent discussion his satisfaction at the progress that has been since the launch of their UAE Cloud in partnership with Microsoft Azure. 'We launched our UAE Cloud in October, and it's just been a fantastic partnership in terms of catering for the demands around sovereignty. We really believe in what we are doing and we want to make sure that's known, and we've managed to get a huge number of our customers onboard and have migrated onto our UAE Cloud, and we have many more in the pipeline. It's a relatively seamless process too, and the benefits far outweigh any pain that may be experienced in relation to the migration, and there's a lot more to come,' said O'Neill.
