Our Perspective
At Elysian Fields, we believe that working with companies at the bleeding edge of innovation is the greatest way to create a tangible impact on the business world. At the heart of these companies are passionate founders that share our core values – creating unfair advantages through meaningful differentiation in order to grow businesses that make a difference.
An area we have focussed on recently is the issue of empathy in a digital world. With workplace and purchasing dynamics shifting in a post-Covid world, there is an empathy deficit that has been created by cold, digital, binary legacy systems. In getting ahead of the curve and bridging the digital empathy gap, we believe that companies will create long-term advantages for themselves in terms of their relationships with both partners and customers. Stakeholders and end users expect a higher level of customer service, one that provides a true engagement with the brand in question.
Furthermore, our new cookie-less world changes the focus from the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) to building long-term valuable relationships through retention. The CX Networks ‘Customer Experience Predictions Report’ for 2022 found that more than half of the CX practitioners surveyed reported that customers will switch brands if they are unsatisfied, “meaning companies must work harder than ever to not only attract, but retain customers.” Brands who create this engagement will become the new value creators. As written in our Whitepaper with Soul Machines, “those who invest in, and scale, empathetic customer experience will create future-facing competitive advantage and value.”
How do we address it?
We’ve encouraged clients to look at using technology to improve their customer experience in a multitude of ways. Firstly, by bringing digital customer experience into the end-users’ world you can create a new, innovative, interesting touchpoint that will engage your customer base. The next effect relates to an economy of scale, where automation within customer experience not only works as its own entity, but frees up employees to complete work that aligns to the values of the company and consumers. As Julian Neo, Managing director of DHL Express Manila and Brunei, says:
“Automation not only increases productivity but more importantly, it improves our employee experience as well.”
The Elysian Fields’ process begins with a discovery phase; looking at how your company both communicates with users and addresses their needs. We interview key stakeholders within the business, external senior business leaders, and pioneering company clients in order to develop the value propositions that you’re currently offering. Through ongoing workshops and strategy sessions with the company, we begin to develop your messaging and tone of voice in order to address user needs from the perspective of the technology that will cater to their experience.
Who we’ve worked with in this field
Expectations for good customer service have never been higher, but the quality is often lacking. In our recent Whitepaper with Soul Machines, we stated that 80% of companies think they deliver great customer experiences, but only 8% of customers agree. Through our now 18-month partnership with Soul Machines, we’ve developed a culture of thought processes that are ready to blast through the customer service boom for 2022 and beyond. Soul Machines’ digital people are able to provide the technological alternative that allows businesses to create an empathetic customer service experience at scale.
The question becomes, why Soul Machines? Soul Machines are using autonomous animation and conversational AI to bring empathy to the digital customer experience. Across the customer journey, we found several key features that, alongside the incredibly innovative technology, solve pain points for users and create tangible gains for businesses. Function-wise, Soul Machines’ digital people are unerringly consistent, can be 100% on brand, replace administrative tasks to keep staff happy, and can be scaled out across a clients’ operations.
More recently, our Elysian Fields business growth products have established key value propositions for Soul Machines to move forward with. Soul Machines’ CBO Greg Cross has worked closely with us during this process, and our strategic partnership has been key whilst we develop research and insights through a series of workshops and stakeholder interviews.
Soul Machines have completed their latest fundraise at $70m, bringing the total raised to date to $135m. The raise was led by Softbank Vision Fund II and also includes Cleveland Avenue, Liberty City Ventures and Solasta Ventures, whilst existing investors Temasek, Salesforce Ventures and Horizons Ventures also participated. We’re delighted to have been a part of a partnership with Soul Machines and are incredibly enthusiastic about the way in which we can bring a new, advanced customer experience to the marketplace for years to come.