From Chatbots to Hyper-Personalisation: Apeejay students decode AI’s impact on services marketing

Apeejay School of Management (ASM), Dwarka hosted a guest lecture on “The Future of Services Marketing in the Age of AI: Chatbots, GenAI & Hyper-Personalized Customer Experiences”, under the guidance of Dr. Amitabh Mishra, Professor of Service Marketing. The session featured Mr. Ajay Singla, Team Lead – Strategy & Consulting, Accenture Limited, Gurugram, who is also an MBA graduate from IIM Raipur.

The session offered students an insightful perspective on how Artificial Intelligence is transforming Services Marketing and redefining customer expectations. Discussions covered the evolution of chatbots and AI agents, Generative AI, hyper-personalisation, customer trust and the continuing importance of human interaction.

The lecture began by examining the changing nature of customer expectations. While customers were earlier more willing to wait for services and accept standardised experiences, today they increasingly seek instant responses, digital self-service, continuity across channels and services that understand their individual requirements. Mr. Singla explained that the next phase of service delivery is likely to become increasingly predictive and proactive, with organisations anticipating customer needs before problems arise.

He then traced the evolution of chatbots from simple rule-based systems to sophisticated AI agents capable of understanding natural language, maintaining context, generating responses and, in approved situations, performing tasks. An important takeaway was that customers are ultimately less concerned about whether they are interacting with technology and more interested in having their problems resolved effectively.

The role of Generative AI across the customer journey was another key area of discussion. Students explored how AI can help organisations attract customers, understand their needs, provide recommendations, resolve service issues and strengthen retention. AI can also assist employees through knowledge retrieval, interaction summaries and suggested actions, enabling them to devote greater attention to complex situations and customer relationships.

Mr. Singla further introduced the concept of hyper-personalisation, explaining how it goes beyond basic personalisation by considering customer behaviour, history, context and timing. The idea of a “segment of one” demonstrated how customer signals can be used to create more relevant individual experiences.

Trust and human intervention formed an equally important part of the discussion. Students examined why human involvement remains essential in situations involving complexity, emotional needs, risk or accountability. AI can handle routine tasks, while human employees need to step in where judgement, empathy and responsibility are required.

The session was highly interactive, with students discussing whether they would prefer a chatbot, human executive, fastest problem resolver or someone who provides accountability. An activity involving the improvement of a generic insurance claim response further encouraged students to make communication clearer, informative and reassuring without making false promises, while retaining an option for human assistance.

The lecture also highlighted responsible use of customer data, including privacy, fairness and transparency. Students were encouraged to become AI-fluent by understanding both its possibilities and limitations. A useful takeaway was the 5P framework — Predict, Personalise, Prevent, Proactively Engage and Preserve — illustrating how AI can reduce service friction and support stronger long-term relationships.

The session concluded with a central message: the future is not about AI versus humans, but AI and humans working together by design. The engaging interaction enabled students to connect Services Marketing concepts with real-world applications while understanding how technology, trust and the human touch can collectively shape the future of customer experience.