Imagers could learn a thing or two about hospitality from the hotel industry, Marriott International Global Officer Brian King wrote in the Journal of the American College of Radiology this month—and artificial intelligence (AI) could have a significant role in advancing customer service in both fields.
An advanced digital reality means customers—and patients—are expecting more seamless, integrated online services, King said, whether that’s in choosing a hotel room or picking an appointment date.
“In the end, all of us want to serve our guests or our patients with the utmost care, and we need to anticipate their needs in order to accomplish that,” King wrote. “With the rapidly changing landscape in digital technology, both the hospitality and the healthcare industries need to take bold steps to make technology an integral part of why our guests or patients choose us.”
More than half of consumers will switch brands if their needs aren’t anticipated, King said, citing prior research, and 64 percent expect companies to be able to interact with them in real-time. But that overwhelming connectivity also allows for mass data collection, and the possibility of using artificial intelligence to anticipate the needs of customers and patients alike.
King wrote that perhaps the greatest challenge for professionals like himself will be maintaining “omni-channel” functionality, or a painless, integrated online experience across multiple platforms. Every second of delay on a mobile app leads to around 20 percent attrition, he said. And those customers aren’t just lost—there’s also the possibility they’ll spread negative reviews of their experience.
To stay ahead of the game, King said hospitality workers and hospital staff need to focus on staying one step ahead of customers, anticipating their needs and wants with smart software, voice-activated technology and broader options. Marriott is considering testing voice-activated devices in guest rooms, he said, and they’re already testing a wake-up alarm alternative where, instead of a hotel clerk calling a guest’s room, the TV would gently wake them with a pre-selected soundscape and a televised yoga routine.
“Ultimately, we are headed toward an incredibly connected society in which people will interact with their surroundings, be that their homes, hotels or hospitals, through advanced digital technology,” King wrote. “And many of the tasks that were previously handled by humans will be augmented by this technology.”
That could be good news for radiology, though, he said. If digital platforms can answer patients’ basic questions, help prep them for screening and schedule their appointments, radiologists can spend more time interacting with those patients and answering questions about implications of certain procedures or treatments.
“High tech can be high touch,” King said. “Just as in the hospitality industry, the coming shift of radiology resources toward digital technology and the increasing role that Internet-based platforms will play in many aspects of patient interaction doesn’t mean that healthcare has to become impersonal or monolithic.”
King said radiology needs to start abandoning its model “in which rooms of schedulers are waiting for phone calls from patients” and replace those practices with as many online resources as it can. Even test results could be delivered via online platforms, he said; it’s just important the field maintains some sense of personality.
“It is important for radiology to learn lessons from other industries, such as hospitality, especially when it applies to customer service,” King wrote. “After all, Marriott’s customers are also our patients.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.