The deployment of artificial intelligence in contact centres is often narrowly understood as implementing a chatbot or voicebot that handles part of the customer communication on behalf of human operators. While voice or text services are the most “visible” part, they are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of AI’s capabilities. Harnessing the potential of AI in the contact centre brings dozens of plus points to operators’ work, customer satisfaction and business results.
Let’s be honest, the monotonous loop of a fruitless dialogue with a chatbot is discouraging rather than uplifting for clients. Ineffective communication is also a source of frustration for human operators who remain a crucial part of contact centres and will continue to be for a long time to come. A skilled implementer can use AI tools in a communication centre to eliminate this fundamental problem and deliver several groups of benefits through AI:
But how does AI achieve this? It’s not necessarily smarter, but it is faster. AI can extract necessary data from thousands of internal and external sources, summarize, contextualize, and suggest the next steps based on that information. Additionally, it can monitor and analyse the interaction between the operator and the customer in real time and offer data, solutions or suggest next steps in this context.
According to various sources, contact centre operators spend about 17% of their working time searching for the right answer to a customer’s query. Put yourself in this situation: on one side, an impatient customer sighing, huffing, and rolling their eyes. On the other, a nervous operator frantically searching for information while also watching the clock, waiting for their shift to end. So, an uncomfortable situation on both sides of the line. If AI is properly implemented into the process, it can eliminate such moments. It can either help the operator by quickly finding (and displaying) the necessary information or even directly compose a response and offer it for use.
This greatly increases the operator’s efficiency and eliminates the delays associated with physically searching for the required data. Another even more important benefit is the communication consistency. The company’s answer to the same question is uniform for all clients, regardless if it is Lenka’s or Honza’s shift today. In this deployment, AI becomes an assistant to the operator, hence the terms Agent Assist or Power Agent.
There’s a higher level of AI integration that goes beyond simply solving a current issue or business case. It also looks ahead, paving the way for higher sales or profits.
Experienced sales professionals know that the hardest part is often making the initial contact with a (potential) customer. However, in a contact centre, the operator has often already made that first step. The client reaches out on their own, looking to resolve a problem. Ideally, AI can not only handle the current customer request but also add value and expand the transaction through cross-selling or upselling. While the operator and the customer are conversing, AI quickly responds in real-time, identifying related or complementary products, services, or solutions and offering them to the operator as recommendations (next steps). For example, if a client is flying to Malaysia for vacation, AI can detect that they have inadequate travel insurance, prompting the operator to offer a better policy with higher coverage. Similarly, when purchasing a car, AI can schedule and book a service appointment at a partner garage or suggest windshield insurance.
Another area where AI can provide value is in monitoring the status of customer contracts and managing their renewals or updates. This can help companies move away from the unpopular practice of automatic contract renewals, common in industries like energy companies or building societies, which often leaves customers surprised and upset.
The sum of these upgrades or add-ons that AI can elegantly attach to the main offer through so-called indirect assistance can ultimately become a significant source of additional revenue for the company or at least boost customer satisfaction.
A significant persistent challenge in contact centres is the workload and stress of operators. When the stress exceeds manageable levels, it first leads to a decline in the quality of communication with customers and eventually results in staff leaving altogether. High agent turnover is a nightmare for companies because onboarding and training new staff is extremely costly.
AI can analyse operator interactions and evaluate them in terms of knowledge, efficiency, and even workload. The insights generated by AI can serve as a foundation for the further coaching of agents, aimed at improving their knowledge and qualifications.
Equally important is monitoring and managing an operator’s workload. The data summarized by AI can help identify potential burnout risks among agents, which can then be used as a basis for modifying the work schedules or the planning of vacations and time off. AI can also reduce the amount of work placed on operators by generating communication summaries and reports for them, and assisting them in retrieving necessary information. Happier agents then have fewer reasons to seek new jobs.
AI is definitely not a superhero that could completely replace humans in the contact centre. On the contrary, at the beginning of its deployment, artificial intelligence is like a newborn that needs to be taught everything. However, an experienced implementer can combine the strengths of both machines and humans to the benefit of all: the company, the customer, and the operator.
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