All you need to know from Call and Contact Centre Expo
Call and Contact Centre Expo kicked off with a fiery exchange between members of the opening keynote about the implementation of artificial intelligence.
As AI capabilities continue to grow into an integral part of the contact centre, how far the part AI will play was a key source of discussion throughout the show. With Generative AI demonstrating the capabilities to mimic humans in writing, the question of the role of agents, in the long run, was posed to the first panel of the day.
“When we talk about empowerment, I’m excited about this sector because I can see that we can have highly motivated, highly driven, accountable people who are opting into a number of different brands,” said Sandra Thompson, founding Director of The Ei Evolution. “The idea that agents will have a whole bunch of different companies to work for on their terms is going to turn everything on its head.
“That means that management will be different, it means the availability of information will be different, it means that employee engagement will be different, and this is going to require things like psychological safety, allowing agents to do the job without fear of reprimand or getting in trouble.”
With agents in control of when they work, Thompson painted the picture of the contact centre industry becoming a contributor to the gig economy, equating it to the Airbnb and Deliveroo business models that allow people to earn as and when they want to.
To facilitate this transition though, Shameem Smillie, founding member of Women in CX, said that trust needs to enter the contact centre if it is to become an attractive place to work.
“I talk to a lot of agents on the front line and the biggest thing from their perspective is trust. Even after working from home through COVID, a lot of them now are being forced to go back to the office because people want to see them at their desks.
“We need to be able to trust our people. If we want to make the industry more attractive to find new people, there has to be better benefits, better pay because at the moment people will just use it as filler in between jobs which needs to change.”
Looking Forward
With AI on the minds of everyone in the room, the future of the contact centre was also a key question that was addressed in the opening seminar.
One of the fundamental requirements for generative AI to be a success is an in-depth database for it to draw from. This fact is something that Smillie picked up on and said is one of the most important aspects as we move forward.
“As we look to the future, I still think big data is going to change everything. I know, we’ve been talking about it for years, but with the capabilities that are being expedited month on month, I would say that what we do with that data is gonna change a lot of experiences; from the frontline agent to the CEO at the top in all industries.”
However, any optimism about the use of Generative AI was shattered by Ira Cohen, VP of business development and marketing at MMDSmart, who predicted that businesses would use the big data that Shamille is saying will be vital to the future of the contact centre, and use it to replace agents with ChatGPT.
Cohen said the future is “going to be less human” adding: “The way technology is going and because businesses want to save costs and want to be more efficient, they’re going to humanise the technology so it sounds warm like a human being is speaking and it is going to become a lot smarter because generated by AI and predictive AI are going to come.
“Today, most of the phone call centre experiences can be carried out on ChatGPT.”
Human After All
“I don’t believe humans are going to be surplus to requirements,” said Smillie. “As we look to the future, I think there will be roles for humans that we haven’t imagined yet. So I don’t think that technology is going to replace us.
“In fact, I think it’s going to work more in harmony with us and hopefully alleviate some of the mundane things that none of us want to do. It will open new doors to do new roles and provide new services for things that we just haven’t even thought about today.
Cohen went on to point to consumer trends amongst younger generations, pointing to short-form content providers like TikTok and the main interaction medium through text on a device. Whereas Thompson made a case for human interaction.
“There will be roles, there will be massive opportunities, but the organisations that will keep the customer will be those that are innovative and create things that don’t exist right now. As a result, I think that we will end up with people wanting more human contact than ever before.
“As a species, we are designed to connect with others through things like facial expressions with a real human.
“The funny thing about us is that we can spot a fake a lot of the time. So if you are a fake and you haven’t told us we don’t like it. We want integrity. We want sincerity. We want authenticity. You get that from another human being.”
Taking it slow
Marc Monet, head of Contact Centre at Benefex, agreed that human interaction will continue to be prominent in the contact centre and advocated for more benefits for agents who provide the service brands rely on.
Before he said that, Monet warned that adopting AI early may not be the best policy.
“In terms of where we go next, we do need to embrace technology but we need to get the people and the processes right as well. Technology is used as a sticking plaster sometimes or because the AI looks sexy or the CEO wants it, but before they bring it in, businesses need a plan.
“I think the future for contact centres is technologies like AI fueling our knowledge systems, and providing good bot interactions. Where I see people coming in is being able to offer better training, and more empowerment so that agents can give solutions to the difficult queries.
“I want a smaller contact centre, but I want those contact centre agents paid more. I want them to get better benefits. I want them to have all the best tech and all the best systems to make their job less complicated.
“It’s making sure that we’ve got everything in place, contact deflection, we’ve got really good self-serve models, but then when someone needs help, they’re going to come through to someone that wants to be sat in that seat, is getting paid above market rate and has a title that reflects what they’re doing in a much more meaningful way, rather than just contact centre agent.”
