From removing friction to enabling agents, how AI is turning around the reputation of the contact centre.
It’s a universal experience we all go through. Along with getting caught out in the rain and getting caught short on the train, everyone has had to call customer service.
It’s fair to say that the overall experience has evolved over the last 20 years. As cloud technologies made routing calls easier, many Contact Center providers will have envisioned an improvement in the quality of experience.
However, towards the start of this year,
FM Outsource released data that showed that there is a lot to be desired when it comes to customer service. The research claimed that nearly half of Brits don’t feel that customer service is a widespread business priority, and a quarter (24%) felt that the standard of customer service has declined in recent years.
This isn’t a sentiment that has gone unnoticed by Ben Neo, Head of Contact Center Sales EMEA, Zoom who said “As communication becomes more important there are some instances where a chatbot just doesn’t cut the mustard.
“For many, calling is still the most popular way to resolve an issue, but that throws up issues with how to deal with such a large volume of calls.”
And Neo is not the only one. You can also go to Chris Mina, Head of CCaaS product at Vonage, to find a recognition that Customer centre agents still play a large role in customer service.
“AI tools have already started to transform the contact centre industry,” said Mina, “and there are plenty more exciting innovations on the horizon.
“But when it comes to customer complaints, human contact is often still the best solution. No one wants to be sat furiously typing at an automated chatbot when all they want to do is speak to a real person.”
Pick up the phone
It would appear that all we are after is the human touch. Despite the innovation seen in generative AI over the past 12 months.
That doesn’t discount its value to the contact centre though, as Chris Angus, VP of Contact Centre Engagement at 8×8 says, the opportunity at the moment is to improve the service agents give to customers rather than replace the person altogether.
“Voice is still king in the contact centre – for now,” said Angus. “However, the emergence and ‘glamour’ around AI and automation is now ensuring that everyone is giving serious thought and consideration to their contact centre transformation strategy and whether they’re doing the right thing.
“In contact centres, there will always be the need for a human voice at the end of the phone line. It’s not about replacing voice calls and human roles with chatbots and new technologies, such as AI.
“Instead, these applications aim to empower contact centre agents with the right tools and AI support to deal with individual customer needs and allow customers to communicate with businesses by using the method that they prefer.”
Pick up on Tone
As businesses attempt to cater to customer expectations, the answer may well be hidden in the experience of the agents on the phone.
Interestingly, in the research released by FM Outsource earlier in the year, 60% of consumers recognised the person on the other side of the phone was not always to blame for a poor experience and only a third blamed the decline in customer service on the poor attitude of individual customer service agents.
Head of customer experience at Firstsource, Ganpath Thanumoorthy said that in advanced systems the agent and the AI dovetail to provide the best experience.
“Because the technology takes care of analysing the call, the agent can dedicate his or her time exclusively to speaking with the customer rather than doing all of these transactional activities. This frees up a lot more of their bandwidth to focus on what is most important, which is making sure the customer’s problem is resolved.
“The tech and the human element dovetail well as there are many customers who want to speak to an agent about the problem they are having. So clearly, voice calls are not going to go away anytime soon and that is across many industries.
“What we’ll end up doing is developing the profile of the agent much more as a problem solver
rather than having to transfer a call a couple of times in order to reach a resolution. The first interaction will be with technology, and the agent will take everything else.”
Neo added that the analytics after the call can also lead to an improvement in the way that service is delivered to the customer on the other side of the phone. “AI models evaluate customer interactions at scale in real-time, supporting customer service agents to resolve issues more quickly.
“With AI-enabled predictive analytics, historical data, trends, user behaviour patterns and feedback are analysed. As a result, AI models can provide agents with insights that enable them to take proactive measures to address issues and prevent customer frustrations when trying to seek a resolution.
“This data can also be used for training purposes, helping agents to improve their performance and wider complaint-handling processes.”
Pick up the pace
As a result of these success stories, Angus said that the priority for a lot of businesses is to integrate a Generative AI system into their contact centre effectively.
“The one key demand I keep seeing is a huge desire for more integration across all forms of communications, from chatbot to voice call, regardless of multiple servers and tools.
“The wish for a single pane of glass to provide a 360-degree view of a customer is being treated as a big demand at the moment. That doesn’t mean they are looking for it to all come from one company, though that can be an easier option, but they just want streamlined services and operations.
“It’s about presenting a unified experience to help deal with large volumes of queries and calls, regardless of how many companies are behind it.”
Neo finished off by adding that friction is at the heart of a poor customer experience, not just in the delivery of the service, but the way different communication methods rub up against each other.
“The most effective AI systems that help businesses deal with customer complaints remove friction through unified processes. This means simplifying workflows, whether that be categorising support tickets, sentiment analysis, or intelligent call routing. AI assistants have a role to play here.
“Customers want rapid solutions to their problems, and AI-driven responses optimise the complaint routing process, expedite problem-solving by helping to guide agents towards trustworthy responses and resolutions, and enhance the overall customer experience. By streamlining issue resolution, customer retention is also improved.
“Today’s consumers demand a seamless customer service experience, with 59% of customers believing companies should offer cutting-edge digital experiences.”
BOX OUT
Ben Neo, Head of Contact Center Sales EMEA, Zoom on what factors are key to introducing AI to contact centres.
When integrating AI into contact centres, there are some best practices businesses must first consider:
● Have clear objectives in mind: AI tools can complete a huge variety of tasks, from intelligent call routing to predicting customer behaviour. All businesses looking to incorporate AI must do so with clear business objectives in mind. They should consider what issues they are trying to solve, and how they can best support their CX agents to deliver an improved level of service.
● Get buy-in from CX agents first: When introducing AI models to contact centres, businesses must get buy-in from their agents from the start. Leaders need to emphasise the positive impact AI models can have on their role and demonstrate how the technology will support them, so they feel empowered and not intimidated. This means running training sessions to familiarise agents with how the technology works, and how best to work alongside it.
● Ensure it speaks the same language as existing programmes: Leaders must ensure AI systems seamlessly integrate into their existing technology infrastructure. By doing so, call centres can eliminate the risk of data being siloed between different programmes. This means all data can be effectively analysed, with the insights shared internally, improving overall efficiency.
