Recent studies have indicated that approximately 80% of customers are willing to use automated systems to expedite the customer service process, if it reduces their wait time. In today’s business environment, AI is playing a key role in increasing the efficiency and capabilities of call centers. Intelligent automation can be used to reduce call time and costs, while simultaneously providing customers with an improved experience. Research indicates that companies can acquire considerable cost savings with intelligent automation, ranging from 25-50% savings.
The current AI-related trends in call centers are Agent Assist, Real Time Transcription and Chatbots. Machine Learning, powered by Artificial Intelligence, can use Natural Language Processing to interpret customer speech and try to address their issues. Utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, customers are routed to the most suitable agent based on their issue, as opposed to the first available agent. Furthermore, AI enables multi-channel support comprising of phone calls, emails, and other mediums.
Contact centers are currently utilizing these top three AI trends.
1. Agent assist results in faster responses
Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to any business, and gathering customer information upfront allows agents to quickly address customer needs. To streamline this process, AI-based systems are used to remember customer data and provide it to the agent in real-time. In this manner, customer inquiries can be resolved quickly and efficiently.
Artificial Intelligence is capable of analyzing similar customer interactions to identify patterns and offer prompt responses. For example, if a customer contacts the team with a complaint, AI can suggest alternative solutions to the agent quickly. This system is capable of retrieving data from a knowledge base to support the agent, who can select the best response or formulate their own answer if the suggested options are not satisfactory. Additionally, the AI employed in this system is able to gather information such as the number of filler words (e.g. um or like) used by the agent during the call.
Utilizing AI in order to enhance the efficiency of agent management has a variety of practical applications. Customers can schedule a call, and automation and AI can be used to provide them with necessary questionnaires via text message. Once the customer feedback is gathered, Artificial Intelligence can assess the information and respond with self-service solutions such as a link to a tutorial or a customer portal. This implementation can help in resolving customer inquiries without the need of agents.
2. Real-time transcription increases clarity in communication
The addition of voice recognition technology and other advanced tools has enabled call centers to record and transcribe calls in real time. This allows for meetings to be more accessible to a wider audience, providing greater convenience and efficiency. These technological services ensure clearer communication between stakeholders by providing more precise meeting notes.
Modern transcription technology is exceptionally advanced, being able to differentiate between different speakers and providing action items and key highlights as soon as the meeting has concluded. The transcripts are easily searchable, allowing for easy retrieval at any time. It is recommended that the notes be shared with customers, as they may refer to them in the event of recurring issues.
Real-time transcription provides a valuable opportunity to identify keywords and make use of them to analyze calls for insights. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, it is possible to cross-sell and upsell to customers who are inquiring about a particular product. This could be beneficial in optimizing customer experience. By tracking the usage of certain keywords that appear when agents are on calls, supervisors can be alerted if needed, as well as use the data to provide better training to their agents.
3. Chatbots provide instant replies to customers
Chatbots are set to progress from answering standard customer queries to having conversations in real-time based on predictive analysis. These bots primarily focus on providing quick responses to customers, ultimately decreasing the average resolution time and increasing the first contact resolution rate. During peak hours, chatbots lighten an agent’s workload. The use of chatbots significantly reduces the number of agents needed and ensures that customer needs can be answered 24 hours a day without the need for personnel on night shifts.
Chatbot technology utilizing natural language processing, sentiment analysis, and machine learning provides an enhanced customer service experience. For instance, when sentiment analysis identifies a customer’s negative emotion, the query can be routed to the appropriate agent for customized support.
Currently, voice bots are becoming increasingly popular and can sometimes provide a more personal customer experience than traditional text-based messaging. People are becoming more comfortable making purchases through chatbots, offering companies the opportunity to use them for lead qualification and even payment processing. As an example, Mastercard has already implemented a chatbot for collecting payments.
Summing up
The customer service landscape has experienced a dramatic transformation and customers now require personalized and swift service. To keep pace with this demand, artificial intelligence can be utilized to help agents give customers efficient and reliable answers. At Flatworld Philippines, we are committed to implementing the most cutting-edge and advanced technologies to ensure customer satisfaction.
The Flatworld Philippines team of AI and data science experts can construct custom AI solutions for your business to optimize your customer experience. We will collaborate with you and your team to develop self-service modules and automate workflows that will reduce wait times and enhance customer satisfaction by delivering relevant information quickly and efficiently. We can use technology to optimize the quality of your meeting recordings, thus creating an opportunity to identify and capitalize on different customer segments. Our team is committed to helping internal teams streamline their workflows and reduce processing times while granting them access to relevant information. This will enable them to maximize efficiency in every interaction. We invite you to contact us regarding your call center outsourcing needs. Our team is standing by and ready to assist you.
Survey Data source: https://www.timedoctor.com/blog/call-center-stats/