Feature
The Gist
- VA impact. Virtual agents in call centers aid complex transactions.
- Human factor. Live agents remain vital despite AI's growth.
- Technology balance. Virtual agents and human interaction must harmonize.
Virtual agents are becoming increasingly important to enable companies to handle growingly complex types of queries, as well as to help agents in contact centers to deliver better CX.
Virtual Agents in Contact Centers: A Brief History
In the 1990s, contact centers started to “meet customers where they were,” defined by agents learning how to better handle phone calls, said Rob McDougall, Upstream Works CEO. By the 2000s, chat and email channels were added. Each new technology brought significant, new integration complexities causing information about customer queries to be siloed and often incorrect. With different channels working at cross-purposes, customer satisfaction dropped.
Omnichannel Capabilities
A decade later, the advent of omnichannel capabilities offered customers a seamless and unified brand experience, regardless of the channel they used. Omnichannel had been the driving force for contact centers until AI, McDougall added. “Today AI tools are rapidly accelerating. Contact centers are once again a proving ground for its practical use. To be clear, automation — in the form of virtual agents, chatbots, or conversational AI, has proved its worth. This maturity comes at an opportune time for companies seeking better and more cost-effective self-service options to help them compete. As history has taught us, the challenge comes in its implementation.”
Live Agents Remain Backbone
While it is true that contact centers need AI to quickly and accurately process vast amounts of complex information, the live agents remain the backbone of the customer experience, McDougall said.
Related Article: Building Smarter Call Centers for the Future
Virtual Agents Help Simplify Complex Transactions
While agents remain the backbone, virtual agents in the contact center are providing invaluable help. With the rise in online transactions, it’s more important than ever for providers to make it simple for customers to identify their ideal offer, said Jeff Vogt, Actifai executive vice president and general manager. “Consumers expect a smooth and personalized shopping experience. But overcomplicated catalogs of offers and call or email requirements to finish signing up fail to deliver on that expectation and create barriers that suppress sales.”
Combating Frustration
Vogt pointed to a recent Capgemini Research Institute survey that found that one-third of telco consumers find it difficult and time-consuming to buy products and services online. To combat the frustration, providers are turning to virtual agents in contact centers, particularly in rural and underserved markets, where employing a call center with live agents does not make sense financially.
“An exciting option for VA that is rapidly emerging is AI-powered customer engagement platforms that guide prospective customers through an engaging, modern discovery process that uncovers critical information about their needs and interests,” Vogt added.
Related Article: Is This the Year AI Dominates the Call Center?
Additional Aid From Agent Assist
While virtual agents aren’t new, an increasing number of contact centers are benefiting from using them to aid agents in providing better CX, according to Melissa Copeland, Blue Orbit Consulting principal and founder.
Assisting Agents in Real-Time
It’s an outstanding technology that can assist agents in real time while serving customers. This type of decision support isn’t new — but some of the capabilities and the extent of its reach is, Copeland said. “It is also increasingly common that the technology can be purchased as part of a package or standalone — making it more accessible than ever for organizations.”
The agent-assist VA listens to the call in real time, helping the agent provide assistance more quickly, Copeland added. “When most successful, this allows the agent to pay attention to tone, manner, and customer needs to respond with appropriate empathy, ideas and the right customer experience. Virtual agents can prompt agents to cover something they might have forgotten such as a disclosure or a compliance statement, which decreases corporate risk and can increase agent success.”
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An Improving Technology That Will Never Replace Knowledgeable Agents
The technology will continue to improve, Copeland said. “When working with clients, we talk specifically about integrating it into training, nesting, and floor work for agents to enable people to focus on people and the human touch without requiring as much skill in system or application detail. The bots will never replace detailed knowledge, but as they continue to improve, they will enable people to do the more sophisticated thinking and interacting work instead of the rote memorization and searching.”
Poor Emotion Detection
While virtual agents are excellent at repetitious activities, they could have trouble understanding complex emotions or handling difficult, emotionally charged customer issues, said Vikas Kaushik, TechAhead CEO. “Finding the ideal balance between automation and human interaction is still very important.”
Expect More in the Future
“The future of virtual assistants in customer service seems bright,” according to Kaushik. He expects virtual agents in contact centers to develop into highly individualized and sympathetic assistants with continued improvements in artificial intelligence and the addition of increasingly advanced dialogue systems.
Virtual Agents in Contact Centers Are Improving Customer Service
“As businesses continue their journey toward digital transformation, VAs will be crucial in determining how customer service will look in the future,” Kaushik added. “The possibility to create seamless and immersive customer experiences by integrating VAs with other emerging technologies like chatbots and virtual reality holds the promise of raising the standard for superior customer service."
