Feature
The Gist
- Tech transformation. AI in the contact center is revolutionizing customer service with technologies like generative AI and digital customer service.
- High efficiency. AI contact centers use real-time agent assistance and specialized tools to automate 80%+ of customer support tickets, increasing CSAT scores.
- Enhanced interaction. AI in customer service is providing more realistic chat experiences and sentiment analysis, allowing for highly personalized customer communications.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an essential tool in the contact center to enhance customer service and agent support. Let’s take a look at AI in the contact center.
Generative AI, digital customer service and conversational user interfaces (CUIs) will transform customer service and support by 2028, according to Gartner, Inc.
“The common theme of these three technologies are their ability to streamline the customer journey and enable customer service leaders to meet customers’ growing expectations,” Drew Kraus, Gartner vice president in the company’s customer service and support practice said in a prepared statement. “Within the next five years, we expect these technologies to change the face of customer service and support.”
Below is a look at how intelligent virtual agents and chatbots and uses of AI in the contact center to improve CX today.
AI in the Contact Center: Assisting and Training Agents
Contact centers are under pressure to deliver strong CX in the face of high agent attrition, more complex interactions, and poor onboarding and training. So contact centers are integrating AI to tackle these issues head-on, making agents more productive and giving managers more visibility into agent performance — and most importantly, keeping customers satisfied and call times short, said Tim Shi, Cresta chief technology officer.
“A vital part of contact center AI is real-time agent assistance,” Shi added. AI in the contact center is being used to coach and guide agents in real-time on the optimal ways to respond in a call or chat. By identifying upfront the key behaviors that result in successful business outcomes and guiding agents to exhibit those behaviors, agents can expertly navigate every conversation.
“AI can also empower agents and coaches to improve their jobs and form deeper connections with consumers by providing managers with unprecedented visibility into agent performance and behavior,” Shi added. “This can include live alerting, real-time online coaching, and workflow optimization. AI for agent support can help agents say the right thing at the right time, delivering a personalized and relevant experience for every customer interaction. Not only does it make every conversation more meaningful and productive, but it makes customers happier and reduces call times, therefore reducing call volume.”
Related Article: AI in Customer Experience: 5 Companies' Tangible Results
Contact Center AI for Improving the Customer Support Journey
With the influx of AI tools, it is easy for brands to simply throw an AI tool (like an AI driven answer chatbot) at CS and see 30-40% of their tickets handled, said Erik Ashby, Helpshift head of product. “However, the most dramatic impact comes when brands take a practical approach and employ and embed specialized AI, across their customer support journey, where brands are now seeing 80%+ of their tickets being automated with an increase in CSAT.”
The practical approach combines multiple AI technologies together into a seamless journey where the consumer may not even realize that AI in the contact center is at work, Ashby explained. To start, specialized Intent AI based on natural language processing (NLP), is used to detect intent and can classify 90% of all tickets. From there, unmanaged generative AI can automatically answer simple questions based on existing knowledge, resolving 20-30% of tickets with little setup effort.
“Using the detected intent, managed AI and established workflow chatbots can be integrated with back-end systems to act as support guides with the ability to solve the top 80% of repeated support requests or can collect context for the human agent,” according to Ashby.
Related Article: 3 Crucial Tips for AI in Customer Experience
AI in the Contact Center Is Providing More Realistic Chat Experience
Virgin Voyages and Slalom Consulting recently teamed up to launch Vivi, the first generative AI-powered “digital human” built on Salesforce, according to Katie Dunlap, Slalom general manager of global Salesforce. Vivi was created to provide a more engaging and realistic customer service chat experience and significantly reduce the time it takes for passengers to find the information they need.
Vivi embodies a humanlike conversational experience, Dunlap explained. For example, if someone wants a clear definition of what qualifies as a service pet, but can discern it from the available online information, a traditional chatbot would answer with a recitation of Virgin Voyages’ service animal policy.
Vivi, however, would provide an answer that is more understanding of the customer concerns, such as: “I'm sorry to hear you haven’t been able to find an answer to your question. Yes, your service dog is permitted on-board. Service dogs are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, such as guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling wheelchairs, etc. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability."
Improved interactions also means less time managing common and repeated inquiries for Virgin Voyages’ customer service department, Dunlap added. “It allows agents to spend more time helping customers curate their perfect vacation experience.”
AI in the Contact Center for Analyzing Customer Sentiment
Sentiment analysis AI decodes customer interactions, identifying the need for personalized communications based on the customer’s emotions and the kinds of topics being addressed, said Renaud Charvet, Ringover CEO. “This technology has allowed for the improvement of customer feedback, with suitable styles and tones being used based on the expected response. It can shape our approach to delivery of feedback, both online and during calls.”
There’s also the possibility of using a mixture of social listening and AI tools for the gathering and analysis of indirect feedback, Charvet added. “This allows for the collection of feedback from a range of channels, including websites and social media platforms. This can be converted into relevant and useful insights, which can be used in the shaping of customer communications.”
Related Article: 5 AI Analytics Trends for CX Personalization
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Realizing the AI Benefits
Using AI-powered conversation analysis, we are able to identify the facts and product features which are most likely to engage our customers. With such data we’re able to home in on the key points and benefits, thereby increasing our prospects of sales and other positive outcomes. While AI shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for agents, it can be a helpful tool to support their good work.
In general, AI in customer service allows agents to be more personable and knowledgeable. Customers get quicker answers and a better service, while still keeping the human touch, which we’ve found is the right balance today.
