Modern contact centers rely on Artificial Intelligence, or AI, for a better customer experience. Live agents do not handle customers issues alone anymore. Today’s companies have evolved to integrate the latest technology along with human agents in order to increase customer satisfaction, improve customer service, and even cut costs. There’s no doubt that AI positively impacts contact centers…but how?
First off, what is AI?
AI focuses on developing computers that learn human intelligence, allowing them to make decisions, recognize speech, or solve problems. Machine Learning (ML) is a branch of AI, based on the idea that systems can learn from data, identify patterns, and make decisions with minimal human intervention.
AI is now entering a post-hype era, where we are finally observing real-life examples of its benefits.
The positive impacts of AI in Contact Centers
1. It supports agents
Efficiency and productivity are increased in a contact center when AI is implemented. The reason for this is that, while the agent is talking with a customer, AI can quickly search through a knowledge base, presenting the agent with the answers he needs. The importance of AI is also unquestionable in other platforms, like email or chat sessions. AI has the ability to decode the meaning in context, giving the agent a chance to handle the situation quickly and effectively.
2. It implements virtual assistants
When running a typical contact center, the biggest expenses are related to the agents’ compensations. Chatbots and virtual assistants help reduce these costs. At the same time, they give agents more free time to work on value-added tasks.
Chat boxes and bots can be used to operate as the first line of interaction between customers and a contact center, providing a few menu options. After customers clarifying their needs, an AI bot will deliver an instant automated response based on specific algorithms. This happens because the bot is able to understand the customer’s question through keyword recognition.
Highly advanced bots support both voice and text. Some can even engage in a conversation through speech and text recognition. Many times, a customer interaction with a contact center does not involve a live agent and can start and end with a chat box or chat bot, that is enough and efficient answering the client’s needs.
3. It evaluates the quality of each interaction
Following each customer interaction, AI can automatically rate contact center agents’ performance. This eases the process of evaluating employees, while there is no need to spend time reviewing calls. AI provides quick access to employees’ performance and helps managers to see how to continuously improve, reward agents as appropriate, or make better data-based decisions.
4. It analyzes large data sets
AI has the power to analyze massive data sets much faster than human beings, turning it into meaningful insights. This allows you to find insights you may have been missing.
AI can identify the frequency of keywords and phrases in your customer interactions and signal some patterns it may notice. For example, it can detect if most of your customer complaints are about a specific product feature.
These insights can also be used to enhance performance, resulting in faster response times, more first-call resolutions, and even happier agents, subsequently leading to a higher rate in customer satisfaction.
How Collab can help you
AI and Chatbots are here to help companies achieve higher efficiency and effectiveness, allowing managers and supervisors to run their contact center operations like a well-oiled machine. At the same time, the customer is being assisted through a multitude of different touch points which helps to offer a unique customer journey.
If you want to get more information regarding Collab’s portfolio, request a free demo! If you’d like to know more about AI in the contact center industry, don’t miss this article.