The number of predictions and speculations about Artificial Intelligence AI replacing human workers in the contact centre is countless. But what percentage of truth is actually held in these?
Susannah Richardson, mplsystems’ Market Research Director, explains that while there is weighting behind such statements, it is important to contextualise technology advancements within the customer service sector.
“Utilising AI & automation is essential” shares Richardson, “but it must not be forgotten that humans are also infinitely intelligent beings.They have the potential to transcend customer service with just one empathetic interaction.”
She points out that while many headlines are evoking a fear for job cuts due to robotic processes and workflow automation, what should actually be happening,is that contact centre agents should be working in conjunction with AI technology, to augment their performance, not hinder it.
“Solutions, such as mplsystems’ intelligentContact, integrates all streams of communication into one, seamless, unified desktop. Our software extracts information from several different systems and can automate simple tasks quicker and more accurately than any employee could do so. However, to deliver a fully seamless customer journey, human input is also needed to complete the experience.
“The software intelligently identifies opportunities to answer basic customer questions. If it senses that a human interaction would be a better solution, it directs the request to the appropriately skilled agent. Alternatively, if a human agent is dealing with a customer query, the system might tell them what to say, in addition to any information they already had in mind. Thus, further enhancing the contact resolution for the customer.
“It is through this partnership of human and software intelligence, that organisations can hope to rival their market leaders in customer service.”
“Deployment of AI within the contact centre will alleviate agents from carrying out mundane and basic tasks on a repetitive basis. Supervisors will be able to take advantage of this opportunity to re-allocate their resources and allow the human workforce to further develop, while performing more meaningful and complex tasks.”
With customers becoming increasingly accustomed to service that delivers exactly what they want, always at their convenience, it is clear to see that the companies that are combining the intellect of both human and software, are those that are leading in their retrospective markets.
Additional Information
Additional InformationSusannah Richardson is Market Research Director at mplsystems
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