Adoption of AI in the contact center is spiking as businesses look for ways to address unprecedented call volumes with limited, dispersed staffing. Companies are innovating quickly, integrating more sophisticated AI applications in their contact centers. They are pushing beyond simple, logic-based FAQ bots to powerful voice-enabled AI tools designed to deliver uniquely tailored, intent-driven customer service that’s easy to use and capable of supporting the customer journey from start to finish.
Putting the “Intelligence” into Self-Service. Artificial Intelligence – using technology to better understand customer requests, and provide better answers to their questions – is the way to make this work well. Rules-based “word spotting” doesn’t cut it. Too many responses are off-topic, the bot is seen as “dumb”, and it fails to provide the service your customers need.
- Natural Language Understanding (NLU) AI provides a rich understanding of what the user “means”, not just what words they use.
– - Data Integration pulls meaningful business data into the conversation, performing real transactions on their behalf, enables users to see value in the automation. Answering simple questions is nice, but doing real business work is the key to success.
– - Connecting to Agents intelligently continues the conversation, rather than starting it over. Bots that know their limits, and seamlessly extend their interaction to a human agent when necessary, enhance the customer’s trust and acceptance of automation.
Even better, AI doesn’t mean a huge increase in time to market or cost. Start with the basics, add more capabilities over time. Companies taking a prioritized, phased approach can deploy intelligent bots quickly, and then can add more functionality to the bot based on real customer demand, ensuring that they are building what customers will actually use. Results can be seen immediately, while providing a clear roadmap for where to invest in expansion of functionality.
Putting “intelligence” into self-service can be easy and effective with the right platform and technology. Get the full scoop on how AI can make your entire remote workforce “intelligent” with the full “Contact Center AI for Remote Workforces” ebook.
This blog post was provided by Bright Pattern partner, Waterfield Technologies, innovative leader in contact center and cloud migration. Waterfield Technologies is transforming complex integrations into solutions that create great experiences and unleash productivity.
About the author:
Mike has over 30 years’ experience as global innovation and solutions consulting leader. Through his extensive industry knowledge, and deep understanding of the needs of the customer, Mike enables contact centers to deliver digital strategies that differentiate to meet their unique values and customer demands.
