Companies are clamoring to have the latest AI technology implemented as part of their CX strategy. AI is a hot topic in today’s tech world, and companies are exploring AI as options to boost their customer service. Many tasks and hoops that we jump through when interacting with companies are now powered by artificial intelligence. Things like ordering food off a touchpad menu and going through a voice-powered menu system when calling customer service are all examples of interactions being powered by AI. But incorrectly adding AI to a CX strategy can lead to a disjointed customer experience and add frustration to the customer journey.
One example is early chatbots that many companies implemented on websites. These early virtual assistants were simple, answering basic questions for customers and attempting to direct them to the right resource. Yet, many of these chatbots ended up being pulled from the company’s CX operations because the customer had a very disjointed experience working with the chatbot. Many customers want to skip the chatbots and go straight to a live agent. The chatbots merely stood in the way for many customers, creating a siloed experience that made the customer journey feel extremely disjointed.
Rather than implementing AI as another hurdle that customers have to jump over, implement AI as part of a blended approach that allows humans and bots to work as one! AI can be utilized to provide first-level self-service and assistance to customers. Through some initial questions performed by the bot can either resolve the issue or identify the best routing option for the customer if the issue can be better resolved by an agent.
With omnichannel technology, the customer data from the bot interaction is transferred to the live agent so that the customer never has to repeat themselves. This is true even if the customer then wished to change channels as well. All contextual information is saved and easily displayed to the agents so they never miss a beat. Now that’s personalized customer experience!
By allowing the chatbot to automatically route people to an agent on any digital channel, the customer journey is a lot smoother and a disjointed experience is turned into a seamless one. By allowing humans and AI to work as one, silos in the customer journey are broken down and the journey is one, continuous experience. Through a blended approach, workflow spikes can be mitigated and queues can be managed more efficiently due to intelligent routing and answering basic inquiries.
Blending AI with your CX strategy requires the right platform and technology. Seamless integration of AI with your CX operations means having a compatible platform that can handle it. For tips and advice on what the right technology is and how to seamlessly integrate AI into a remote workforce, check out the full ebook “Contact Center AI for Remote Workforces”.
