The Rise of AI in the Call Center Industry

Today, people live in the age of technology—a more comfortable and convenient life thanks to digital tools and machinery that are transforming industries. One of the latest technologies that are disrupting businesses is artificial intelligence (AI).

Many people still associate artificial intelligence with science fiction, but it is no longer a new concept and buzzword that holds ambiguous meaning. AI has gradually become commonplace in people’s daily lives, continuing to break into industries such as food, transportation, security, and many more.

Soon, AI will enter the call center industry, and people are looking forward to the promising integration of AI and call center. The infographic below will walk you through how AI will be incorporated in the call center industry’s existing processes to keep you up to speed with the latest developments between this merge.

Role of AI in Call Center 

As technology advances, many tasks and issues can now be resolved with a click of a button. With this, customers’ expectations in addressing inquiries and problems are growing higher. Regardless of the medium, they expect immediate solutions and quality customer experiences.

The introduction of artificial intelligence in the call center industry gave people the impression that live agents will soon be replaced with machines. In reality, AI is implemented to complement the human agents’ work and make their job more efficient and effective. AI is breaking into the industry to enhance—not replace—customer service representatives.

For instance, when customer interactions are simple, a chatbot can take over such basic inquiries without any significant value needed to be generated or exchanged. If the query requires more than a few clicks to solve, that’s when a call with a human agent would be better. AI is effective and highly helpful because it provides data to agents as they need it, elevating the customer experience in real-time.

How AI Supports Customer Service Agents

• Chatbots for common inquiries

About 69% of consumers actively select chatbots to help address their basic queries because they are faster. Chatbots make for excellent assistants, taking care of the rational side of customer service. However, an expert still works best to manage the emotional side of the job and other more complex issues.

Resolving simple questions automatically reduces or eliminates holding times. If a human agent were to answer basic queries, it might take them a couple of minutes or more to find the proper script or resolution for the problem. Automation allows customers to get the answers they’re looking for with reduced friction, regardless if it comes from a live agent or a combination of both humans or chatbots.

• Captures data from customer interactions

AI tools are programmed to capture and learn data collected from every customer interaction, which goes through their analytics engine. The insights can then be used to improve and optimize the call center process and customer experience. 

For instance, AI tools that run sentiment analysis can catch tone, mood, and language signals that entail impatience or dissatisfaction faster than a human advisor can spot.

• Automating repetitive tasks

To help your agents focus on what they do best, you can free up their time from performing menial, routine tasks with automation. 

AI technology for customer service can take care of queries like bill payments, address or account changes, and more. Additionally, workflow automation can aid agents with everyday tasks, like inputting and locating data, sending emails, creating a profile for future reference, and following up with leads.

By equipping agents with advanced tools, call center companies can encourage their employees to focus on elevating the customer experience and reduce costs in inadequate training and onboarding processes.

• Predicts customer behavior and detects emotions

Call center AI offers in-depth insights of individual customer calls at a level human managers or specialists cannot provide. This ability to capture customer data trends allows managers to set up best practices and predict the end-result or consequences of any particular course of action.

For live agents who are new, inexperienced, or don’t have the natural ability to discern customer emotions during a call, the AI technology can notify them when their clients are growing moody so that the agent can adjust correspondingly. This can help resolve problems before the caller gets snappy or worked up.

Summing It Up

Automating certain processes in any industry is not new. AI-supported call centers harness the power and benefits of combining analytics and machine learning and human skills and techniques, bridging the gap in inefficiency.

While AI is slowly taking over the industry and helping call center companies improve their customer experience and employee satisfaction, there’s one thing it can’t replace: human connection.

If you’re looking to outsource certain business functions, consider working with a call center in the Philippines. Executive Boutique Call Center provides top-notch service that can serve your business well. Head over to the Executive Boutique Call Center Contact Us page and drop a message to learn more!