Are you tired of endless wait times and frustrating customer service experiences? You’re not alone. In fact, according to recent research customer experience (CX) is becoming increasingly important when it comes to customers choosing brands that they would prefer to engage with. So how can companies ensure they provide a smooth and rewarding CX that keeps customers coming back? Introducing artificial intelligence (AI).
AI, or more specifically, machine learning (ML), is being used by businesses worldwide to create more efficient and personalized CX. From chatbots that can quickly direct you to the appropriate help, to recommendation engines that suggest products and services you’re most likely to find useful, these simple methods of AI are already changing the game.
What drives the adoption of AI?
- Our increasingly digital lives, which generate data that businesses can analyse to better understand our needs as well as tendencies.
- Skills shortage which makes it harder for companies to find human workers and prompts them to turn to AI to optimise their workforce.
- Economic uncertainties are leading businesses to prioritize operational efficiency and tech-driven innovation.
In short, AI is revolutionizing CX by providing a smarter and data driven way for businesses to serve their customers at every step of their journey.
Would AI replace us?
Despite fears of job losses, AI is not here to replace human workers in customer service and CX. Instead, it’s a powerful tool that can be used to amplify human capabilities and enhance customer experiences. The key is to use AI and machine learning to automate the repetitive and mundane elements of the job, freeing up human workers to focus on the more nuanced and complex interactions.
For example, the need to create post-conversation summaries for each and every customer is a task that is disliked by many customer service agents. AI can easily generate these summaries, which not only saves time but also helps retain skilled human agents who might have wavering passion for the job due to boredom caused by mundane tasks. During customer interactions, AI can also guide human agents by providing advice and insights based on language and body language analysis. In short, AI is not the enemy of human workers but a powerful ally that can help businesses provide better service and retain their most valuable assets – the people.
How does the future look like?
Imagine this. You have an urgent problem that you need to resolve with a company, and you contact them through their official social media platform. On the other end of the line, you are instantly greeted with a welcoming message and is open to help you in any way possible. But this isn’t just any customer service agent on the other end – these are chatbots.
AI tools are constantly providing real-time assistance to agents as they interact with you, helping them to quickly understand the context of your issue and find the best solution. And while AI covers the simple, routine inquiries, this agent has the high level of knowledge and emotional intelligence needed to handle the difficult, human-driven questions that machines just can’t handle.
In fact, for some cases it is the agent’s empathy and human connection that is most important. For example, in the case of an insurance company, the agent needs to be able to handle difficult and distressed calls that can’t be appropriately handed off to a computer. But with the help of AI, they can seamlessly pick up where the machine left off and provide you with the assistance you need.
This is the customer service agent of the future – a human worker assisted by AI, with the tools and information needed to provide the best possible customer experience. And as customers increasingly base their buying decisions on the quality of CX provided by organizations, this type of innovation is becoming essential for businesses that want to stand out from the crowd.
If you want to stay ahead of the game and provide your customers with the smoothest and most rewarding CX possible, it’s time to embrace the power of AI by speaking to Sage42’s team of experts today. Leverage on our expertise and let’s navigate as partners into the promising frontier of technology.
