It is no secret that the contact center is currently experiencing a transformation. With the advent of digital channels and artificial intelligence (AI) software, businesses are leveraging contact centers to drive customer loyalty, customer experiences, and revenue generation. Let’s walk through how AI is changing the contact center, and how it is benefiting organizations.
AI drives customer experience and engagement
AI has enabled businesses to better understand the needs and preferences of customers, resulting in higher engagement and satisfaction. This is especially true for customer service, which is critical to the customer experience. From focusing on the right channels to be contacted to determining when and where to place an appointment, AI can improve customer engagement and satisfaction by up to 30%.
AI has the ability to help businesses optimize customer journeys to increase revenue by optimizing data, services, and costs. For instance, AI can optimize call center schedules by shifting resources from low-performing channels to higher-performing ones. It can also optimize the number and length of calls, optimizing costs and, in turn, revenue.
Artificial Intelligence is enhancing the contact center
AI is already being used in the contact center to make operations more efficient. This versatile technology is used in customer insight to help businesses better understand customer needs and preferences. It is also used to create and implement workflow in the contact center, reducing errors and ensuring the right information reaches the right person at the right time.
Further, AI can also help contact center agents deal with a high volume of calls by using smart routing. This refers to the AI technology that routes calls to the most suitable agent for the situation. For instance, if a customer calls to cancel an order, the routing bot will route that call to the right contact center agent.
AI is changing the way companies service customers
With AI’s aid, businesses can personalize their communications and make them more relevant to customers. This results in a better experience, driving higher customer engagement and satisfaction. However, AI can also make some contact center agents redundant. For instance, businesses may spot patterns in customer behavior and use this information to (automatically) engage customers via emails, messages, or chatbots. This, in turn, results in a reduced need for agents, who can instead focus on dealing with high-priority customers.
What’s next for AI in the Contact Center?
As AI develops further, it will become even more efficient at automating processes and operations in the contact center. This will not mean fewer jobs but more important tasks for agents. For example, AI can be used to track customer interactions across channels, resulting in a single view of the customer’s history. This information allows businesses to personalize communications, including offers and marketing messages. In addition to this, AI can be used to help businesses optimize their customer experience and enhance customer satisfaction across all channels.