The next generation call center starts with Conversational AI
That is the title of an article over at CXtoday.
I'd modify that slightly to suggest that the next-generation call centre is Conversational AI.
Buuuut: I know what they mean - and fair enough. For anyone working in traditional call centre environments, I think the statement is highly accurate and incisive. Indeed, if you're working in call centres and you haven't had any exposure to Conversational AI, now is the time to go and get that exposure.
In many cases, you're still going to need human agents somewhere along the line. At some point, right? For the edge cases.
But then again... does Netflix have a call centre? Apparently it does.
How realistic is it to deliver a consumer business without a telephony call centre? Does Amazon have an actual call centre? I've only ever used their email support and it's been fantastically predictable: Sometimes it will take a few hours for them to reply, but they always fix it first time.
The CXtoday piece focuses on (or is effectively about) HCLTech. Here's a snippet from the article illustrating how Conversational AI can play a key role in customer service:
For example, consider a scenario where a customer reaches out because their order arrived broken. The business could orchestrate an online virtual agent experience where customers verify themselves via fingerprint recognition. Then, they may ask each customer to submit a photo of the problem and confirm the customer’s claim via image recognition (AI). From there, the virtual agent will request a recall and send a replacement, utilizing workflow automation on the back end. By optimizing such a flow – in one specific place or channel – the contact center not only innovates but also reduces complexity. After all, they can place less emphasis on developing different journeys across various channels to answer the same queries.
The key point for me: The customer reaches out.
How?
For many banks and financial service providers, the cost of offering voice call centre agents is extremely expensive. For the longest time, it's been the only option. But if you can encourage customers to reach out primarily via Conversational AI, you can transform both the experience and the surrounding economics.
You can read the full article here and find out more about HCLTech at https://www.hcltech.com/.
