ChatGPT, Bard, and other Generative AI technologies have dominated the news for the past several weeks. The technology is very impressive and shows incredible potential for changing the world in which we all live and work…including significant impacts on our experience as customers, and on the operations of customer contact centers in general. Here’s Axim’s take on how Generative AI will impact those two specific areas this year (and beyond).
- Automated Responses: Generative AI can be programmed to automatically respond to common customer queries, allowing agents to focus on more complex issues that require human intervention. For people that run customer service operations, this will save a lot of time for customers, increase efficiency in the contact center, and mean that customers will be able to handle more complex concerns without ever talking to a live person. We also expect to see significant improvements to the conversationality of the bots & chat tools on many websites today; rather than pick from options, you will be able to type like you talk, and the tools will respond in kind.
- Language Support: Generative AI can be trained to support multiple languages, making it easier for the contact center to handle customers from different regions and countries. This can improve the customer experience, reduce language barriers, and enable organizations to create customer service models that can be easily extended across the globe.
- Personalization: Everyone wants to feel like the companies they do business with really know them, treat them as individuals, and anticipate their needs. Generative AI can be used to personalize customer interactions by using data and insights gathered from previous interactions, marketing preferences, individual customer behavior, and current issues to provide tailored recommendations and solutions. This can help build stronger customer relationships, increase customer loyalty, and give customers the kind of service that creates real satisfaction.
- 24/7 Availability: Generative AI can operate 24/7, allowing customers to contact the contact center at any time of day. This can improve customer satisfaction and reduce wait times, and will make the challenge of round-the-clock support much simpler for many global companies.
- Analytics: Generative AI can be used to collect data and analytics on customer interactions, providing insights that can be used to optimize processes and improve customer service. This can help the contact center identify trends and areas for improvement.
Since Analytics is near and dear to our hearts at Axim (check out www.aximglobal.com/analytics for more information), here are a couple more thoughts on how Generative AI will impact (and improve) customer interaction analytics, and benefit customers in the process:
Generative AI can analyze a wide variety of data points in (and outside of) a contact center to provide valuable insights that can be used to improve the customer experience. Some examples of the data that Generative AI can analyze include:
- Customer Interactions: Generative AI can analyze customer interactions to identify common issues and complaints. This information can be used to improve training, identify areas for process improvement, and help companies adapt better to issues that besiege large portions of their customer base before they churn. For instance, by using Generative AI to identify that customers are frequently asking the same questions, the contact center can quickly add more automated responses to free up agents so that they can handle more complex issues, and get customers the help they need quickly, without ever waiting to talk to a person.
- Customer Satisfaction: Generative AI can analyze customer satisfaction scores to identify patterns and trends. This information can be used to improve customer service and quickly identify areas for meaningful improvement.
- Response Time: Generative AI can analyze response times to identify areas where the contact center may be experiencing bottlenecks or delays. This information can be used by workforce management professionals to identify opportunities for the optimization of forecasts, staffing, adherence, and workflows, improving efficiency and reducing operating costs in the process. For example, if a Generative AI platform identifies that customers are frequently complaining about long wait times, the contact center may decide to add additional agents or adjust scheduling to reduce wait times before they become a major issue.
- Agent Performance: Generative AI can analyze agent performance metrics, such as call duration and first call resolution rates, as well as actual customer interactions themselves to identify areas where agents may need additional training or support in order to provide better outcomes for customers.
The real impact will be found in how organizations use the insights derived from Generative AI technologies. We expect them to enable contact center executives to quickly make data-driven decisions that improve the customer experience – good for contact center executives, and great for all of us as customers.
