AI hype is reaching fever pitch. In 2021, over 76 percent of enterprises prioritised AI and machine learning in their IT budgets, as reported by Forbes.
Many statistics support such an approach. Gartner even predicts that customer satisfaction will grow by 25 percent before 2023 in organisations that use AI for digital commerce.
However, there are many applications of AI in CX. Automation, analytics, and bots are all prominent examples. Heck, some contact centres are even investing in AI technology that changes the accents of agents. Supposedly, such an innovation paves the way for smoother service calls.
While this may indeed enable rapport building, perhaps it speaks to the point of Martin Taylor, Director at Content Guru, who tells CX Today:
“The promise of AI and automation is incredibly exciting. Yet, it is easy to get too bogged down with what we could do, not what we should do.”
Of course, AI is likely to become a critical ingredient in the recipe book of experience-driven organizations. Technologies such as virtual agents - which offer quick self-service - are smarter than ever and easier to deploy. But, “over-automation” is a dangerous avenue to wander along. Sometimes a human touch is necessary.
After all, you are smarter than a machine agent. But, not always better placed to handle customer queries. As Taylor says:
“Bots are fast but lack intelligence. Humans are smart but lack speed. Bringing the best qualities together is the best path for the future of service.”
How can contact centres achieve this ideal blend of bots and humans? Let’s explore after considering the current intelligence of virtual agents.
The Intelligence of Virtual Agents
Undoubtedly, bots are getting smarter. No longer do they only answer general FAQs. Modern virtual agents support many other use cases. These include:
- Conducting searches of available articles, product catalogues etc.
- Updating customer information stored within enterprise systems
- Confirming order statuses and providing requested information
- Enabling backend transactions to take place (e.g. payments)
With backend integrations, virtual agents can even pull personalized information to enhance conversations and open up new possibilities to automate more contact reasons.
Yes, humans can enter various systems and gather this information too. But not as quickly or cost-effectively.
Further innovations are also coming to light, increasing the intelligence of bots. The most innovative vendors – such as Content Guru – are even adding image recognition to conversational AI applications to combat new types of customer queries.
Sharing an example of how this works in practice, Taylor says:
“Consider that a customer posts an image of a faulty product on social media. A virtual agent infused with image recognition can detect if it truly is an item from the company and – based on this intelligence – automate an appropriate response to the post.”
Other use cases are also maturing, including the capability of bots to understand sentiment. However, this is not always foolproof.
As Kate Crawford, a Research Professor at USC Annenberg, states in an article for The Atlantic: “Emotions are complicated, and they develop and change in relation to our cultures and histories—all the manifold contexts that live outside the AI frame.”
Such an example highlights the need to proceed cautiously with AI transformation projects and balance the best of bots and humans.