For years, contact centers have been driving toward one goal: to make workflows more efficient.
As customer expectations have changed, the need to enhance and update contact center interactions has evolved.
To delight every customer, today’s businesses need much more than just the right employees. They need to invest in the best technology.
Automation tools can significantly enhance the contact center experience for agents and customers, paving the way to total experience (TE).
However, like many things in today’s innovative world, automation must be delivered in an effective way to get the best results.
Combining artificial intelligence (AI) and automation gives companies new ways to empower their teams, streamline the customer journey, reduce operating costs, and unlock valuable insights.
Read on to find out how every business can unlock the potential of intelligent automation in their contact center.
Streamlining the Customer Journey
Exceptional customer experiences begin at the first contact. From the moment they pick up the phone or enter their message into a chat form on a website or mobile app, customers expect a smooth experience.
Customers want to be routed instantly to the right agent or information source and to have their query resolved quickly and efficiently.
Intelligent automation helps organizations answer these needs. For instance, an AI-enhanced Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system can now use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to steer users straight to the help they need.
Speaking a few free-form words at the top of the call is much easier, in most cases, than pressing buttons and navigating menus for today’s smartphone-equipped caller.
In many cases, an inbound caller can be sent an SMS text with a link to the information they require or to an online form through which they can enter details of their inquiry via their mobile screen before their call is connected.
The same solution can also automatically transcribe the caller’s stated intention, delivering that data to the answering agent and using it to open the right on-screen information for the agent.
Before that, the caller’s speech is processed by automated routing systems using a combination of caller intent and sentiment analysis, previous contact history, and other factors to guide each contact to its most appropriate destination, be that a human or machine agent or self-service.
The result is a faster, more streamlined customer experience, fewer call transfers, and missed opportunities for business enhancement.
Providing Exceptional Agent Assistance
Implementing intelligent automation in the contact center doesn’t mean replacing human agents. Human empathy and creativity will always be essential to excellent customer experience. But automation and AI can help augment and empower these critical members of staff.
AI has the potential to revolutionize the lives of contact center agents, minimizing repetitive and mundane behaviors, such as writing up calls, and providing consistent access to guidance.
A virtual assistant can instantly present its human colleague with information about a contact, making it easy to identify and diagnose a problem and then deliver personalized service.
The same technology can offer access to knowledge articles, script suggestions, and other valuable data drawn from the business’s back end during an interaction.
Moreover, throughout the conversation, the AI-enabled solution can automatically upload data to a reporting suite and CRM, reducing the amount of wrap-up work agents must perform.
With intelligent automation, customers receive personalized service, while agents enjoy a streamlined, more empowering experience.