Adoption of cloud has stimulated call centre as a service (CCaaS) innovation to the extent that open CCaaS now provides a platform for applying generative AI. This enables routine, repetitive tasks to be automated and agents freed up to handle complex, urgent queries.
“Seven or eight years ago saw the move to cloud and the acceleration of public cloud and that’s where CCaaS development has really gained pace,” confirms Andy Roberts, the Chief Executive Officer of Sabio, pointing out that adoption isn’t uniform.
“Organisations are moving to the cloud at different speeds. Digital native organisations are moving very quickly and larger-scale enterprises are moving a little bit slower.”
However, cloud adoption only provides a foundation upon which gen AI can be applied. “As far as open CCaaS is concerned, it’s not just about moving to the cloud, it’s about bringing other elements of the customer experience to life using all of the AI capabilities,” adds Roberts. “Sabio has had relationships with automation starting with IVR and moving through natural language speech recognition and now conversational AI. With that comes the ability to make a difference for the end customer and that’s about providing the appropriate service at the right time.”
Where, when and why to automate
Getting that timing right, alongside the correct level of response demands access to data and fuelling AI-enabled responses in ways that appeal to customers. “Looking at how organisations ensure they provide the right experience at the right time for the right type of request is at the heart of what we’re trying to do,” he explains. “We’re thinking about the right transactions to automate and those where a live agent is needed.”
Roberts gives the example of a large European mobile provider that has an on-premise call centre architecture but has turned to cloud for AI and automation. The provider has been able to automate 59% of its call centre traffic, with 36 billion calls per year automated - with obvious operational cost savings and efficiency gains. A significant additional benefit has been that this level of automation has also resulted in a 27 point increase in net promoter score (NPS).