The AI Revolution is here, shaking up every element of the customer experience. To find out what’s been happening and how contact centres are adapting so far, our Editor, Megan Jones, interviewed Steve Blood, Vice President of Market Intelligence and Evangelism at Five9.
Together, they explored what the latest research findings from Gartner really say about the AI Revolution so far, and how industry pioneers are embracing the latest AI capabilities to improve the employee and customer experience alike.
AI Capabilities Are Emerging at a Pivotal Moment in Industry History
Customer experience is at a crisis point – so much so, it’s even attracting political attention.
Why? For starters, the focus on self-service containment has compromised CX and is in serious need of an overhaul.
“When the focus is on containing 90% of chats within the chatbot (for example), with little to no visibility of what else happens to that customer on their journey, you end up with a disconnected customer experience, which isn’t very good for anyone involved.”
So, what’s going so wrong?
Being too internally focused is somewhat to blame:
“There’s a huge gap between what the customers (externally) and service leaders (internally) class as success.
“When service leaders look too much internally, it’s all too easy to say, ‘we achieved what we set out to achieve with self-service and reduced our call volumes’, but this can be very detached from the reality of a quality customer experience.”
Despite there being lots of examples of self-service working well, the challenge comes when the initial self-service option doesn’t resolve the customer’s issue.
For example, if a customer comes in on one channel, such as the website, with no ability to move out of that container into another channel of engagement, it becomes a real headache for everyone.
Experiences like these have become so commonplace and painful for consumers that we’re now seeing more political influence in customer service.
For example, Spain’s Council of Ministers has recently approved a new law that says “Callers may not be left on hold waiting to speak to an operator for more than three minutes, and they must be given the option to talk to a human if they wish. Not only that, but bots that don’t enable a route to assisted service are prohibited by law.”
Whilst under President Biden, The White House has announced a collection of new rules called ‘Time Is Money’, aiming to make it “easier to get refunds, cancel subscriptions, and talk to a human.”
For advice on why providing quality omnichannel customer service is so important, read our article: Why Is Omnichannel Customer Service Important?
AI-Driven Self-Service Is Changing the Picture for the Better
So where is AI making a difference so far?
For starters, the trailblazers out there have delivered an improved self-service experience, which has benefited customers and contact centres alike:
“Service leaders are always under the hammer on costs, and with employees being 70% or so of the overall cost, when you can reduce contact volumes and improve your distribution of work, you can reduce your overall cost of service and improve efficiency.
“That’s why it’s been so great to see use cases of AI and improved self-service reduce the need to connect to a customer service advisor by 50%.”
Steve Blood Vice President of Market Intelligence and Evangelism at Five9
It’s a fantastic result, especially when you think of the scaled-up benefits. For many, the question then becomes, how do you use that extra time? (Take note, it’s not all about making redundancies!)
It’s promising to see early adopters leading with a balanced approach, so everyone benefits from this gift of time, as one Five9 client recently decided:
“It was great to see a balanced outcome, with 50% of the productivity gains from one client being given back to the agents with longer tea breaks, longer lunch breaks, and more time for training, whilst the other 50% was invested in being able to handle more enquiries. It was a win-win!”
Of course, this means the initial ROI is not quite as high as initially anticipated, when 50% of the time-savings are gifted to the frontline, but this approach can go a long way in addressing high turnover rates across the contact centre, which brings its own rewards.
What can contact centres expect to see in self-service offerings in future? To find out, read our article: 10 Changes Set to Redefine the Future of Self-Service
Generative AI Can Help Contact Centres Determine “Should We Be Getting This Enquiry at All?”
Another area where AI is making a big difference is through increased insights into customer needs, as evidenced by a Five9 client in the financial services sector:
“If you use generative AI to uncover the topics of conversation that are coming into the service centre, you can really start to focus on ‘should we be getting this enquiry at all?’.
“For example, a Five9 client in beta with AI Insights was able to pinpoint a billing issue that was trending and turned out to be a bigger problem than Marketing first thought. This highlighted the need to create dedicated communications to help address the root cause and improve the customer experience.”
The scaled-up benefits of this approach are massive. Just think, if 20% of your inbound enquiries that come in on a daily basis could either be self-serve or could be deflected altogether – based on actions upstream in the organization – then there’s real time and cost savings to be had.
The added benefit is that your agents have a better time too, as they aren’t having to listen repeatedly to customers berating them for billing issues (or similar). The opportunities are huge – so long as the technology is implemented properly.
You Need to Speak the CFO’s Language to Overcome Challenges of Cost
So, what’s holding contact centre leaders back?
According to the latest Call Centre Helper research, cost was cited as one of the biggest barriers to adoption, but it doesn’t have to be – if you take the right approach:
“To get to grips with costs and building a strong business case, you’ve got to have an outline idea of your intended use cases.
“What are you actually going to do with AI in your contact centre?
“When you know this, you can assess how the proposed cost-savings will be balanced against the cost of the technology. It’s about having a clear value-based business model and building that out, so that it can be seen very clearly at board level.
“If it looks good on paper and speaks in the CFO’s language, it’s easier to communicate the benefits and get your business case approved. That’s a really important step that’s too often missed.”
Security was also high on the list of concerns, and this is a multifaceted issue:
“The issue of security of course extends to ‘where is my data?’ and ‘how is it being accessed to provide the service?’, but there’s another element with generative models – specifically around hallucinations.
“How do you deal with an ad hoc, really irrational question if the generative software is just going to panic and try and provide a response?”
Whilst pre-trained models such as open AI are trained on the internet and are by many accounts outstanding, they’re not trained on customer-specific business. So, it’s about training that model on the customers’ data and doing that securely.
“You really don’t want anything that’s outside of the scope, so it’s about putting in place things to control hallucinations and add more focus on ‘what are the questions that we’re going to answer?’.
“By putting these steps in place and delivering responsible AI, you can ensure that the output is going to be accurate, relevant, and secure for self-service.”
If you are looking for advice to get more budget, read our article: Proven Ways to Get More Budget for Your Contact Centre
We’re Going to See a More Structured Approach to AI Deployment in 2025
So, what’s next for the AI journey? Beyond the continued focus on cost savings in a tough economic climate, contact centre leaders will be taking a more structured approach to deployment.
“In 2025, we’re going to see a far more thought-out approach to what contact centres are trying to achieve, and a refined focus on the use cases where AI can be practically applied to make a difference.
“There will also be an increased focus on making sure that customers have options and a smoother customer journey – if and when they do fall out of the self-service loop.
“Not only that, but when they pick up the phone, the agent will need to know exactly where the customer has been, exactly what the problem is, and how to solve it – because they’ll have it all in front of them.”
There will also be more challenges ahead – particularly in the battle against internal and external perceptions of AI, as Gartner research has revealed that many customers don’t actually want AI. Whilst the Gartner Hype Cycle shows Generative AI on the cusp of tipping into the ‘trough of disillusionment’.
For top suggestions on the potential uses for AI in customer service, read our article: Our Top Use Cases for AI in Customer Service
AI Brings a Wealth of Opportunities to the Customer Service World
Despite this, what’s clear is that there is a wealth of opportunities out there – it’s about finding a balanced approach and thinking about what’s right for your organization.
“We’ve all been like ‘a kid in the candy shop’, all excited about the different things AI can do, but it’s now time to apply what we’ve learnt so far and tackle the CX crisis head on.”
We have a number of other great articles on contact centre technology that you should read next:
- CCaaS Pulse Check – What’s Now Possible?
- 4 Key Customer Insights on AI Adoption
- Is ChatGPT Really Suitable for Contact Centres
- Evolution of CCaaS – What’s Next?
Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman
Published On: 30th Sep 2024 - Last modified: 1st Oct 2024
Read more about - Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Customer Service, Five9, Future, Steve Blood, Top Story, Top Technology Stories
