9 Ways AI Is Massively Impacting Contact Center Technologies

Once a fantasy of sci-fi movies, now a reality. Artificial intelligence is making its way to the center of many businesses. One type of business benefiting hugely from AI integration are contact centers. AI can improve contact center technologies in several ways to increase both efficiency and the customer’s experience of the service. It’s a win-win!

This guide will show you nine ways AI is massively impacting contact center technologies. But first, let’s quickly look at what AI means.

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What Exactly Is AI?

AI may conjure up images of super-intelligent robots intent on taking over the world. But don’t worry, we’re talking about friendly AI that can help your business grow and become more efficient.

The Britannica online dictionary describes artificial intelligence as “the ability of a digital computer or robot to perform tasks usually associated with intelligent beings.”

With today’s technological advancements, AI can undertake tasks such as reasoning, problem-solving, speech recognition, and sensory perception. It’s no surprise then to see AI revolutionizing contact center technologies where the possibilities afforded by AI are plentiful.

From Call Center To AI Contact Center

AI is able to transform local business phone service and contact center technologies and take your business to the next level. Gone are the days of being on hold for an hour just to be passed on to another department.

In 2021, technology has gone beyond phone calls and includes instant messaging, emails, chatbots, and social media. AI is able to transform contact center technologies and take your business to the next level.

By providing real-time feedback and deep data analysis, AI can make reliable predictions not possible by humans. The result?

The customer’s experience is enhanced, while employees have an easier job. Let’s now look at nine ways AI is massively impacting contact center technologies.

1. Collecting Conversation Data

AI makes it easy to automatically collect data from conversations and gain key insights about customers.

Virtual-advisors and AI-enabled chatbots can gather discrete data and analyze it for results. Sentiment analysis, meanwhile, takes things further. This detects the tone of a customer’s voice to determine whether they’re happy or disappointed.

According to Deloitte Digital’s Global Contact Center Survey (2019), only 13% of contact centers are utilizing AI-enabled chatbots or virtual advisors. So embrace it now and get ahead of the competition!

2. Automate Customer Complaints Process

Keeping customers happy is a priority for any business. For contact centers, complaints are handled daily, leading to plenty of data to analyze. With AI, collecting and analyzing data doesn’t need to take up time and resources.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software analyzes customer complaints for keywords or phrases. From here, AI can give an automated response based on the tone and needs of the customer.

For example, a customer says “my last bill payment did not go through.” The AI detects this and puts the customer through to the accounts department or gives them an online link to make a payment. The data from this exchange can also be stored for future use.

Remember, it’s good to have a human advisor on hand to make final decisions. But by allowing AI to automate responses, time is saved for other important tasks.

3. Predict Customer Behavior

AI can be integrated into your analytical tools to more accurately predict customers’ future behavior.

For example, after undertaking sentiment analysis to determine a customer’s feelings, AI can find patterns of typical behavior to determine with confidence what the customer might do next. This is a great way to stop unhappy customers before they decide to leave.

Being able to predict customer behavior is also great for measuring the effectiveness of new strategies or practices. With these deeper insights, you can increase retention rates and bring new customers in.

4. Find The Right Department

There are arguments for and against what technology is doing to communication. But for contact center technologies, it ensures staff are performing the right tasks.

A common problem that slows contact centers down is finding the right department or staff member to deal with a particular customer query or complaint. Whether it is an internet phone for office use or a project management software, collaboration tools with integrated AI are essential as they can schedule meetings using data insights so that only the required staff members are included. You’ll never be in a “pointless” meeting again. Great!

The happy customer no longer hears the words “Let me just put you through to the right department.”

Additionally, collaboration tools with integrated AI can schedule meetings using data insights so that only the required staff members are included. You’ll never be in a “pointless” meeting again. Great!

5. Monitor Staff Performance

We’ve already seen how sentiment analysis can detect the tone of customers, but this works for staff members too. By allowing AI to monitor your staff’s tone and intentions, you can see whether they’re performing well or not.

Data points such as anger levels, helpfulness, stress, and conversational clarity can highlight which staff members are performing well versus those who need to improve. AI can also give real-time help to staff who aren’t asking or answering the right questions by flashing up missing information and pointers on the screen in real-time.

The key to running a successful contact center is making sure your whole team is performing.

6. Recognizing Customers And Call Types

One huge advantage of AI is the ability to recognize incoming calls and fast-track them to the correct department or advisor. Additionally, AI can bring up previous conversation and inquiry history to present the advisor with an overall picture before interaction takes place.

By adopting AI in this way, your contact center will be levels above the competition when it comes to satisfying the customer’s needs and providing efficient solutions.

7. Predict Customer Needs

Similar to some of the applications we’ve seen above, AI can predict your customer’s needs and keep your contact center a step ahead in terms of service and solutions.

By analyzing large pools of big data, AI can accurately forecast any customer’s needs. For example, perhaps a customer has been using 90% of their 4g data for the past three months. If you get an incoming query from them, your AI can already predict that they will be asking for extra data, and can put them through to the right advisor or even offer an instant upgrade.

8. Save On Staffing Costs

Finding, recruiting, and training new staff members can be expensive and time-consuming. But AI can save you bags of time and money.

No matter how good new staff are, adjusting to the practices and processes of a new contact center takes time. It also strains resources, as existing staff members have to show them the ropes. The result? The whole contact center experiences a slowdown and costs rise.

Bringing AI into your recruitment and training can reduce costs and make sure staff are free for other tasks. In fact, it may even prevent the need for new staff in the first place. AI can work automatically around-the-clock, meaning overtime and extra shifts can be limited with no drop in performance.

9. Provide A Personalized Customer Experience

One of the greatest benefits of AI is giving customers a personalized experience that makes them feel valued.

By analyzing contact center data such as previous interactions, patterns of behavior, and general customer preferences, AI can tailor your services to each customer’s individual needs. From websites and social media pages to contact centers, the customer’s overall experience is heightened by AI. The result? Conversion and retention rates rise. Great!

Final Thoughts

Too many businesses are failing to embrace AI through fear it’s too difficult to understand and implement. But remember, change must be embraced to avoid being left behind.

With the right approach, integrating AI into your business should be easy. And once you’re up to speed, you can be sure you’re ahead of the competition.