Artificial Intelligence is the topic of much discussion of late, with debates raging as to how the emerging and evolving technology will begin to impact on our lives, both personally and professionally.
But how could AI impact the contact centre industry? Our Head of Connectivity, Michael Petts, offers insights into its advantages, how it could alter how we work and, importantly, why human agents will always be central to what we do at AT Management.
Introduction
Artificial Intelligence is a complex subject, and understanding its place within work environments can stir up questions from our employees, not to mention understandable anxieties about its impact on their future job security.
At ATM, our attitude towards AI is not so much how we view its capabilities remotely, but how we can look to integrate them into our existing inbound and outbound call centre services. Ultimately, it’s about considering new technology as a means of aiding and supporting our agents in their efforts to provide a seamless service to customers, while increasing their job satisfaction at the same time.
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There are many clear benefits to implementing AI into a contact centre. The focus for ATM is that it can help our agents be more productive and have engaging conversations with customers. If we use AI to complete repetitive tasks, like data entry and taking call notes, it frees up contact agents to focus on more complex and customer focused duties that need sophisticated solutions.
There are multiple ways in which AI call centre software can be used, such as AI-Powered Recommendations or Call Analytics, but here we will focus on Predictive Call Routing, Emotional Intelligence AI and Interactive Voice Response.
In a nutshell, Predictive Call Routing is when AI matches customers to a specific call centre agent who is best equipped to handle their particular issue. This could be based on personality models, or expertise within a particular subject area.
Alongside matching customers to specific call handlers, Emotional Intelligence AI can track a customer’s attitude and sentiment. A frustrated customer might use a raised voice or use long pauses in the conversation. Emotional Intelligence AI can analyse the tone and inflection of the customer’s voice in order to try and detect a caller’s mood.
It can also measure the agent’s tone and how many times he or she interrupts the customer. In doing so, it can give feedback via pop ups to help direct the agent while the call is taking place.
The advantages to both of these AI software tools for ATM means that our agents are better placed to guide conversations away from tension and towards a solution. The result? A more satisfactory outcome for the customer, whilst reducing stress and anxiety among our team as they deal with trickier enquiries.
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is a form of AI that most of us have already experienced – recording your answers to prompted questions. No doubt this can be frustrating when having to repeat a simple word or phrase answer multiple times. However, with continued improvements to this technology happening, it can enable greater operational efficiency and enhance customer experience within a contact centre environment. In the future, ATM could potentially use IVR AI technology to capture a customer’s query and pass it on to the agent, ensuring they are equipped to handle the call ahead of actually speaking to the caller.
Friend or Foe?
We have explored the positives of AI and how it can be manipulated to aid agents in their job roles, but media stories tend to focus on one key question: will AI oust humans and deem them redundant from employment?
At ATM, our philosophy is to view AI as a hybrid working partner. By using AI software capabilities to handle time consuming admin tasks, as well as assist our agents with features that enable them to achieve solutions quicker, we can work faster and more effectively, resulting in happier staff and customers.
We also must not forget that AI is a relatively new and an emerging technology, meaning we are still learning about its potential.
As it rapidly evolves, it can prove challenging to keep up with the latest advancements, which in turn makes it difficult to train and find employees who have the necessary, up to date skills.
For a contact centre business like ATM, that heavily relies on data, ensuring AI applications are ethical and fall in line with the latest privacy agreements would be problematic too.
Finally, as humans most of us feel more assured by person to person contact, and find it the most effective way to resolve an issue with a business or service provider.
For these reasons alone, the importance of ensuring a live agent is still very much present within a business like ours is paramount.
The Future and AI at ATM
Although AI is an ever evolving and powerful piece of technology, ATM truly believes there will always be a place for human interactions. We are a business that already utilises AI, but we have ambitious plans to further integrate this technology in the future.
Using technology like IVR AI to capture customer responses, allowing us to route calls more accurately and connect them to agents who have the relevant skills to handle their query, not only increases efficiency but reduces admin workload.
Our aim at ATM is to use AI to improve satisfaction of both our customers and agents alike. Understanding the power of collaborative intelligence between humans and technology is invaluable for the future of contact centres.
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