ARTIFICIAL Intelligence (AI) and automation are becoming more widespread. They are also proving to be a major business driver as machines complement human labour. A research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that AI technology would increase gross domestic product by up to 26% in 2030 for local economies. In Malaysia, AI is a critical enabler as the government aims to boost productivity across all sectors by 30% in 2030 under the National Fourth Industrial Revolution and MyDigital blueprint.
A Covid-era survey revealed that almost 50% of Malaysian consumers are frustrated with long hold-times when contacting call centres. Almost two years after the onset of the pandemic, organisations are looking to implement and transform their operations with conversational AI and automation technologies.
With the transition to a digital and hybrid economy, traditional enterprises – be it financial services, telecommunications or e-commerce – will need to change their business models accordingly, with most transformations requiring a roadmap for successful outcomes.
Starting from front office
Being the first point of contact and interaction between customers and businesses, front offices are vital to every contact centre ecosystem as they are responsible for creating lasting first impressions and can solidify customer relationships.
According to PwC, almost one in three consumers say they will walk away from a brand they love after just a single bad experience. That is why it is crucial to tap into conversational AI and automation to augment human-customer interaction and build better customer experiences.
With front offices leveraging on solutions such as omnichannel AI-driven intelligent virtual assistant, this frees up time for human agents to focus and listen more actively on conversations. In turn, improving agent productivity, rather than having them concentrate on repetitive mundane tasks.
Stages of automation
How exactly can businesses kick-start the process of integrating smarter technologies into their contact centres? The initial step is to understand what type of customer queries take up the majority of traffic so that businesses are aware of the kind of interactions and the type of customers to prioritise.
The more calls are automated, the more it prevents the risk of overwhelming businesses as well as agents. This gives call centre agents time to focus on complex tasks to satisfy customers.
Customers should never be left hanging with an automated response. Giving customers the option to connect to an agent will create a seamless customer journey.
Transforming technologies
Following through with customers is important to solidify the relationship between them and businesses.
Automating after-call work – categorising and summarising calls, updating systems, taking follow-up actions made to customers and other tasks – can have a dramatic impact on costs, staffing, wait times, customer satisfaction and quality.
Given the volume of calls made, tracking and fulfilling each promise accurately and as timely as possible is a monumental effort when done manually. This is where promise management – a new area of automation – fits the bill.
Creating experiences that matter
As countries continue to adapt to living in a world with Covid-19, there are lessons that businesses can take with them into the new normal. The crisis has certainly become a catalyst for lasting change.
With numerous smart solutions to help businesses better connect with customers by creating experiences that matter, it is important to embrace this change as there will always be a need for smart, agile and remote contact centres in the near future.
Ravi Saraogi, Co-founder
and President of Uniphore APAC.
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