What is Artificial Intelligence and How Can It Boost Your Customer Service?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is more than just a buzzword. It’s a game-changer for businesses, especially when it comes to customer service. But what is artificial intelligence, exactly? And how does an artificial intelligence work? Let’s dive in.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
AI, short for Artificial Intelligence, is a field of computer science that’s all about creating systems or machines that can perform tasks that usually require human intelligence. But don’t expect a sci-fi movie scenario – AI isn’t about perfectly mimicking human interactions. Instead, it’s about using AI capabilities to assist and automate tasks that people usually handle.
How Does an Artificial Intelligence Work?
AI works by combining large amounts of data with intelligent algorithms and fast, iterative processing. This allows the software to learn from patterns or features in the data and improve its responses over time. This learning ability is what sets AI software apart from basic query-and-answer software that can only deliver premade answers to predefined questions.
What is Artificial Intelligence Examples in Business?
One of the biggest advantages of using an AI application in business is its ability to be tailored for specific verticals. For example, Conversational AI for the customer contact center can learn what specific questions customers are likely to ask, the different ways they may phrase them, and what kind of response is most likely to lead to a positive outcome. Learn more about how Telefonica transformed the businesses contact center operations with AI.
AI and Humans: A Powerful Partnership
Despite fears that AI will replace jobs, that’s not the case. Instead, an AI algorithm works alongside people, assisting and augmenting processes and taking over the most basic and repetitive tasks. This allows customer service professionals to focus on more complex and rewarding tasks.
As AI gets better at understanding what customers want, it also delivers a superior customer service experience. This goes hand in hand with our ability to better interact with AI systems, tailoring our requests in simple, easy-to-understand ways that increase the AI’s chances of delivering successful customer outcomes.
The Impact of AI on Productivity and Jobs
According to a widely circulated study by Goldman Sachs, about two-thirds of current occupations could be affected over the next decade, with AI potentially taking over a quarter to a half of the work people do now. This could affect up to 300 million jobs worldwide. On the other hand, McKinsey predicts an AI-powered boost of $4.4 trillion to the global economy every year.
Generative AI and Productivity
Generative AI products, capable of producing written, graphic, and audio content or software programs with minimal human involvement, hold great potential to boost productivity. The Goldman Sachs study predicts productivity will grow by 1.5% per year because of the adoption of generative AI alone.
How AI Can Boost Your Customer Experience
Specifically, AI can enhance customer service in the following ways:
Self-service options:
Many customers appreciate the quick response offered by advanced speech recognition AI, which can answer their basic questions quickly and accurately without the need to wait on hold for a human agent. Read more about Conversational IVR.
Streamlined workflows:
AI solutions can be used at the start of every customer conversation, using natural language processing to gather information and identify their needs for intelligent call routing. As a result, your customer service team can be segmented according to skill and calls routed to the most appropriate agent.
Better employee experiences:
Call center agents can quickly become disillusioned and burned out when their job consists of answering the same questions repeatedly. With AI technology taking over repetitive tasks and queries, employees can spend their time on tasks that are more challenging and deliver a higher sense of accomplishment and value.
Better customer experiences:
Customers whose issues are resolved using an AI get faster, more efficient service. Customers who need to speak to an agent will also get faster overall response times as all simple queries are no longer clogging up the queue.
By understanding AI´s capabilities and how to effectively implement it, you can enhance both your customer and employee experiences. Ready to give it a try? Check out OpenQuestion on Teneo.ai.
Homage to John McCarthy
Interested in learning more about the pioneers of AI? Check out our special homage to John McCarthy, often called the father of AI. His vision and contributions have shaped the AI landscape and continue to inspire us in our work.