It is no news that increasingly solutions aimed at customer service (Customer Experience, or CX, in the acronym in English) are integrated with Artificial Intelligence. But this, necessarily, it does not mean that soon we will no longer have human support in the call center. On the contrary: the more the CX area approaches AI, but we will have human service as the main quality vector for the customer
The idea that AI will replace human service likely comes from the fact that CX was one of the first industries to incorporate technology into the work routine – and it is easy to understand that this movement did not happen with the aim of replacing human assistance with AI
The implementation of AI in CX happened because this is one of the areas that involves the most repetitive tasks and can be easily automated. Furthermore, the large volume of interactions allows for small improvements, provided by AI, become a significant differential. In a call center, simple automations can save precious minutes, allowing agents to focus on what really matters: listening to the customer, instead of wasting time filling out screens in the system, for example
Regarding consumer behavior, the pandemic accelerated the integration of AI – remote agents and a huge volume of services, triggered by the drastic change in habits at the time, caused contact centers worldwide to experience a 48% increase in the volume of interactions, according to Google data, including phone, chat, e-mail, social networks and SMS. The solution was to add more technology – not only in customer service, as in several other areas. Moreover, the use of AI in customer service has resulted in a 30% reduction in costs, what is extremely relevant in such a competitive market
AND, today, AI has an invaluable value for CX that goes beyond customer service: the technology enables the massive processing of data, for the discovery of business insights that until a few years ago would not be easily visible
Data is key
Beyond the issue of automation, there is another factor in a call center that creates a fertile ground for the use of Artificial Intelligence: the data. Imagine that, beyond your interaction history, about purchase information, a call center can have several other data, like the place where you live, document numbers, your age, gender, among other more common aspects
It is also not uncommon for call center companies to use systems that capture customer sentiment over the phone, or by the tone of written messages. The technology, in reality, has existed for years – and the problem has always been to cross this information in a way that it would be possible to gain insights that would make a difference to the business
One of the major advancements of AI in CX has been predictive analysis based on data collection, that allows proactive support by anticipating future consumer needs
Examining historical data, behavior patterns and customer feedback, AI can predict your future demands, enabling companies to provide proactive service. It is about technology anticipating problems and offering solutions even before the customer expresses a need
This management of the database, made by AI during the service, provides a smoother customer journey, in addition to generating data that will guide marketing strategies.And here, again, we are talking about a communication that will be created by people, for people
AI vs. Human Service
If the integration of AI into the call center is a one-way street, it is also a consensus in the market that technology will continue to be used yes, but without eliminating human interaction
A survey by the consulting firm Gartner, made at the end of 2023 with 5,7 thousand people, evidence that 64% of consumers prefer human assistance and 53% would switch companies for a competitor if they knew about the use of AI in customer service. Of the interviewees, 60% stated that the difficulty in being attended to by a human was the main reason for rejecting AI, followed by unemployment (46%), incorrect answers (42%), data security (34%) and discrimination in treatment among different consumers (25%)
Despite the advancement of AI, certain human skills are still considered irreplaceable such as empathy and communication. The best companies in the world are using AI for repetitive tasks and leaving more complex and emotional interactions to humans, resulting in satisfied customers and fulfilled employees, when this procedure is done correctly
The great competitive differential lies in collaborative responsibility, that is, the balance between AI efficiency and human contact. Humanized interactions continue to be essential for building trust-based relationships with customers, aspect that AI still cannot imitate
In summary, AI adds speed, efficiency and the ability to bring forth information that adds to customer service strategies, but they are still very far from completely replacing humans on this journey. As much as the machine has learned to imitate man, it lacks an essential component: awareness of its own actions, and the ability to make decisions based not only on data, but also in emotions
