Call Center Management Featured Article
AI Best Used as Tool to Help Call Center Agents and Managers
Artificial intelligence (AI) conjures both awe and fear in many people. What was once a cool, sci-fi concept is now being touted as a viable contender to replace humans in industries from the assembly line to the call center. Understanding the scope and limits of AI and how it can benefit and complement human agents in industries like the contact center can go a long way to allaying workers’ fears about being replaced by a machine.
Rather than looking at AI as a replacement for the contact center agent, call centers would be well served to use it to enhance the customer experience and improve efficiencies within the workplace. For instance, we recently discussed how the use of predictive scheduling can actually improve call center agent health and boost efficiencies within the contact center. Solutions like the Genesys (News - Alert) Automated Forecasting and Scheduling product do just that, using AI to predict the best and most efficient staffing schedules. The company claims the product has 95- to 97-percent accuracy, comparing parameters from more than 25 methodologies and also evaluating hundreds of thousands of potential forecasts. And because of built-in AI, the process takes less than 30 seconds, yielding major results for call centers and their workers.
Research shows that more than 50 percent of businesses use inefficient manual methods to forecast their staffing levels and create schedules, but AI is clearly set to disrupt that practice. The technology also has proven benefits for delivering self-service in the contact center, relieving agents from handling repetitive, basic queries and freeing them up to handle more complex interactions requiring human intervention. This also gives customers quick answers to their basic questions, without needing to wade through complicated IVR systems and hold times to access simple information.
AI offers a number of additional benefits in terms of capturing and analyzing customer data, interactions and trends. This helps call center management in terms of planning and allocating resources to the correct areas. It also aids human agents, ensuring their particular expertise is being properly utilized in areas that require more advanced human interaction.
Finally, AI can be used to help human agents by providing customer information and history in real time, as calls come in. This offers important context to aid agents in better assisting customers, and can also help in routing calls to the appropriate departments and agents.
At the end of the day, AI is best used to augment the knowledge and expertise of human contact center agents and managers. The best use case for AI in the call center is as a tool to help agents do their jobs better, as well as a workforce management solution to improve scheduling and operational efficiencies.