5 ways to improve call center work with AI_

Published on 15|8|2019 by Aleksandra Adamczyk

A well-functioning customer service department is an important element of the activity of any company that has such a department. Unfortunately, often the work of this cell leaves much to be desired in the eyes of customers. The recipe for improving the operation of the customer service department, and thus the general user experience, can be artificial intelligence.

Companies spend a lot of money on maintaining call center departments in their traditional form, but this does not always translate into a positive customer experience. The recipe can be artificial intelligence that saves not only valuable time, but money.

In particular, the managers of customer service departments should be aware of how artificial intelligence can affect their current work.

The improvement of customer service in a call center using AI can take many forms. However, it is worth highlighting the five main ways that significantly affect the effectiveness of the company:

1. 1. churn prediction,

2. 2. the ability to recognize the mood of customers (satisfied and dissatisfied customers),

3. 3. intelligent IVR system (Interactive Voice Response),

4. 4. grouping calls by topic of conversation,

5. 5. substantive supervision of call center agents.

1. CHURN PREDICTION

Artificial intelligence is nothing more than a system that analyzes data and uses it while learning and drawing conclusions. Some branches of artificial intelligence, such as machine learning, aim to create an automatic system that can improve using collected data and acquire new knowledge on this basis.

In practice, this means automating and optimizing the entire customer service process, thanks to machine learning. The text generated by the client, i.e. emails, SMS messages, social media messages or phone call transcripts, is processed by an algorithm, which returns to us with the well-structured feedback what customer had in mind.

The system is based on NLP technology (natural language processing) and can tell which client will want to leave the company in the near future. Such an algorithm is able to deduce whether there is a person who resigns from the services connected with the service department.

Thanks to this, sales and marketing department employees responsible for planning activities aimed at retaining customers can precisely target their activities and focus on "endangered" users. Knowledge about the clients' tendency to give up the company's services is very valuable, as according to Bain & Company research, the increase in the number of customers by 5% results in a profit increase of over 25%.

How does the mechanism that anticipates the outflow of customers work?

The question is answered by David Radosta, Product Manager at SentiSquare, a start-up specializing in the processing of text data by artificial intelligence.

2. ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE THE MOOD OF CUSTOMERS

It is worth knowing your clients, know theirs needs and requirements for the product or service. Without this information, we will not create the ideal purchasing process, and the customer service department will face the dissatisfaction of customers every day.

Artificial intelligence and in this aspect comes with a rescue. Implementation of the algorithm in the call center allows you to split clients according to their satisfaction criteria. The system based on key phrases (such as "I remind you about my problem", "nobody contacted me," etc.) assigns clients to a specific group. Thanks to this, we can treat dissatisfied clients with special care and prepare a repair plan for them.

3. INTELLIGENT IVR SYSTEM

Intelligent IVR (Interactive Voice Response - an interactive customer service system) is a particularly valuable solution from the point of view of improving the customer experience.

This method reduces customer service time and makes using IVR less burdensome for the caller. After all, no one likes to listen to the monologue of the recorded operator explaining which button should be pressed in order to file a complaint and which to connect with the consultant.

4. GROUPING CONNECTIONS ACCORDING TO THE CONVERSATION AREA

Listing the benefits of implementing artificial intelligence in customer service departments, one can not forget about how the algorithm cares for the order in the data. After each conversation with a consultant we receive a note that contains, among other things, the topic of conversation and the key words being discussed. Then, it assigns calls to specific categories and forwards information to our CRM or other customer data management system.

5. SUPERVISORY SUPERVISION OF CALL CENTER AGENTS

Intelligent systems allow on the basis of the subject of conversation and employee behavior, to identify whether his work is carried out in accordance with good practices. In the situation when the algorithm detects an inappropriate behavior in a given person, it gets him a feedback with information about what may be improved. If, however, the employee does not take advantage of the system and does not improve the elements that need improvement, the matter is automatically directed to the trainer.

AI will also check whether employees follow the applicable call scripts. Thanks to the structured rules, it will be easier to reach quality deviations among agents' work.

Thanks to the implementation of AI, companies save not only the time of their employees, but also the money associated with conducting comprehensive trainings in a call center. It is estimated that nearly 38% of fast-growing companies are already actively working on the introduction of artificial intelligence into their own business, of which 9 out of 10 companies plan to invest over three years in the development of artificial intelligence in their processes.