As they strive to do more with less, the need for efficiency, particularly at the crucial interface with customers or users, is in the spotlight.
So, can the advanced AI and embedded automations of the Microsoft-certified Contact Centre Anywhere365 Dialogue Cloud offset their investment costs, by boosting the efficiency and productivity of human customer service agents?
Chris Goodwill, Strategic Partner Manager and Solution Specialist at Symity describes the integration of AI in contact centres as a transformative revolution:
AI and human: Partners in customer service excellence
Anywhere365 Dialogue Cloud involves expert agents collaborating with AI, which is seamlessly integrated at each touchpoint. “The AI continuously monitors resources and workload, directing the right tools to the most suitable agents at the perfect time,” Goodwill explained.
“It’s an omnichannel approach. Dialogues are directed through different modes of communication, whether to a chat bot, direct to a knowledge base or through web chat with an agent.” Long emails can be summarised into action points and automatically pushed to the best agent to deal with it. "This can have a significant impact in reducing agent time on interactions, freeing them to deal with more complex customer requirements.”
“Mundane and repetitive queries can be fully dealt with by self-service directly, as the AI replies directly. If a web-chat exceeds the capabilities of the AI, it can be handed off smoothly to the right human, with a clear summary and action and decision points needed. And the agents can become specialists in complex and more challenging queries, while the customer doesn’t have to repeat information already given.”
A good example of the use of channel shift or deflection for local regional government has been the reduction of voice calls to services such as Highways and Waste Services.
As Goodwill explained, “leveraging Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services we use intent recognition, transcription and text to speech services, monitoring speech for key phrases such as ‘pothole’, ‘recycling’, or ‘bin collection’ and then issue automated SMS messages (where calls are from mobiles) to direct customers to digital services, whether portals or knowledge bases. Similarly, where emails are sent to departments, monitoring the subject lines and content, automated responses can be created and fine-tuned to ensure citizens get the information they require quickly and agents are free for more complex calls – the principle can also be applied to webchat conversations.”
With the AI maintaining an overview of global resources, it can match queries with agents at both an individual and organisational level, advising on staffing and shifts, and ensuring the data is used in a smart and timely way. “What we're seeing is information being relayed to the right people at the right time. It could be users themselves, it could be managers, it could be senior leaders making long-term decisions.”
