Introduction:
Have you ever contacted a company or business with a question or comment regarding a product they were selling? Chances are that you have and were interacting with their customer service department. Customer service is generally thought of as any interaction in which a company directly, or indirectly assists a person inquiring about their product or available service. It actually plays a big role in our world. Whether or not you even realize it, you are constantly connecting with various forms of customer service and in recent years, companies have turned to artificial intelligence as a way to better interact with and understand their customers and consumers.
According to Microsoft, artificial intelligence is thought of as a “set of technologies that enable computers to perceive, learn, reason and assist in decision-making to solve problems in ways that are similar to what people do.” Artificial intelligence is currently being incorporated into customer service in a variety of unique ways. I think it can be a really good way for businesses and companies to connect with their customers. For example, virtual assistants and chat bots can be used to further communication between producers and consumers. As Forbes explains how "there’s a simplicity to messaging, especially when the platform is capable of moving the consumer from an interaction with the virtual assistant to a live engagement with a human agent."
According to Forde, "experts predict that by 2020, 85% of all customer service interactions will be handled without the need for a human agent." The future of customer service lies in the hands of artificial intelligence. By using artificial intelligence to do tasks previously done by humans, companies will have the ability to spend more time collecting data and really getting to know the needs of their customers. Artificial intelligence will allow these interactions to move quickly and efficiently and be on more of a one to one basis. This will help customers to receive more personalized treatment. But what will customer service look like in the future?
Martech explains that "AI and machine learning can take the customer identity, combine it with real-time analysis of customer activity and forecast what the next customer action might be. The result is dynamic delivery of messaging, offers or incentives to influence that activity." Many speculate that these artificial intelligence programs will eventually be able to predict customer behavior and actually influence it in real time. However, for now, artificial intelligence is mainly being used for online customer service purposes. Much is unknown about the future of artificial intelligence in customer service, but we can certainly expect to see it become more commonplace as time passes. Now, let's look at an overview of this topic and briefly discuss what points I will be covering in my web story.
REFERENCES
Microsoft.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/11/26/ai-is-super-charging-the-customer-service-world/#7ee39d164f04
Yonck, Richard. Heart of the Machine: Our Future in a World of Artificial Emotional Intelligence. Arcade Publishing, 2017.
https://martechtoday.com/prediction-anticipation-and-influence-the-importance-of-ai-and-machine-learning-in-loyalty-programs-215283
What is the current impact of artificial intelligence in customer service?
Believe it or not, artificial intelligence is actually being used every day in customer service. Various forms of artificial intelligence have been implemented and are currently being used by businesses and brands to improve and expand their customer service capacity. By using artificial intelligence to do day-to-day tasks, companies are able to move at a faster and more efficient rate than ever before. It has proven a great way for companies to stay up and thriving in business. There are currently several main systems of AI being used in customer service including Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Natural Learning Processing (NLP), all of which are the focus of major investments and research. As we move on, I would like to discuss why and how AI is currently being used in customer service.
Why use AI in customer service?
In his article, How AI Can Make Customer Service More Efficient, Andrew Medal, a writer for Entrepreneur, explains that the main purpose of AI in customer service is to deliver relevant data, suggestions, and insight directly to humans agents that are working with the customer, in order to better the system and business. In order to effectively incorporate AI into these systems, the human agents must learn to work with the AI, for the purpose of the AI is to better both the business and customers.
Medal describes how “an AI-based customer service chatbot can quickly analyze very large amounts of customer data — more than the human agents can possibly analyze or understand on their own — and highlight only the most relevant details based on the context of the inquiry, enabling the human agent to respond immediately without the need to access multiple data repositories.” This makes the process much faster and efficient and gives the human agent less stress and more time to spend helping the customer and communicate with other customers.
What has AI done for customer service?
According to Hagai Shaham, a writer for TechSee Intelligent Virtual Assistant, there are three main areas in which AI has provided some significant value in customer service. These elements of customer service include the augmentation of human intelligence, the prediction of human behavior, and in virtual agents.
In his article, AI in Customer Service – How to Deliver Real Value Now, Shaham explains that during the augmentation of human intelligence, “the agent and machine collaborate together, with the agent’s performance enhanced by the computer’s ability to provide faster resolutions.” As a result of this, the “bot learns from the agent’s feedback and improves the automated responses over time.” These types of models are particularly effective when contact centers and persons for companies need to take complex phones calls, as well as deal with large call volumes. These AI tools have reduced agent training times for companies and businesses and have also made the overall process run smoother. This has been very beneficial for all parties involved and most importantly, have resulted in more satisfying customer experience.
He also explains that artificial intelligence is now commonly being used as a way to predict human behavior. He explains that “AI captures every nuance of human behavior, whether through chat or voice, and is able to extract customer insights from these structured and unstructured data sets.” By comparing data that is compiled from multiple sources to past patterns commonly seen in the past, companies can use AI programs to predict things such as sales conversions and customer lifetime values. This can be extremely beneficial to businesses and can greatly help them to customize products and plans for each individual buyer, therefore improving customer service.
Possibly the most common form of AI in customer service today would be through virtual agents. In his article, Shaham describes how chat bots as a customer service solution have proven to be effective at doing specific tasks. For examples, he explains how “using these bots to automate answers to basic customer questions has been shown to decrease the average agent handle time (AHT) by 10% or more.” Today, companies can also use chat bots in a valuable way to capture data from decision-tree based interaction, which will later be used by live agents.
REFERENCES:
Medal, Andrew. “How AI Can Make Customer Service More Efficient.” Google Search, Google, www.google.com/amp/s/www.entrepreneur.com/amphtml/312383.
Shaham, Hagai. “How to Implement AI in Customer Service and Deliver Value Today.” Techsee, 13 Mar. 2018, techsee.me/blog/ai-customer-service-deliver-real-value-now/.
Where is artificial intelligence taking us in the future?
Clearly, artificial intelligence in customer service is not a crazy idea. While it may not yet be considered a widespread concept, it is being used in different ways by quite a few businesses today. However, as customer service changes and artificial intelligence continues to develop and grow, businesses and companies will need to evolve their usage of AI, just to keep up with the change. If used effectively and efficiently in the future, AI may prove to be an indispensable tool for businesses through customer service. Let's take a look at why and how AI may change the future of work.
why is aI going to impact the future of work?
In his article, How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact the Future of Work, Allan Frank explains how human-to-machine interaction is rapidly changing. Chatbots are a large part of customer service and he explains “in particular, chatbots demonstrate how technology is increasingly able to capture the human essence by evoking and responding to human emotions and actions.” He predicts that in the future, work and customer service will both rapidly change because the machine learning and AI will act as “a personal assistant or a second set of hands available to you on the job at all times.”
How might customer service change?
In his article, 5 Predictions on the Future of Customer Service, Mikhail Naumov describes how experts are predicting that by the year 2020, nearly 85% of all customer service interactions will be conducted without a human agent in the picture. He predicts that there will be five major changes in the near future related to customer service.
Change #1: First, he predicts that AI will automate simple tasks, meaning that “more agents will instead be able to focus on higher-level service interactions that contribute to customer satisfaction, retention, and overall lifetime value.” Today, human agents are constantly doing simple and repetitive tasks, such as rerouting calls, categorizing emails, and responding to basic questions. In the future, these tasks could be handled by artificial intelligence as “proper machine learning gets better over time at optimizing how simple tasks are handled.” This is a highly probable future because we are already seeing some of these ideas turn into present day goals. Businesses want to get AI to do simple tasks because it will gave them both time and money.
Change #2: Naumov also explains that “leveraging AI in the contact center increases the effectiveness of customer service departments by freeing up more time for frontline representatives,” meaning that agents would have more free time on their hands. If AI is relieving human agents of mundane tasks, that gives them more time to meet “with specific customers to make sure their needs are met, rather than rushing them out the door to handle the next ticket in the queue.” This is another highly possible future which would benefit agents and companies, for they would have less to do, less overall stress, and more time to really work with the customer.
Change #3: A third prediction he has for the future is that messaging and social media will continue proliferating complaints. Naumov details how “social media is a double-edged sword in customer service, as it allows brands to connect rapidly with customers while running the risk of making poor experiences more public.” In the past, brands wouldn’t even consider replying to complaints through Instagram, but now they do due to fear of damaging customer satisfaction and their overall reputation. In the future, it is likely that brands will need to address the increasing “volumes of inquiries and a growing burden on customer service teams.”
Change #4: Naumov also predicts that customers will begin outsourcing service, in particular their complaints and service needs, to third parties. He explains how “people will no longer have to spend time on the phone, or even the few minutes it takes to write an email. These services will also become proactive, taking it upon themselves to uncover ways in which customers have been wronged.” Artificial intelligence may allow customer service concierge service to further flourish, though contact centers will need to implement technology that can handle the new waves of customers that are looking to outsource their service needs to third parties. This would be great for customers who are unsatisfied in some way.
Change #5: Naumov’s final prediction is that AI will become a table-stakes technology. Today, some executives and CEOs are looking to apply AI in ways that will clearly benefit their companies and brands. However, in the future Naumov believes that “as AI takes hold in the contact center, this motion will shift from ‘top-down assignment’ to a ‘bottom-up requirement’. As customer service professionals learn to work with machine learning tools in their everyday job — AI will become a table-stakes technology, critical to any company that wants to remain competitive in the customer service space.” AI is clearly important for customer service and will become a crucial marketing tool for businesses looking to remain popular and competitive.
REFERENCES:
Frank, Allan. “How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact the Future of Work.” CMSWire.com, CMSWire.com, 16 May 2018, www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/how-artificial-intelligence-will-impact-the-future-of-work/.
Naumov, Mikhail. “5 Predictions On The Future Of Customer Service.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 24 Apr. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/mikhailnaumov/2018/04/23/5-predictions-on-the-future-of-customer-service/#3c7a1756ecb9.
In Conclusion:
Clearly, customer service is going to change a lot in the future. It's already moving at such a quick rate and artificial intelligence is only going to expedite that. We know that AI is already being used in customer service to promote easy and effective communication between business and consumers, generally in the form of chat bots or as a way to predict human behavior. Now we must simply wait and see where it takes us in the future. There is no way to know for sure, but we've already looked at several promising predictions and the common theme seems to be that AI is going to prove to be an indispensable tool in customer service. I, for one, believe that AI will promote positive change in customer service and will actually better both the customer and the business. AI could ultimately save the businesses a lot of time, money, and stress, as well as give customers better access to quick, reliant information and service.
I hope you enjoyed reading my web story and if nothing else, take away the knowledge that artificial intelligence is going to do a lot of good things for the world of customer service. Thank you!
Credits:
Created with images by diwou - "business plan monitor wall presentation" • Daniel Zacatenco - "Dubai 43"