Contact Centre Distress, AI to the Rescue

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Contact Centre Distress, AI to the Rescue

2024 SNAPSHOT: Contact centres are now synonymous with artificial intelligence (AI). The overwhelming figure representing chats, calls and tickets might not be so scary anymore.

What is one key element of contact centres? The customer conversations happen on a scale, implying that the strategies to enhance them must be implemented at scale, too. And the key to making that happen is leveraging conversational intelligence through genAI.

“The integration of Generative AI along with the emergence of vector databases as the new standard for providing persistent memory to large language models and the pivotal role of personalisation are driving exceptional customer experiences in the intelligent contact centre,” says Craig Kennedy, Senior Director of Research at Aragon Research.

This isn’t about AI maturity—it is about getting the work done. The battle of contact centres has been about the pain of manual tasks consuming critical time and headspace. Data and the way AI leverages it has now freed up human agents from the monotony.

“Pre-trained large language models (LLMs) are changing the way we interact with people, content, and critical knowledge in our enterprises. We can now unlock insights and communicate with clarity like never before,” says Rob Tarkoff, Executive Vice President and General Manager at Oracle Cloud CX.

CXM Today flips through the 2024 library, which contains works by industry experts and in-house writers, to present the trends and attitudes of the industry’s current state. The following four stories discuss contact centres and tools

  1. A Complete Guide to Contact Centre Tools and Metrics for CX Growth

Contact Center Tools Metrics to Help Grow Your CX 1068x575 1

While contact centre metrics are great to reflect numerical performance, they miss out on empathy for the customer. Metrics are important, but rushing to achieve them without taking into account the customer “service” can be detrimental to customer satisfaction, and ultimately, loyalty. Contact centre agents must leave this KPI tunnel vision and arrive on a balanced approach between quantity and quality.

2. Finding the Right AI Mix to Address Contact Centre Challenges

Finding the Right AI Mix to Address Contact Centre Challenges 1068x575 1

AI has brought a revolution to the contact centre landscape. It offers fast evaluation of conversations, offers insight-based coaching, and automates identification of customer sentiment. Agents must note, however, that genAI is not a suitable replacement for human oversight. AI can do much of the manual legwork, but oversight is vital to keeping quality assurance focused, and prevents it from becoming a tick-box exercise.

3. Closing the AI Gap to Keep up with Customer Conversations

Closing the AI Gap to keep up with customer conversation 1068x575 1

The massive number of customer chats and tickets has overwhelmed contact centre agents for a long time. With AI incorporated in the customer-facing function, human agents might take a sigh of relief. Conversational AI is at an inflection point. Thanks to genAI’s recent developments, it is being seen as a way to deliver crucial CX priorities – like personalisation in a meaningful way and at scale.

4. Use Your Contact Centre Data Like It’s 2024 (Because It Is)

What is one key element of contact centres? The customer conversations happen on a scale, implying that the strategies to enhance them must be implemented at scale, too. And the key to making that happen is leveraging conversational intelligence through genAI. “The integration of Generative AI along with the emergence of vector databases as the new standard for providing persistent memory to large language models and the pivotal role of personalisation are driving exceptional customer experiences in the intelligent contact centre,” says Craig Kennedy, Senior Director of Research at Aragon Research. This isn’t about AI maturity—it is about getting the work done. The battle of contact centres has been about the pain of manual tasks consuming critical time and headspace. Data and the way AI leverages it has now freed up human agents from the monotony. “Pre-trained large language models (LLMs) are changing the way we interact with people, content, and critical knowledge in our enterprises. We can now unlock insights and communicate with clarity like never before,” says Rob Tarkoff, Executive Vice President and General Manager at Oracle Cloud CX. CXM Today flips through the 2024 library, which contains works by industry experts and in-house writers, to present the trends and attitudes of the industry's current state. The following three stories discuss contact centres and tools. A Complete Guide to Contact Centre Tools and Metrics for CX Growth <insert cover image> While contact centre metrics are great to reflect numerical performance, they miss out on empathy for the customer. Metrics are important, but rushing to achieve them without taking into account the customer “service” can be detrimental to customer satisfaction, and ultimately, loyalty. Contact centre agents must leave this KPI tunnel vision and arrive on a balanced approach between quantity and quality. Finding the Right AI Mix to Address Contact Centre Challenges <insert cover image> AI has brought a revolution to the contact centre landscape. It offers fast evaluation of conversations, offers insight-based coaching, and automates identification of customer sentiment. Agents must note, however, that genAI is not a suitable replacement for human oversight. AI can do much of the manual legwork, but oversight is vital to keeping quality assurance focused, and prevents it from becoming a tick-box exercise. Closing the AI Gap to Keep up with Customer Conversations <insert cover image> The massive number of customer chats and tickets has overwhelmed contact centre agents for a long time. With AI incorporated in the customer-facing function, human agents might take a sigh of relief. Conversational AI is at an inflection point. Thanks to genAI’s recent developments, it is being seen as a way to deliver crucial CX priorities – like personalisation in a meaningful way and at scale. Use Your Contact Centre Data Like It’s 2024 (Because It Is) <insert cover image> The concept of a contact centre emerged from the customer’s purpose of contacting a company to share about their experience, mostly one rife with disappointment. (Before app ratings, customers never really called a company to say how satisfied they were with their experience!). Naturally, this meant that every call added another loss of revenue to the company. But now with tonnes of data available and technology like predictive analytics, this cost can be turned into revenues.

The concept of a contact centre emerged from the customer’s purpose of contacting a company to share about their experience, mostly one rife with disappointment. (Before app ratings, customers never really called a company to say how satisfied they were with their experience!). Naturally, this meant that every call added another loss of revenue to the company. But now with tonnes of data available and technology like predictive analytics, this cost can be turned into revenues.