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Why The Customer Service Sector And AI Are A Match Made In Digital Heaven
Byline from Umesh Sachdev, CEO, Uniphore

May 21, 2019

Why the Customer Service Sector and AI are a Match Made in Digital Heaven

Byline from Umesh Sachdev, CEO of Uniphore

 
There is no denying that artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay. Perhaps when AI first emerged, some questioned whether it might just be another fad (similar to other trends that have faded in recent years like cryptocurrencies or even Google Glass), but more signs are pointing to the fundamental permanence of AI. AI is no longer considered simply a trend; organizations of all shapes and sizes, across almost every major sector, are recognizing that AI can play a major role in the future of business because it has the ability to act as an enabler in delivering radical improvements to business outcomes by improving efficiencies, reducing cost to serve and enhancing the overall customer experience.
 
One historically traditional sector where AI has started to make a significant impact is customer service. In the Digital Age, exceptional customer service is what consumers expect. Period. With the Internet and social media, if a customer is not happy with a product or service, they can – and will – almost instantly find another company that will not only meet their needs but exceed their expectations. Some have said brand loyalty is another dying trend of the age of digital, which is why it is so important for brands to know how to smartly listen to their customers, better anticipate their needs and  rapidly pivot or intervene when something is not working. The conversations that customer service representatives have with people all around the world on a daily basis are an absolute gold mine for brands when it comes to understanding satisfaction, loyalty, or the likelihood of word-of-mouth recommendations about a certain product or service. Yet, the question at hand is how brands pinpoint the “real intent” behind these customer conversations – and that’s where AI comes in. 
 
Conversational AI can help companies pull the true insights out of every customer interaction, no matter where those conversations are happening (over the phone, by email, or even in instant messages taking place on the brand’s website or social media channels). And even better, AI makes it possible to identify these insights in real-time, not after the conversation has already ended (at which time a customer might already be Googling alternative options). One can only imagine the possibilities.
 
For example, consider a contact center agent who, while on the phone with a customer, receives personalized and contextual intelligence about the customer in real-time via conversational AI. As the call progresses, conversational AI would analyze the conversation and detect hundreds of emotions being expressed through the tone of the customer’s voice, all of which reveal that customer’s real intent in contacting customer service in the first place. The agent would then receive real-time alerts with recommendations for how to ensure that the call meets the customer’s expectations, ranging from upsell and cross-sell opportunities, to the customer’s past behavior and interactions with the brand, to how to better communicate with the customer based on their language preferences, such as using emojis and acronyms versus complete sentences.
 

This type of “real intent,” real-time analytics, derived from speech and voice, are invaluable to brands in today’s competitive business environment. In fact, research shows that “rapid recognition of customer intent” is the top driver for companies that are working to deploy conversational analytics to their business strategies. At Uniphore, we are empowering businesses with the right products (like auMina, our conversational analytics solution) to fundamentally transform the customer service experience. It can be difficult to pull the true insights out of customer conversations but leveraging conversational AI will help brands deliver the exceptional customer experiences needed to keep customers around for the long-term, which is ultimately every brand’s desired end-game. 

 
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