Generative AI has taken the world by storm. ChatGPT, Dall-E, Midjourney, and countless other solutions are having an impact on virtually every aspect of our lives. These intelligent tools don’t just help with the creation of content, they can also contribute significantly to customer experiences.
Generative AI tools like automatic call summarization apps, quality management tools, and intuitive voice analytics solutions can all transform the customer journey. Some contact center vendors are even empowering companies to build their own generative AI self-service bots.
However, as demand for generative AI continues to accelerate, moving towards a market value of $207 billion by 2030, it’s important for contact center leaders to be aware of both the rewards, and the risks of this new technology. Here’s your insight into the pros and cons of CC generative AI.
The Rewards: Benefits of Generative AI in the Contact Center
Capable of being more creative, intuitive, and accurate than many traditional AI solutions, generative AI is transforming how we look at intelligence on a massive scale. Already, companies around the world have discovered the impact that gen AI apps can have on productivity and efficiency.
In the contact center, generative AI provides businesses with an opportunity to increase productivity, deliver more personalized experiences to customers, and ensure consistent growth. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest rewards of embedding generative AI into the contact center:
1. The transformation of self-service
77% of customers today say they view brands more positively if they provide access to self-service tools. However, old-fashioned FAQ systems and bots can be clunky and time-consuming to use. Generative AI offers businesses an opportunity to improve the self-service experience, with virtual agents capable of responding creatively to a range of prompts.
Generative AI bots can rapidly search through knowledgebases and deliver quick responses to customers on a range of topics. They’re not limited to simple algorithmic answers.
2. Personalized customer experiences
Not only can generative AI solutions make self-service experiences more efficient for customers, but they can also contribute to a more personalized, memorable interaction. Generative AI bots can adjust their language to the customer’s preferences, or provide instant translations to agents. They can also gather information from CRMs and other databases to make personalized recommendations.
These bots can even support agents in the customer journey, offering next-best action guidance and suggestions based on data previously gathered in customer intelligence platforms.
3. More empowered agents
Speaking of supporting agents, generative AI isn’t just an excellent tool for the customer in the contact center. Virtual agents and assistants can be created with the specific purpose of guiding and supporting team members. Agents can use AI tools to rapidly search for answers to questions, or research information related to a specific problem.
Companies can even leverage automatic summarization tools, which convert complex conversations into key points for agents to review during each interaction. These summaries can help to personalize the customer experience further, while saving agents time.
4. Improved business insights
One area where generative AI, and many other AI models excel, is in the management and optimization of data. Companies using call recording and analytics tools can feed information from these resources into their generative AI bots, to get insights into trends and patterns.
It’s even possible to use quality management tools alongside generative AI to pinpoint problems that could be harming the customer and agent experience on a broader level. These useful insights help companies to make more data-driven decisions for their teams.
5. Greater efficiency and reduced costs
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of generative AI in the contact center, is its ability to improve efficiency. With the right tools, agents can find information faster, mitigate repetitive tasks like recording and summarizing calls, and solve problems at speed.
This mean that average handling times for calls are reduced, and issues are addressed more quickly. It also means companies can save on operational costs. They can optimize staffing strategies based on insights, reduce the need for additional employees, and enhance cash flow.
“Agents spend approximately 3-4 minutes on post-call tasks, like creating call summaries. Adopting AI-powered tools like MiaRec’s Call Summary feature streamlines these activities, leading to substantial time savings and enhanced operational efficiency across the contact center. This empowers agents to excel in their primary role of delivering top-notch customer service.” – said Gennadiy Bezko, CEO of MiaRec
The Risks: Problems with Generative AI in the Contact Center
While the benefits of generative AI in the contact center are significant, it’s worth remembering that there are some potential downsides too. As powerful as generative AI solutions are, they’re not failproof. Already, companies have encountered security, privacy, and compliance issues after using bots like ChatGPT for business processes.
Depending on the tools you use, there’s a risk your system could store information without following security protocols, lead to compliance issues, or even infringe on copyrights. Since generative AI solutions learn and evolve over time, based on the data they’re fed, companies need to ensure they’re leveraging the right strategies to train their models.
Poor training practices could lead to biased or unethical bots and AI models. Additionally, there’s always a risk that an AI model might produce inaccurate responses to questions. To avoid falling victim to potential security, privacy and compliance problems, contact center agents will need to ensure they’re implementing the right measures and tools.
When working with a vendor offering generative AI technology, it’s important to ensure the company has its own compliance measures in place. The right vendor will be able to mitigate potential generative AI issues, with role-based access controls, encryptions, audit summaries, and intelligent tools for data management.
Balancing the Risks and Rewards of Generative AI
While generative AI has the potential to be an incredible tool for the contact center, it’s important for business leaders to ensure they’re implementing these solutions correctly. Generative AI bots aren’t a replacement for human agents – at least not yet. However, they can augment agent performance and contribute to a more powerful customer experience, when used correctly.
Ensuring you choose the right generative AI solution for your business needs and use cases, means looking beyond features and capabilities. The right tool will also address the common concerns related to generative AI, and its impact on security, compliance, and privacy standards.
