The modern marketplace poses several challenges to contact centers. Low staffing levels create lengthy queues for customers, putting contact center agents at risk of fatigue and high turnover rates. Plus, today’s customers have higher expectations for service levels. They want on-demand interactions with their preferred brands via their chosen method of communication and expect service engagement to be instantly responsive. Contact center leadership is increasingly implementing automated and AI solutions to answer these demands.
AI is still in its early stages of development, but it already has a strong track record for bringing greater efficiencies to contact centers. This blog explores seven AI-powered contact center trends to enhance your company’s operations.
Learn more: Transforming the digital workplace with AI
Seven transformational contact center trends
1. Assistance for agents
AI can provide agents with the support they need to minimize burnout. Functions that support agents may include:
- A solution that advises the agent in real time as it analyzes customer interactions. Suggestions may include products or services that agents can potentially upsell the client on or pertinent information.
- Sentiment analysis, which gives agents more insight into consumer behaviors.
- Call categorization, summaries, and automatic scoring, which are helpful when training contact center agents.
2. Self-service developments
Self-service can help compensate for low staffing levels by providing automated answers to the most asked questions. The latest automation developments for contact centers include interactive voice responders (IVR) and interactive virtual agents (IVA). Today’s smart IVA understands consumer purpose better than yesterday’s simplistic chatbots. The AI solutions designed specifically for self-service have greater classifying capabilities for determining the purpose of customer calls and appropriately distributing the calls to agents. Moreover, the tools function across all communication channels. IVA’s reach now includes social media for both Android and Apple operating systems.
3. Improving the call center experience
Digital workplaces equipped with AI solutions also have advantages for contact centers. AI-driven contact centers provide managers and agents with instantaneous transcription and call summaries that are easily searched and split into sections. So, the fact that recorded calls cannot be auto transcribed and warehoused in a preferred CRM is no longer an issue.
4. Forecasting customer expectations
Among rapidly growing contact center trends is the ability to predict market demand. Automation tools designed for contact centers are increasingly adept at forecasting customer demands. For instance, a pharmacy can contact customers via text to let them know when their medication is ready for pick-up. In addition to improving customer support, AI also leverages consumers’ purchasing habits to personalize promotions and marketing offers that can be sent via contact centers. For example, you can discourage customers from ending a subscription or encourage them to renew with a special promotional offer.
5. Instant translation
AI-powered contact centers provide are capable of immediate translation, enhancing communications between globally dispersed teams. The number of languages they accommodate is rapidly increasing. Subtitles for international workforces, who can then reply in their native tongue, eliminate the need for human translation.
6. Bolstered security
Cybersecurity threats driven by AI, such as deepfakes, are rising in tandem with contact center trends like AI advancements. AI can compellingly replicate the voice likeness of company leadership. Cybercriminals rely on these imitations to make significant monetary demands.
Advancements in voice biometrics are actively deterring these risks. Like identifying markers that tie DNA and fingerprints to a specific individual, voice biometrics generate a singular “voice print” for every user. An exclusive security identifier is generated with a code phrase and other validations to complete the voice print. This identifying marker is a compilation of multiple characteristics calculated by automated software.
Healthcare, finance, and other highly regulated sectors can expect voice biometrics to become a significant authentication tool in the near future.
Learn more: AI infrastructure: Modern data management for insight-driven strategy.
7. The growing role of contact centers
Historically, the chief purpose of contact centers was to respond to incoming calls from users and consumers. But thanks to AI and automation, new contact center trends are on the rise, including outgoing communications with customers, such as following up to inquire about their latest experience with the contact center. Subsequent outbound communications, like customized communications with promotional offers, can continue regularly.
Future contact center trends
The next wave of contact center trends will potentially diminish the number of human agents needed to respond to customer support issues. We expect contact centers to continue evolving, shifting from their current support-centric capabilities to include a more influential role in the customer journey. However, companies must find a balance between depending on AI, utilizing automation tools to the fullest, and sustaining and strengthening compliance and security policies. Selecting the order to invest in and implement new technologies can be a difficult decision regarding time and resource allocation.
OnX guides and supports clients with evaluations and consultations to determine which AI and automation tools can best serve the client’s contact center. OnX’s experienced team and proven strategies streamline selecting and deploying new technologies as trends progress.
Ready to learn more about how contact center trends can help transform your business? Contact us to speak directly with our AI and automation professionals.
