speech recognition through deep learning<\/a> using artificial intelligence to improve interpretation and actually predict caller requests. By anticipating customer needs, engagement time is reduced, as is the caller\u2019s probability of hitting zero to reach a live agent.<\/p>\nThink of the relationship between IVR and AI as being symbiotic. The solution uses the traditional call mapping of IVR solutions, and layers even more intelligent call paths crafted to meet customer needs. As customers progress through the decision tree, AI often is able to predicts the customer\u2019s needs and deliver the likely solution.<\/p>\n
Consider an example from the travel or hospitality industry. When the customer calls the reservation center, the IVR solution anticipates the most common requests, like \u201cPlease tell us in a few words why you\u2019re calling today. You can say, book a new reservation, change my reservation, or something else.\u201d Using algorithms behind speech-to-text technology, the solution maps the call.<\/p>\n
It intuitively predicts the expected path. If it is correct, it moves to the next logical step along the call path. If the response was, \u201cNo,\u201d the AI solution can offer different options.<\/p>\n
To be sure, AI providers would offer than such misses are more rare than common, with deflection happening seven in 10 times. A more realistic figure, at least with current solutions, is about 10 percent. Moreover, effectiveness varies by industry. Travel and hospitality, where the options can be more limited than healthcare or insurance, for example, might see higher deflection rates. Also, audiences can affect efficacy; sectors that target more educated customers, like business professionals or native English speakers, likely will see stronger AI performance.<\/p>\n
While AI\u2019s time might not have arrived across the customer contact industry, the rationale for exploring AI as a viable solution has. Every minute an agent doesn\u2019t spend on the line with a customer, and the customer has a positive experience, AI has served its purpose of lowering costs and delivering on the promise of heightened customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n
While AI currently is a costly solution suitable for arguably only a select subset of the contact center industry, in the future AI will earn its place as an irreplaceable component of all interactive voice response offerings. As costs of the software continue to fall, and customer contact center managers pursue ways to keep engagement costs in check while ensuring customers remain satisfied, AI will be that solution that avoids the \u201czero out\u201d helps both sides reach that desired middle ground.<\/p>\n
About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\nCurt Gooden is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at C3\/CustomerContactChannels with nearly two decades of experience leading IT departments for global companies. He has successfully managed all aspects of information technology across international boundaries while lowering costs, implementing controls, mitigating risks and adding tangible value to clients.\u00a0In his role, he is responsible for providing strategic direction and management of the C3 technology environment which spans clients on multiple continents and nearly a dozen customer contact centers throughout the world as well as its corporate headquarters in Plantation, Florida. Contact Curt at: curt.gooden@c3connect.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Customer contact center managers want to keep engagement costs down, which often means live agents spending as little time on the phone by deflecting as many customers as possible..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5723"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28448,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions\/28448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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