Contact Center Pipeline Magazine, November 2023 November 2023 | Page 37

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK

ENERGIZING THE CX

HOW CONTACT CENTERS CAN HARNESS THE POWER OF AI .

BY JOANNA MOSER , MEDALLIA

With continued market uncertainty , lingering inflation , and heightened customer expectations , business leaders are laser-focused on improving or , more accurately , energizing the overall customer experience ( CX ), as well as enhancing the customer support experience . In particular , eliminating points of friction in the customer journey is top priority .

That ’ s because key contact center metrics , like handle time , number of transfers , and number of contacts , shape the overall CX . When companies are able to proactively improve these metrics , they stand to benefit when it comes to lowering both cost to serve and customer turnover , and strengthening customer loyalty .
At the same time , there ’ s been a rush of powerful new solutions backed by artificial intelligence ( AI ) and machine learning ( ML ) designed to help in these areas . That ’ s creating pressure for businesses to dive headfirst into investing in AI and ML technologies to drive customer outcomes .
To be successful , however , leaders need to take a thoughtful approach and carefully consider their options . They need to understand the key use cases for deploying these technologies in the contact center in order to constructively channel their power . They also need to think about the kinds of CX challenges they ’ re currently unable to address and determine whether or not AI can help .
Ultimately , executives need to have clear business objectives in mind for using AI and ML technologies , whether that ’ s to reduce the cost to serve , improve agent efficiency , or enhance the quality assurance ( QA ) process through automation .
... EXECUTIVES NEED TO HAVE CLEAR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES IN MIND FOR USING AI AND ML TECHNOLOGIES ...
THE CONTACT CENTER MATURITY CURVE
At the bottom left of the contact center maturity curve , there are companies that are doing little to nothing to understand or analyze their CX . They ’ re not monitoring any of their customer conversations to learn how to improve contact center agent training or products , services , and policies to enhance the overall CX .
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