How Is AI Supporting Customer Service Agents And Changing CX?
2023 has truly been the year of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Researchers have been studying AI for decades. Alan Turing wrote his ‘Turing Test’ back in 1950 to determine how well a machine can emulate the ability of a human. Despite AI’s long history, the dynamics of 2023 took an interesting turn.
The Evolution of AI in 2023
The Cambridge Dictionary even named ‘hallucinate’ as the word of the year for 2023. In this context, AI ‘hallucinates’ when it gives the wrong answer to a question. However, launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 caught the attention of the general public. It made them notice just how powerful AI has become in recent years. ChatGPT was installed by over 100 million people within the first two months after its launch. It took TikTok nine months to reach 100 million users and Instagram took two and a half years.
ChatGPT is a Generative AI (Gen AI) tool and can be trained on a large body of knowledge. In doing so it can generate answers to questions in real-time using this training model. It has led many analysts to suggest that customer service chatbots are finally going to become far more useful. This is because they can be trained on a vast amount of product information.
This is happening, but the most immediate change that is improving customer service is inside the contact center.
Revolutionizing Customer Service with ChatGPT and DATASPARK
DATAMARK has already introduced our DataSpark tool, demonstrating that we aren’t merely discussing the potential of AI but actively incorporating it into our operations.
DataSpark was developed by our own internal team, making it unique to Datamark. It concentrates on leveraging AI to enhance processes within the contact center,
How does this work in practice?
- Automated Admin: when agents finish a call they usually need to categorize it and write up some notes on how it was resolved. Now DataSpark does all this automatically.
- No Need for Hold: we have all been on a call where the agent says ‘I’ll just put you on hold while I get the information you need.’ This is no longer required because DataSpark listens to the conversation and offers information in real-time to the agent. Instead of searching for a document, it should be right there immediately while the customer and agent are talking.
- Digital Assistant: there are various other admin processes that DataSpark is handling which allows the agents to focus more of their time and attention on customers. It’s like every agent has a personal digital assistant handling their administrative work.
This is the immediate future for AI inside the contact center. DataSpark is already a reality that we have been piloting with a handful of clients for several months now. AI is progressing rapidly, and many executives have a real sense that they need to introduce this technology into their customer service processes or they will be missing out on an important development.
Caution is required. As the Cambridge dictionary suggested, AI can still get some questions wrong. The safest route to immediately benefit from AI today is to transform internal processes – help your team to deliver an improved and more productive service, but keep them in control of what the customer sees.
The customer journey will be gradually transformed by AI, but right now there are so many possibilities to support agents and improve their role, that this is where focus should be applied.
