TECH TRENDS
Putting digital enquiries under the microscope
Contact centres could save a lot of time by using an AI chatbot . Gartner forecasts that one in 10 agent interactions will be automated by 2026 , an increase from an estimated 1.6 % of interactions today that are automated using AI . Jonathan Sharp , CEO , Britannic , explains how an AI chatbot can work alongside contact centre agents and free them up to focus on more complex enquiries .
Businesses are wasting a colossal amount of time and money answering basic email enquiries that could be handled by an AI chatbot . This could provide customers with instant resolution and free up contact centre agents to focus on higher value and more complex enquiries that require speaking to a human agent .
Statistics show that the average office workers receive 121 emails per day , and this keeps on rising considerably . Last year emails averaged around 281 billion per day . Each email enquiry takes about seven minutes to handle . That ’ s a lot of unnecessary money and time wasted . Britannic ’ s customer , Peabody , has deflected 30 % of emails with an AI from the contact centre which means they no longer had to spend valuable time on mundane tasks and saved 30 – 40 hours daily .
Gartner forecasts that one in 10 agent interactions will be automated by 2026 , an increase from an estimated 1.6 % of interactions today that are automated using AI so it ’ s time to get ready to welcome an AI chatbot in your contact centre .
Customer experience
The benefits of using email for enquiries are everyone has email and it works across all platforms . However , often customers consider that the cons outweigh the benefits as email enquiries could result in a slow response , go unanswered as they are stacked in an inbox , get mislaid or an agent hasn ’ t got round to answering yet because they are also trying to deal with calls and complex issues .
This results in poor customer service and in today ’ s world customers want resolution and information immediately . If you can ’ t provide this , then customers will go elsewhere , especially as customer loyalty is on the decline . The TechSee survey revealed that 59 % of survey participants said that negative experiences led to their decision to go elsewhere , and 21 % did so after just one event that left a bad taste in their mouths .
Automation
An AI chatbot is just one way to solve the email conundrum . Another alternative is to embrace the email channel and conquer it with automation . Drive the emails that need human intervention to the contact centre or the relevant teams . Determine through conditions those that need further information and react accordingly , automatically .
Handle those emails automatically that are routine and can benefit from automation based on content and sentiment . These technologies are now mature with many use cases from organisations like local government and housing associations to insurance and travel .
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