Gadi Shamia, CEO and co-founder of Replicant, discusses how automation can be leveraged to improve efficiency in contact centers. Traditional tactics like deflection have only had limited success in moving the efficiency needle. However, with the GenAI boom, human-to-machine interactions have become mainstream, allowing for more types of calls to be automated, resulting in end-to-end assistance for common customer requests.
By resolving customer requests at scale, automation can lead to substantial improvements in cost savings, customer satisfaction, and overall preparedness for unpredictable call spikes. A high-resolution rate means that customer requests are fully completed by automation, reducing call volume for agents. This results in lower costs per call compared to using agents or business process outsourcing and provides a better agent experience with more engaging interactions.
While pursuing a high-resolution rate, organizations need to avoid rushing to resolve without implementing proper guardrails, as seen in the case of Air Canada being ruled to reimburse a customer due to incorrect information provided by their AI chatbot. A balanced AI strategy takes into account the complexity of designing an automation solution that can safely resolve calls, including features like multi-model architecture, flexibility for business logic, and scalability and security.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of organizations will use generative AI to improve customer experience, resulting in a reduction in agents and the creation of new jobs. Service leaders looking to implement resolution-based automation solutions in 2024 should start with a call assessment to analyze where agents spend the most time and identify high-volume call flows that can be automated with a high-resolution rate. This allows them to tie the impact of resolution rate directly to business goals such as cost savings, average hold times, customer satisfaction, and meeting service level agreements during call spikes.
Overall, refocusing automation strategy from deflection to resolution can lead to increased efficiency for contact centers, benefiting both organizations and customers. It is important to carefully consider the complexity and resources required for implementing AI solutions and to choose partners that can mitigate risks effectively without delaying timelines. As automation continues to evolve, organizations need to stay ahead of the curve in order to improve operations, save costs, and enhance customer experience in contact centers.
