The relationship between call center agents and generative AI was top of mind for experts and leaders alike at Customer Contact Week in Las Vegas earlier this month. The technology is still in its infancy, and call centers have yet to determine how it will truly affect the balance between automation and the human touch.
While companies are still determining just how and where generative AI best fits into the call center, some clear patterns are beginning to emerge. One common refrain is that agents, with the human touch they provide, will remain vital even as automation improves.
CX Dive attended panels and interviewed experts, call center leaders and business analysts to develop a deeper understanding of how agents will operate as generative AI matures.
Human relationships will still drive customer loyalty
The rapid pace of generative AI development may irrevocably shift the nature of call center operations in the coming years, but technology won’t replace human relationships at the heart of great customer service.
“We talk about customer contact, which is focused on the word contact — that human relationship which has driven growth and customer loyalty, year-in and year-out for all the most famous brands,” said Andrea Jung, president and CEO of Grameen America.
Relationships between customers and agents will remain a key loyalty driver even as automation becomes more commonplace, according to Jung. Companies will need to ensure their customer service operations still embrace the human touch as they design new interactions.
Easy transfers between bots and agents build trust
Companies need to build customer trust in generative AI, and one of the best ways to achieve this is by enabling seamless experiences.
Many people assume that only an agent can solve their problem, according to Brooke Lynch, divisional director of digital at Customer Management Practice. They will ignore chatbots altogether unless it’s easy and convenient for them to reach a human the moment they feel frustrated.
“Allow the seamlessness of an experience to build trust,” Lynch said. “So many customers assume that they want to escalate, they want to talk to a person, and if it's just too difficult, they're gonna skip that digital step entirely.”
Customers who know they can escalate to a live agent at any point are more likely to try using a chatbot in the first place, according to Lynch. Let people choose how they want to engage, rather than force them into a particular option, and let chatbots prove their own worth.
AI will help agents become better brand ambassadors
The baseline expectation for a customer service call is that it will solve the problem. Where agents shine, especially compared to self-service, is going above and beyond basic issue resolution to develop genuine relationships with customers.
“Because solving a problem is table stakes, what we really focus on is the agent as a brand ambassador that provides a delightful experience,” said Rolando Salinas, senior director of global customer care at Arbonne. “When we hang up the phone, we want to make sure you think, ‘Ah, I'm so grateful that this is a company that I engage with.’”
Generative AI can help agents up their ambassador bonafides by analyzing how customers are reacting to their service, both individually and in aggregate. This can help determine whether agents’ approaches to call handling are effective, or if there are ways they can improve their customer service.
Agents will focus on problems automation can’t handle
Agents aren’t going away, but they will spend more time tackling the complex customer inquiries that even automation can’t handle.
“In these cases it’s the empathy, the communication, the understanding of these really complex problems where they say, 'I know it sounds like this is the problem, and our website told you it's the problem, but it’s not really the problem,'” said Pasquale DeMaio, VP of customer experience at AWS.
However, agents need help handling complicated problems that go against the grain of the obvious answer.
This is where generative AI can be a boon, according to DeMaio. Modern technology can immediately point agents toward relevant information, rather than force them to wrestle with an uncooperative interface that makes locating specific policies difficult.
It’s never too early to bring agents on board generative AI rollouts
Agents still have a place in a post-generative AI world, but the fundamental nature of their jobs is changing. They need to be onboarded early in the rollout process, or else they may be left behind.
Some agents currently excel because they can navigate 27 screens to find the right policy in a legacy database, according to Dan Leiva, VP of customer service technology at eBay. However, they may not immediately adapt to new expectations as generative AI simplifies policy retrieval.
“Now we're saying taking care of the customer — showing empathy, showing ownership — is more important,” Leiva said. “Some of those agents who were really good at it before may not be good at this new approach.”
This is a difficult transition for many top agents, and one where eBay failed to bring its people into the process early enough, according to Leiva. Companies should have both agents and leaders involved early on so that they feel that the new process is being built with them, not for them.
