From Challenges to Opportunities: Exploring the Potential of AI in Contact Centers

In the ever-evolving landscape of contact centers, where human connections are at the core of interactions, the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds immense promise. Welcome to the first installment of my 10-part blog series, "Exploring the Potential of AI in Contact Centers." Over the course of this series, we'll delve into essential topics designed to provide contact center executives, operational directors, HR managers, and IT directors with key insights into the world of AI. From assessing business value to managing employee experience, we'll explore how AI is reshaping the contact center ecosystem. Join me on this overview series to review and navigate the challenges, embrace the opportunities, and identify where and how AI can be leveraged as a powerful ally in enhancing customer and agent experiences (CX and EX), while streamlining the supervisory and quality management processes, in a way that delivers compelling business value.

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Introduction and Context: Contact Centers...Humans... and AI

Before we jump into the advent and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in customer service, let’s recognize the related oxymoron that the contact center is a place where human-to-human connections happen…on the scale of millions of conversations per month. It's where customers seek assistance, patients clarify health treatments, banking customers voice their concerns, and airline passengers look for options, all while interacting with dedicated and specialized agents at the other end of the line. Having said that, it’s also acknowledged that efficiency is critical, where businesses seek the fine balance point of managing the cost of operations without sacrificing the customer and employee experience. 

Historical Trends for Adopting Technology in Contact Centers

Today, AI stands at the threshold of reshaping contact centers, but for additional context and a good parallel technology adoption example, let's reflect on some historical trends and challenges that have shaped the contact center industry.

Contact centers have always evolved in tandem with technological advancements.  Anciently (meaning in the 80’s and 90’s), call centers began implementing more automated call routing systems (press 1 for this, and 2 for that), along with voicemail systems… “...after the tone.” These early technologies were used to match call types with agent skills, as well as absorb surges in call volume, giving the caller an option to either hold, or to leave a message for callback.  

When I started in the call center technology industry over 20 years ago(?!), the emerging technology du jour was speech recognition, where companies like SpeechWorks and Nuance had developed technology coming out of MIT and Stanford, respectively, to improve on the clunky DTMF touch-tone world.  As aptly portrayed by Kramer on the “Moviefone” episode of Seinfeld in 1995, “...why don’t you just tell me the name of the movie you selected…”, speech recognition offered a more natural, and shorter, interaction. 

Nonetheless, following the typical technology adoption curve outlined in the eye-opening book, Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey Moore in 1991, we indeed witnessed the initial hype in the year 2000 (when both SPWX and NUAN went public) with the anticipation that speech recognition would immediately become ubiquitous.  Then, reality set in, acknowledging that technology, cost, and use case applications needed to align. More steady-state growth did take place over the ensuing few decades.  Today, telephony speech recognition is certainly more prevalent in contact centers, resulting from a combination of well-designed user interfaces with graceful recovery, increased technology computing power, and an overlay of customer familiarity. Net-net, most would agree that speech recognition has indeed helped improve the caller experience, as measured by metrics such as CX, CSAT, and Net Promoter Score (NPS). 

Beyond speech recognition, the contact center industry has witnessed an ongoing series of transformations since 2000. In this time period, other contact center technologies have emerged and become more entrenched; ranging from the adoption and expansion of multi-channel digital communication (messaging, SMS, etc.) and then architectural shifts from on-premises solutions to alphabet-soup cloud-based [X]AAS solutions… SaaS, CCaaS, PaaS, OaaS, etc.  Now skipping to the present 2020s, as we navigate the dynamic landscape of contact center technologies, the latest technology buzz has risen in popularity: Artificial Intelligence (AI).

AI certainly holds the same promise that speech recognition did at the turn of the millennium… offering a wealth of opportunities to enhance customer service, agent well-being, and overall business value. In this blog series, we'll continue to delve into the pivotal role of AI in transforming contact center operations, with a specific focus on the impact to CX, EX, Efficiency, and Quality. 

Challenges for Implementing New Tech in Contact Centers

While technology promises innovation and efficiency, its adoption in contact centers is not without challenges. Agents (and their related titles of customer service representatives, patient care advocates, advisors, etc.) are the frontline heroes of contact centers.  As new technologies emerge, these agents must not only attempt to maintain their knowledge of the content they’re required to know and navigate, but also adapt to new tools and systems. The integration of these technologies into existing workflows can be a daunting task. Challenges emerge in the form of adoption hurdles, resistance to change, and the need for comprehensive training programs. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to remote work further complicated matters, highlighting the importance of seamless onboarding and ongoing support.

Managing the Initial Hype About Generative AI

With the advent of Generative AI, there has been a palpable buzz surrounding its capabilities. It's crucial to navigate the realm of AI with discernment, differentiating between genuine promise and inflated claims. Managing this initial infatuation is essential to ensure that expectations align with reality, avoiding a naive happily-ever-after mentality.

Where AI Has Promise for Transforming Contact Center Operations

We’ll continue to explore the transformative potential of AI within contact centers. Just as there isn’t one cookbook that covers all types of cuisines, the reality is that AI isn't a one-size-fits-all solution either.  Instead, various AI flavors--including related versions of Emotion AI, Conversation AI, and the more viral version of Generative AI; e.g., Chat-GPT--offer a myriad of opportunities for improving operations, from automating routine tasks like call summarization... to providing real-time insights into customer behavior... to assessing the impact upon agent experience.  AI certainly offers the opportunity to revolutionize how contact centers function; in particular, its impact on agent support and customer interactions holds immense promise; it's just that we as AI chefs just need to match the right ingredients in serving AI to our corresponding customers.

Going Forward...Key Considerations for Adopting AI in Contact Centers

Embarking on the AI journey within a contact center necessitates careful consideration. To effectively harness AI's power, contact center executives, operational directors, HR managers, and IT directors must collaborate and strategize. Key considerations include defining clear objectives, assessing the readiness of existing infrastructure, selecting the right AI solutions and use cases, determining budget, and addressing the essential aspects of workforce training and change management.

In the subsequent sections of this blog series, we'll delve deeper into these considerations, providing actionable insights and guidance on adopting AI effectively within the contact center environment.

In Blog #2, we’ll address "AI-Driven Customer Experience: a Key to Competitive Advantage.”  This will explore how AI can enhance the customer experience, making it a crucial strategic advantage for contact centers.

Then as a sneak peak to Blog #3, we’ll transition into formulating the elements of building a business case for AI in the Contact Center.

As always, your perspectives are welcomed–as are suggestions for topics I can include in future posts. I invite you to share your thoughts, questions, or experiences related to evaluating and adopting AI in the contact center.