Most customer interactions now start digitally, with AI-powered bots or intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) accounting for around 85% of these interactions, according to ZK Research. With the advent of generative AI, bots can handle even more complex transactions.

Despite these advances, there are situations where generative AI falls short, particularly when customers are unable to resolve their queries effectively. This underscores the importance of human involvement in customer service, especially when it comes to complex issues and problem solving.

THE IMPACT OF AI ON CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

The customer experience is now the most important brand differentiator, surpassing other factors such as price and product quality. According to data from ZK Research, two-thirds of millennials have changed their brand loyalty based on a single bad experience. Today, 90% of companies compete on the basis of CX, a significant increase from 28% five years ago. Improving the customer experience is a top priority for organisations with digital transformation initiatives.

In short, AI is likely to impact most business or customer interactions. 78% of organisations plan to invest in AI to improve the customer experience. Companies that provide a superior experience continue to be patronised by customers, who remain loyal to the brand. On the other hand, those that don’t provide a good experience struggle to retain customers.

Generative AI makes it easy to quickly personalise customer interactions thanks to its ability to analyse vast amounts of data. Natural language processing (NLP) tools powered by generative AI, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are democratising AI beyond the realm of specialised companies. Such tools are now available to everyone.

LINGUISTIC MODELS AND EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENT VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) have had a mixed reception, ranging from scepticism to outright dislike, mainly due to their limited intelligence without AI. An IVA is another form of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) which, despite its role in customer service, has been more frustrating than helpful to users. One of the main problems was the lack of integration between systems, with agents failing to capture the information entered into an IVR. The same was happening with IVA.

With the implementation of large linguistic models, IVAs have become more conversational. Instead of using specific phrases, users can now communicate using natural language. Some IVAs have improved to the point where human agents are preferred in certain scenarios due to their speed and lack of waiting time.

Applying AI to IVAs has made them smarter, more accurate and more capable, resulting in a significantly improved customer experience. People can speak in their own voice and be understood, without having to adapt their speech patterns to the needs of the software.

CHANGING METRICS FOR CALL CENTRE PERFORMANCE

In the age of AI, traditional performance metrics such as average handle time and first call resolution are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Artificial intelligence and advanced routing systems have enabled contact centres to handle complex transactions such as mortgage processing in a single call, improving customer satisfaction and potential revenue generation.

In addition, the customer journey is now a key focus for call centres. The new performance metric ensures that customers who need human intervention reach an agent quickly, while others are served efficiently by AI. This represents a significant shift from high frequency, low complexity interactions to high quality, high engagement interactions.

THE STRATEGIC APPROACH TO AI ADOPTION

Organisations looking to adopt AI should take a strategic approach, which includes identifying key business use cases. For certain use cases, such as understanding the nuances of customer queries, generic AI may not be sufficient. This is where ‘custom AI’ comes in, designed and trained to handle more complex queries. Therefore, companies may need to build AI models using unique data sets that meet specific needs.

Human oversight remains essential in the use of artificial intelligence, especially in critical applications such as healthcare and finance. All companies should have policies in place to implement technologies such as ChatGPT effectively and ethically.

Companies should ask their vendors how they plan to integrate AI, and assess their own data to determine if they are ready to take advantage of it. Although it’s still early days, there will be many new opportunities and challenges ahead as we move into an exciting future with artificial intelligence at the forefront.

La entrada What is the role of generative AI in modernising the customer experience? se publicó primero en Enreach ES.

By 2023, many banks will transform into technology companies that will offer digital solutions by leveraging their broad customer base and distribution channels.

What Digital Banking Technology Trends Will Shape the Future of Digital Transformation in the Banking Industry? 

1) More Consumers Will Prefer Digital Channels

More and more consumers prioritize digital solutions when choosing their financial provider. Not only because they want to see what products you offer, but also because they prefer to use digital channels (for example, online/mobile banking) instead of traditional contact channels (for example, in the branch bank or by phone).

This digital banking trend will continue to increase in the future, leading many banks to close branches as they strengthen their “digital maturity”.

2) Banking Is Becoming a Customer Experience-Oriented Industry

In the future, customer experience (CX) is expected to be a key differentiator for financial service providers both in terms of branding and attracting and retaining customers.

Thus, many banks prioritize CX during their digital transformation, ensuring that the solutions they design meet all customer needs in terms of convenience, security, comfort, and engagement.

In 2023, the ability to anticipate customer needs, deliver personalized experiences and great CX will be set apart as a competitive advantage in the banking industry.

3) Open Banking Facilitates Transactions on Digital Platforms

While the Open Banking API is still in its early stages, it promises to transform banking, as we know it. Open APIs allow banks to share data with external service providers, known as Fintechs. These apps are making transactions easier, faster, and more secure through digital platforms.

Open APIs are expected to facilitate the exchange of data between financial institutions, third-party service providers, and customers. The resulting integration could result in faster innovation and better customer experiences (CX) for banks and consumers.

However, security will be a major challenge for them, as financial institutions need to ensure they can provide the necessary protection for customer data without slowing down their workflow. For example, adding time-consuming manual verification steps during the API process might require additional security measures.

4) AI Will Make Banking Smarter with Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

By 2023, Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be the norm for customer interaction. The rise of chatbots and virtual assistants is already having an impact across industries, but it’s their adaptability that makes them truly valuable in banking.

Banks need to leverage this technology to deliver exceptional CX by giving customers automated answers to frequently asked questions, reducing call center volume, and freeing up staff time for value-added tasks. By 2023, these technologies will become the norm in banking apps on most devices, including smartphones and tablets.

5) Digital transformation Will Lead To a New Wave of Competition

The digital transformation of traditional financial service providers has led to the arrival of a number of new players offering solutions such as robotic advisors, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, and digital wealth management tools. Open banking APIs that allow customers to seamlessly manage more than one account through digital self-service channels has fueled these initiatives.

Fintech companies were among the first to introduce digital innovation in many areas, such as payments, loans and transfers. Many of these startups have now become major competitors to the banks as they expand their services and customer bases.

Banks are already partnering with Fintech companies to drive their own digital transformation initiatives and keep up with the startups that are successfully revolutionizing the banking industry.

6) More People Will Feel Comfortable Banking on Their Own

The banking industry is increasingly customer-centric. As digital transformation progresses, many self-service offerings will be available at a bank branch or ATM, allowing customers to open accounts quickly and easily without having to visit the branch bank.

The rise of digital banking is leading to better CX through enhanced self-service capabilities, faster account opening, more secure transactions, and broader accessibility. Thus, the resulting increase in customer engagement has helped banks generate new revenue streams through cross-selling of financial products.

By 2023, automated processes across the board are expected to transform service quality, with self-service tools powered by advanced analytics helping customers make faster and better-informed decisions.

7) Digital Banking Will Focus More on Big Data and Predictive Analytics

With Big Data, banks will put customer behavior at the center of their business models as they can provide more personalized services and improve sales by taking full advantage of predictive analytics.

In the future, successful digital transformation will depend on how much a bank can learn from its customers. Analytics will become essential in customer acquisition efforts, as well as market segmentation and cross-selling.

As a result, banks will have better intelligence on consumer behaviors and spending patterns, which can help them, develop targeted products and services.

By 2023, Big Data and predictive analytics will allow banks to gain a 360º view of customer needs, offering them contextually relevant information on discounts or personalized offers.

8) Banking Apps Are Becoming Smart Digital Assistants for Customers

By 2023, banking apps will shift from being mere self-service tools to customer relationship management platforms that anticipate consumer needs and offer personalized advice based on their financial situation.

The banking app will become an “intelligent digital assistant” that will be able to understand consumer needs and preferences based on their financial behavior over time. For instance, if a customer always transfers money to their savings account on payday, but forgets to top up their payment card with funds for the next month, the smart application will be able to predict that they will need to do so soon.

In this way, the intelligent assistant takes proactive steps by communicating with the customer and suggesting what they might want to do before they even know it.

It is expected that in the next five years, customers will be able to access different types of digital banking services more easily than ever before.

La entrada What Trends Will Mark Digital Banking in 2023? se publicó primero en Enreach ES.

What Is Digital Transformation in Law Firms?

Except for the use of online document signing, client databases, and email, digital transformation has been slow in coming to the legal profession. So how are they implementing it?

Digital transformation is the process of adopting and incorporating technology throughout the organization to create more efficiency, reduce errors, improve capabilities, increase insights, and improve customer relationships.

There has been rapid growth in the LegalTech space in recent years. Specific software and platforms have been developed to enhance many elements of the legal profession. The pandemic increased innovation in technology for the secure exchange of documents, affidavits, and notarization. There is also software that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to offer lawyers new insights that positively influence the benefit of clients.

4 Ways the Legal Profession Benefits from Digital Transformation

Each law firm has a specialty and specific clients that dictate what type of digital transformation matters most to them. For example, corporations will have different requirements than family practices.

Here are four important aspects that can positively impact law firms of any type:

1) Automation

The Mckinsey Global Institute notes that 23% of the work done by lawyers could be automated. From filing documents to signing contracts to reviewing documents for errors or discrepancies, technology has been created to take these mundane tasks out of a lawyer’s day.

2) Security

This is both a benefit and a necessity. Increasing security with technology can keep information safe and provide peace of mind for customers. It is also important for law firms to prioritize security throughout the digital transformation. In the ABA’s 2022 Legal Technology Survey Report, 25% of these said they had experienced some type of data breach in the past year. Therefore, it is important that they invest in cybersecurity technology that ensures privacy compliance and that all data is secure.

3) Customer Experience (CX)

Technology offers law firms an advantage with clients. They may prefer to share documents digitally or have a videoconference instead of visiting a law firm in person. In this sense, it is important that law firms discover which elements provide the greatest benefit to clients and implement those areas of digital transformation first.

4) Intelligence

Technology can provide lawyers with information beyond what they can glean from long documents. There are solutions available that use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to “read” documents, detecting problems, discrepancies and even emotions or forgeries. The software can analyze the data to detect patterns that can reveal important information and insights.

How Law Firms Can Advance in Digital Transformation

Historically, partners have resisted adopting some technologies for fear that they would change the way they have always done business. A common concern is that technology (especially automation software) could reduce the time the company spends with certain customers, which could decrease hourly billing.

However, the overall benefits for the firm ultimately win out, as the use of technology will free up attorneys’ time to take on new clients rather than focus on administrative or manual tasks.

What Are the Most Important Steps To Move Forward with Digital Transformation?

1) Start Small

Any stakeholder wishing to transition to a digital technology should be given the opportunity to test on a small scale. Perhaps a certain type of document can be easily digitized for online notarization, or a certain case is a perfect candidate for natural language processing. With just a few tests, the team will get used to the new process and begin to see for themselves how their approach could improve on a larger scale.

2) Measure and Share the Results

Any time a new technology or online option is used, it is important to measure the value to the business. How much time was saved? How many new ideas were obtained? What level of error reduction occurred? Sharing these metrics with partners facilitates their acceptance.

3) Grow Smart

As people become more aware of the benefits of digital transformation, it will be critical to prioritize new efforts and get everyone on board before implementing another technology. Introducing too many new processes too quickly can be overwhelming and ultimately have adverse effects on this transformation.

What Are the Challenges of Digital Transformation in Law Firms?

As with any change, there is likely to be resistance from those who don’t want to change the way they work. Difficulty getting a quote for software can also be experienced, and there will inevitably be concerns about privacy, security, and the protection of important information as you move from paper to online or to a new platform.

However, those who lead the implementation of new technologies must overcome these obstacles and be proactive. For example, intensifying learning, showing colleagues the positives to keep them motivated, and sharing those successes with the whole team will ensure that everyone feels good about the work done to embrace digital transformation.

La entrada How Are Law Firms Implementing Digital Transformation? se publicó primero en Enreach ES.

Consumers already know the value of chatbots and virtual agents. They are effective self-service options that are available 24/7 and can answer common queries. According to a Drift study, the number one reason people say they would use a chatbot is to get a quick response in an emergency.

Response speed is a key benefit of using chatbots and virtual agents. In fact, Userlike research revealed that 68% of users like that these self-service options are quick to respond.

Despite these similarities, chatbots and virtual agents have key differences that make them standalone solutions. Let’s see what they are.

What Is a Chatbot?

A chatbot is software that interacts with users according to a set of programmed rules. Unlike virtual agents, chatbots do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI), which limits their capabilities.

Most of us are probably familiar with menu-driven chatbots. When interacting with this type of bot, you typically navigate the conversation by selecting a series of menu options. Hopefully, these lead to a satisfactory resolution, such as an answer to a question. Otherwise, CX-focused brands will make it easy to refer to a customer service agent.

Another type of rule-based chatbot focuses on keywords. They are programmed to identify keywords and get the most probable answer from a knowledge base. This type of bot can be ineffective if users don’t use words you can identify or if keywords have multiple meanings, which may be why Userlike’s research found that 80% of consumers still believe chatbots they have to be smarter to use them regularly.

Despite these limitations, chatbots can provide great CX when programmed well and used appropriately. Rule-based chatbots are good at completing simple and predictable tasks; such as providing password reset instructions or collecting customer information.

What Is a Virtual Agent?

A virtual agent is also a program that interacts with users by simulating a human conversation, but unlike chatbots, AI powers it. Artificial Intelligence gives them capabilities beyond a normal chatbot, which means that virtual agents are often capable of handling a wider variety of interactions.

Additionally, virtual agents that use Natural Language Processing (NLP) can create a better customer experience by allowing users to use normal language. This means users don’t need to navigate menus or guess the right keywords. Interacting with a virtual agent is similar to interacting with a virtual assistant like Siri or Alexa.

Machine learning (ML), a form of AI, also gives virtual agents an advantage over chatbots by making them smarter with use. This means they can learn to understand user intent and predict the next question a customer will ask based on follow-up questions users have asked in the past.

Like chatbots, the performance of a virtual agent depends on how it is set up and maintained. Virtual agents using AI need to be “trained” by consuming large amounts of data, preferably real interactions that have taken place before. This allows the solution to identify patterns that it can use to understand concepts such as user intent.

Key Benefits of Chatbots and Virtual Agents

While it is important to understand the differences between chatbots and virtual agents, it is equally necessary to understand the similar benefits that both can offer.

1) Effective Self-service

When designed well and used in the right context, chatbots and virtual agents can be an effective way for customers to manage their own inquiries.

Today’s consumers want to be able to solve their problems and find their answers for themselves. In this sense, the use of self-service is growing substantially. Userlike research revealed that 95% of businesses reported year-over-year growth in self-service requests in 2021, with an overall average increase of 37%. In addition, 81% of users demand more self-service.

Chatbots and virtual agents can play a prominent role in a company’s self-service strategy. Here are some sample use cases that both can perform:

• Provide users with a link to the company’s return policy and process.
• Gather information about the nature of a customer’s problem and then escalate the inquiry to a live agent.
• Recommend products.
• Provide information on prices.

Also, because they have more capabilities, virtual agents can help customers complete transactions, such as opening an insurance claim or activating a new credit card.

2) Improve Agent Experience (AX)

Chatbots and virtual agents don’t just satisfy customers; they can also make an agent’s job easier. If a bot can provide a link to a video showing customers the products, that means agents can spend their time on more complex, higher value-added tasks.

By making agent roles more fulfilling, call centers can increase their engagement, which is key to delivering exceptional customer service experiences. Additionally, this can help curb the high agent turnover many contact centers face.

3) Reduce Operating Costs

Agent salaries are the largest cost category in a call center. Most contact centers struggle to find a balance between containing costs and satisfying customers with shorter wait times. It’s hard to find a call center that doesn’t feel constrained by its budget.

This brings us to one of the many attractive features of chatbots and virtual agents: they produce a very low cost of service. In fact, Gartner estimates that an average self-service transaction costs $10, compared to $8 for the average agent-assisted interaction. In other words, live agent support is about 80 times more expensive than self-service.

The savings can really add up for contact centers that successfully shift a portion of their agent-assisted call volume to chatbots or virtual agents. That savings allows them to invest in areas like new technology or salary increases that will strengthen their operations and ultimately lead to better CX.

La entrada Chatbot vs. Virtual Agent: Key Characteristics that Call Centers Should Know se publicó primero en Enreach ES.

Companies are challenged to meet these growing demands and are increasingly aware that every customer touch point generates valuable data to better serve their needs. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools can share information beyond the call center across departments, help agents in real time, and ultimately redefine self-service.

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Is Redefining Self-Service?

1) Conversational AI Gives Customers More Control

Companies are putting into practice conversation analytics, natural language understanding (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to improve customer experience (CX) across the full range of channels and modalities.

2) The Customer Experience (CX) no longer Resides Exclusively in Contact Centers

The same AI that understands and derives the intent of each customer from their own words can analyze the content of millions of conversations and extract valuable information for the entire company.

Thus, thousands of cases describing defects or deficiencies in newly launched products or service interruptions can be detected, thanks to the tone of the conversations that are then shared with the product development or customer service personnel to solve problems.

3) Everything Happens in “Real Time”

This means that the understanding of the expressions and the recognition of the intention are carried out in the course of a conversation between agent and client.

Call center agent workspaces and dashboards now routinely highlight customer intent and recommend the best action for an agent or intelligent virtual assistant (voicebot or chatbot) to take at the right time.

4) It Has Become both Predictive and Proactive

AI is great at pattern matching. It can quickly identify who is calling, process customer history, display conversational content (past and present), recognize user intent and match it to the resource that can resolve their query.

From a customer perspective, it lays the groundwork for AI to trigger outbound calls or messages when a business deems it necessary to initiate an action on a user’s behalf, such as rebooking a flight when a traveler’s plans fall through have been interrupted.

5) Facilitates Omnichannel

In the world of digital CX and self-service, it is vitally important to offer customers and agents access to omnichannel. Companies are literally putting the customer in charge of every interaction. It often feels like you’re browsing a website or collaborating in real time. Therefore, both the agent and the user benefit when conversational AI informs their actions.

These five pillars are representative of a host of attributes that make conversational AI a necessity, especially amid the accelerated migration of IT infrastructure to the cloud.

Whether in public or private clouds, AI-infused resources can more quickly:

• Recognize callers and determine the intent of their calls.
• Inform intelligent routing systems so customers are quickly connected to the right agent.
• Provide live information to both live and automated virtual agents to resolve customer issues.
• Detect trends and extract information that can be shared with the entire company to improve products, services and customer satisfaction.

These are the measurable changes in metrics that describe the customer and employee (EX) experience, as well as the bottom line for each company.

Today, customer experience (CXi) interactions take place across a multitude of devices and channels. Successful brands encourage their customers to communicate with them when they want, using any device and through their preferred channel.

La entrada How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Is Redefining Self-Service se publicó primero en Enreach ES.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done, since it is necessary to hire more trained agents who know how to solve user queries, thus offering a better customer experience (CX) and increasing their satisfaction.

According to Accenture, today’s society is less tolerant of poor customer service and if they don’t meet their expectations, they take action, either with formal complaints or through social media like Twitter.

Part of what drives this intolerance for poor service is that modern consumers know what is possible and what is not. Conditioned by their own experiences with private sector companies, they wonder why public sector entities cannot do the same.

And it is that companies have set the bar very high. This is why, according to Salesforce, today’s users have high standards of customer service, such as:

• 83% of customers expect to interact with an agent immediately when contacting a business, an increase of five points from 2021.
• 96% of consumers expect companies to make it easy to switch channels without having to repeat information.
• 66% of users expect companies to understand their needs and expectations.

Although expectations are high, they are not beyond the reach of the public sector. Call centers of public administrations can comply with them by implementing CX improvement solutions.

3 Ways to Modernize CX in Public Administrations

Adopting more customer-oriented metrics is one way to improve CX, but it’s not enough. In this digital age, technology plays a vital role in delivering satisfying customer service experiences. Let’s look at three technology solutions that can modernize public sector CX.

1) Implement a Contact Center Platform in the Cloud

When call center software is in the cloud, call center workers only need to access it through a browser. This means that the provider:

• Provides and manages the hardware.
• Keeps the software updated with the latest version.
• Takes care of the database.
• Is responsible for data security.
• Reduces IT overhead.

The nature of cloud software also provides several important capabilities:

• Easy to integrate.
• Highly secure.
• Supports a hybrid workforce model.
• Offers the option to add new channels and capabilities.
• Reduce costs.
• Availability 24/7/365.

2) Provide Omnichannel Experiences

Many public administrations offer both voice and digital support. Providing multiple ways to communicate is synonymous with convenience and allows users to select the channel of their choice to resolve their query.

But when these multiple channels are not available and integrated into one platform, it creates frustrating friction. Consumers often begin an interaction with the customer service center on one channel and then end it on another. For example, they may send an email and then call a couple of days later if they haven’t heard back.

If the contact center doesn’t have omnichannel capabilities, the agent won’t have access to the email the customer sent, requiring the customer to repeat the information they already provided. This is a huge frustration for users and, in the public sector, it happens far too often.

The best contact center software can deliver optimal experiences through capabilities like smart routing, smart workforce management (WFM) tools, and a unified agent desktop.

3) Optimize Self-Service Options

Most people try to resolve their queries on their own before contacting customer support. In fact, a Harvard Business Review article indicates that 81% of all customers try to solve their problem on their own before contacting an agent.

Well-designed digital self-service satisfies users and can help governments absorb peak call volumes. For example, there are tools that can answer frequently asked questions and perform rule-based tasks, such as scheduling appointments and providing back-office status in multiple languages.

3 Tools that Help Improve Digital Self-Service

1) Administrative Knowledge Management Platform

A well-designed back office knowledge management platform delivers fast, relevant answers to users at multiple points in their customer journey, including the back office website and chatbot or other self-service channel.

Agents also have access to instant responses that help deliver more effective service. This will ensure that consumers receive consistent and accurate information at every touch point and on every channel.

2) Conversational IVR

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to allow customers to use words to indicate which department they want to address when they call. This provides a better experience than tapping numbers on a phone keypad. Conversational IVRs can help make routing more precise.

3) Virtual Agents

Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered virtual agents are bots that can be implemented in websites, apps, messaging systems, and IVRs. They can facilitate all of the types of management we’ve mentioned above, as well as provide proactive customer service. For example, organizations can place them in sections of the website where users may need additional help. Additionally, virtual agents can predict follow-up questions and provide answers before customers ask for them.

La entrada Call Centers of Public Administrations: Citizens Demand Good Customer Service se publicó primero en Enreach ES.