Despite the accelerating pace of Generative and Conversational AI innovation disrupting contact centers, today’s customer experience (CX) agents are under the same pressure points as always – business performance pressures from one side and demanding customer expectations from the other.
This resulting squeeze is contributing to an increase in agent turnover and an under-satisfied customer base, leaving brands in a scramble as they figure out how to sustain operations while at the same time grow sales and customer retention. CX agents are in need of support to maintain their engagement and morale at work, and brands need help engaging agents to deliver customer satisfaction.
Netomi has been working hard behind the scenes for innovative solutions to alleviate the pressures experienced by agents on both ends of the spectrum. Solutions like auto and co-pilot modes in conversational AI allow organizations to empower their agents with AI, working side-by-side to solve complex issues faster and with more efficiency. Customers also experience significant benefits from the AI-agent partnership, receiving resolutions to their inquiries in a timely manner and through their channel of choice.
This article dives into the capabilities of auto and co-pilot modes in conversational AI and discusses how this technology is making the work lives of agents more fulfilling while boosting CSAT.
The AI-Agent Partnership at Work
Conversational AI has evolved into much more than just an information retrieval tool simulating human speech. Generative AI has accelerated that evolution and adoption even further. With two main modes – auto and co-pilot – AI is taking on the role as an industrious contact center teammate. Its ability to learn and improve makes it a handy assistant that is also capable of taking on roles independently.
In auto mode, the AI handles routine tasks and basic inquiries without input or assistance from the agent, while co-pilot mode assists agents in real-time during more complex interactions.
Let’s take a look at an example of how both modes work together.
Imagine a customer contacts a brand with a question about a recent order. Auto mode would easily be able to confirm the order and provide details like the order number and shipping status.
However, if the inquiry requires more attention, such as changing the order after it has been processed, co-pilot mode would then activate and provide suggestions to the agent on how to address the issue effectively. Suggestions come from a preloaded knowledge database that the AI has become familiar with and developed an understanding of over time.
This assistance enables CX agents to provide the customer with accurate and timely information while reducing their workload. It also enables the AI to learn from responses that the agent provides to the customer, allowing it to evolve and further develop its database of queries and answers in the process.
The combination of both modes becomes indispensable to the agent as it ensures that customers receive a personalized experience, even when dealing with routine inquiries. Customers feel valued when they receive consistently accurate and quick responses to their inquiries, and agents feel empowered to address more complex issues, knowing that their AI-partner has their back.
Empowering Through Proactivity
Netomi’s co-pilot solution is able to take agent assistance to new heights by proactively collecting customer information and suggesting responses in real-time.
For example, if a customer sends an email regarding a product issue, the co-pilot would scan the customer’s previous interactions and suggest the best response based on the history of interaction. If this is the first such interaction for the customer, then the co-pilot would search through the database for similar emails from other customers and suggest a response to the agent. The agent would then have the opportunity to review the response before they send it.
Co-pilot mode can also assess the customer’s query to determine its level of urgency, thereby making the decision on whether to provide a response by turning on auto-pilot, or pass the query to a CX agent. This is known as ticket triaging, and is a revolutionary feature of Netomi’s conversational AI.
This level of proactivity ensures that agents have access to all the relevant information they need to resolve issues effectively, eliminating the need for previous interactions to be repeated. The agents are now less likely to suffer from burnout and are more engaged knowing they have a trusted AI co-pilot by their side.
In fact, the entire contact center benefits from elevated efficiency, as the AI gets better at resolving queries that were once too challenging to resolve without the agent’s help.