One of the biggest challenges for any contact centre agent is being able to quickly and confidently provide the most helpful answer to the customer the first time they ask the question.
Traditionally, they have struggled to do this because they were unable to access relevant contextual information and historical customer data while speaking with customers. Consequently, customers frequently had to wait in long telephone queues or constantly repeat the same information to multiple agents until their issue was resolved. However, this is all changing with the introduction of artificial intelligence technology, says Will Blench, CEO of Anywhere365.
“AI is empowering organisations to develop new services and capabilities that are transforming how they interact with customers,” he explains. “Many businesses are using the technology to develop voice or chat bots that can answer basic or frequently asked questions, allowing customers to serve themselves if they wish to. This has been particularly beneficial following the widespread introduction of hybrid and remote working models, and the mass migration to cloud-based communication platforms like Microsoft Teams, over the past few years. It has enabled companies to continue easily serving vast volumes of customers, no matter where their contact centre agents are based.”
However, while self-service chatbots are beneficial for certain use cases, they are less effective in complex service desk environments. “The chatbots don’t always have access to the right data to understand the full context of the conversation, so people don’t always find them useful,” says Blench. “Although I’m optimistic that we’ll see a significant shift in our ability to solve this data problem in the next couple of years and eventually develop fully intuitive automated chatbots, for now, they still need a mechanism to reroute customers to humans who can help out.”
Instead, Blench believes the biggest opportunity for using AI in customer service is to develop applications that help agents respond to enquiries more quickly and accurately.
“AI-powered agent assist technology is making the biggest difference in terms of employee productivity, service quality and cost savings,” says Blench. “Anywhere365 is unique in that we use data to help the agents. For instance, we have capitalised on Microsoft Azure OpenAI services to facilitate opportunities in real-time audio transcription, generate conversation summaries, and much more.”
In 2023, Anywhere365 integrated Deepdesk’s AI agent assist technology into its Dialogue Cloud platform and fully acquired the company in 2024. Deepdesk’s solution uses natural language processing algorithms and machine learning technology to analyse customer questions alongside historical data to extract relevant information and generate contextually appropriate responses in real time.
“Our AI technology provides detailed information to agents in real time so they can fully understand the customer’s enquiry and deliver an accurate, helpful and personalised response,” says Blench. “We’re also able to use AI to perform real-time sentiment analysis on conversations to help agents understand how their behaviour is impacting the customer experience and provide suggestions as to how they can improve the interaction. We can also use the data and insights for training purposes to ensure our agents are continually enhancing their skills and the service they’re able to provide.”
The agent-assist technology also offers features designed to decrease the amount of manual work traditionally involved in searching for and typing answers. For example, open text search function Knowledge Assist automatically retrieves information from sources such as internal databases or public websites to supply agents with the optimal responses to client queries. Knowledge Assist can also transcribe voice calls in real time. Meanwhile, agents can use the autocomplete feature to click a button and automatically finish a sentence with precise and relevant wording.
“Automating processes makes agents more productive and efficient, which significantly decreases the average handling time for customer interactions and increases first-time resolution rates,” says Blench. “Not only does this enhance the customer experience, but it also enables employees to save time and frees them up to focus on higher-value tasks and more complex conversations and enquiries.”
The AI-powered capabilities also make it easier for any employee in the business to serve as a customer service agent, says Blench. “Dialogue Cloud can already route calls to the most appropriate employee based on their knowledge, skills and availability via Teams, but the new AI features make it as simple as possible for them to access the information they need to provide the best possible assistance to the customer,” he explains. “The ability to have anyone from a technical expert to a product designer step into the role of customer service agent at any point is a unique and interesting proposition for businesses because it allows them to offer a differentiated level of service.”
By capturing all the existing knowledge of its users using Deepdesk’s AI technology, Anywhere365 can expedite the onboarding and training processes for new employees. “Typically, it takes three to six months to train an agent but with AI, we can make people productive much quicker,” says Blench. “This drives productivity and cuts operational costs.”
To further optimise its solution, Anywhere365 has incorporated Azure Communication Services (ACS) into its Dialogue Cloud.
“ACS is Microsoft’s de facto business-to-consumer communication platform and we’ve been using it for many years,” says Blench. “Now that we’ve integrated ACS into Dialogue Cloud, we can use the APIs and software development kits to add new features voice, video, chat, text messaging, email and other functionalities to our platform. This will enable us to deliver seamless omnichannel communications, allowing customers to choose how they interact with us depending on which channel is most convenient for them at the time.”
Blench explains that using ACS will enable Anywhere365 to develop new customer channels too. “WhatsApp is now becoming a popular channel for business-to-consumer communication and we also expect that more customers will want to have video calls with agents in the near future,” he says. “We’ll be able to use ACS to overcome the technological barriers involved in making both of these mainstream channels over the next couple of years. This will ensure we can develop new communication experiences and easily keep pace with changing customer and employee expectations as they evolve.”
More than 2,000 enterprises and organisations around the world use Anywhere365’s Dialogue Cloud platform, including international grocery retailer Aldi, airline Emirates, Founders Insurance Company, professional services network KPMG and multinational telecommunications company Vodafone. All have reported multiple business benefits since implementing the technology to deliver new capabilities to agent and better services for customers. For example, the North American operations division of vehicle manufacturer Mazda has recorded net savings of $1.8 million, Dutch multinational bank and financial services firm Rabobank has saved each customer 60 seconds per interaction, and 96 per cent of agents working at German logistics company DHL say their overall ability to serve customers has improved significantly since they began using Anywhere365’s technology.
“Although AI, machine learning and other technologies are still in the early stages, these customer examples show that the capabilities we’re developing using these technologies are already making a real difference in terms of productivity, efficiency and cutting operational costs,” says Blench. “More importantly, they’re also empowering agents to work more productively and deliver faster and better-informed services that are transforming the customer experience too.”
Discover more insights like this in the Autumn 2024 issue of Technology Record. Don’t miss out – subscribe for free today and get future issues delivered straight to your inbox!