80 INTERVIEW An intelligent experience Brian Mistretta of NICE discusses why AI has quickly become an essential tool for delivering an outstanding customer experience Consumers in the fairly recent past were somewhat tolerant when customer service queries took a long time to be resolved, being quite accustomed to a slow process. The experience of waiting on hold to speak with a customer service agent, spending time completing a lengthy authentication process and being transferred to multiple different departments to find the right help was seen as frustrating but necessary. But that’s no longer the case, says Brian Mistretta, director of product and segment marketing at NICE. “The tolerance for yesteryear’s call centre experience has largely evaporated,” he says. “Any business that isn’t taking advantage of the reams of data that digital journeys produce and using it to inform engagement with those customers missing out on tremendous opportunity. There is ample, quantifiable evidence that businesses choosing to ‘lean in’ on delivering customer experience (CX) are being rewarded.” Finding ways to use customer data to inform CX is therefore an important focus for businesses looking to remain competitive in today’s digital world. However, discovering and using powerful insights from customer data can be difficult when customer service agents spend much of their time engaged in mundane, repetitive work such as appointment setting, checking balances and passwords, and more. “That reality is what prevents agents from being able to engage more thoroughly on complex or emotionally charged customer interactions,” says Mistretta. “Empathy, active listening, taking ownership and leveraging customer data to personalise the interaction – all these important elements of the experience can end up taking a back seat. This is where customer-facing groups that are measured on CX can run into issues.” However, the solution to this longstanding challenge could be on the horizon. Artificial intelligence promises to significantly expand the number of processes that can be automated, including the monotonous tasks holding agents back. “AI in its many forms and automation truly can take over those repetitive tasks, freeing human agents to spend more time on complex interactions,” says Mistretta. “This will allow them to realise the goal of being a true ambassador for the organisation rather than a reactive ticket taker who is resetting passwords.” NICE’s CXone is the only customer-centreas-a-service platform which includes its own native AI engine, Enlighten. According to Mistretta, this provides the platform with a unique advantage over its competitors. “Enlighten is unique in that it is focused on CX data, leveraging decades of interaction data, helping organisations to accelerate adoption and successful integration of AI-powered features,” he says. “Enlighten is built into the core of CXone, enabling seamless, intelligent BY ALEX SMITH “ The tolerance for yesteryear’s call centre experience has largely evaporated”
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