Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that has burst onto the business scene in an unstoppable way; it allows machines to think "almost" like humans and perform tasks autonomously, such as answering questions, processing natural language, or recognizing images. AI can be applied to customer service to improve productivity, personalization, and service competitiveness.
These are some of the advantages we have identified:
- You can provide personalized and immediate responses to customers, gather useful information about their experience, and offer 24-hour customer service by using chatbots and helping agents focus on interactions where human contact is most relevant.
- They are the ideal means of optimizing service and raising satisfaction levels through machine learning, natural language processing, and deep learning. These techniques enable AI to capture customer patterns, preferences, and emotions, and offer solutions tailored to their demands.
- Increase sales and customer loyalty; AI can contribute by offering a personalized shopping and service experience based on usage habits. Algorithms can recommend products or services that match customers' tastes and behaviors, saving them time and increasing their satisfaction.
At BRAINTRUST, we have been researching, developing, and training algorithms for years, so we have learned a lot about how to use AI to improve service and accompany customers in this complicated process. We are dealing with constantly evolving technologies, with sometimes unclear expectations about how and when to obtain a return on investment, and with an initial trial-and-error phase that the industry has had to go through and which is finally beginning to bear fruit.
If there is one thing we are certain of, it is that AI is going to be a real revolution, improving efficiency and customer experience in medium and large service operations and in all types of businesses. As a company well versed in artificial intelligence, at BRAINTRUST we would like to share a list of best practices and lessons learned, incorporating AI into customer service:
- The importance of having good service data: AI developments are based on data. The greater the quantity and quality of our service data, the easier it will be to automate a process with AI. If data management has always been a key point in operations, it is now a vital issue.
- Involve the teams that provide the service: AI automation is truly powerful when it works in collaboration with human agents. Many operations can be automated, but in other cases, the customer will need a person. If this symbiosis is achieved, we will see exponential growth not only in service efficiency but also in customer satisfaction with the service.
- AI developments allow us to propose a proactive service model: having the ability to anticipate customer demand and resolve it. This goal, a classic example of service excellence and until now considered "science fiction," is possible and works.
- Savings and efficiency plans involving AI must be realistic. Unmet expectations in this regard undermine many automation initiatives. It is necessary to know what capabilities we have (data, technology, organizational maturity, etc.) and to achieve milestones progressively and safely.
- Taking into account the customer (their expectations and needs by customer type) and our brand promise (the type of service we have committed to providing our customers).
- Rely on the customer's preferred contact channels to facilitate theirengagementwith the automated service. In this regard, WhatsApp is the fastest-growing service channel in Europe, while traditional telephone support is declining.
- Design the automation of interactions using UX methodologies, defining interactions and automatic conversations with a user experience perspective.
- The agile methodology of automation use cases has proven to be the most effective for the development of our service automation plan.
- As we mentioned, not all transactions can be automated, either due to technical limitations or business strategy. It is important to decide how to prioritize automation developments judiciously, where to start, and to be clear about how far we want to go.
- Maintain an inclusive perspective. The recent "I'm old, not stupid" campaign, which we will all remember, marked a turning point in the way customer services are automated. On the other hand, the new legislation on this matter, the Customer Service Act, also imposes restrictions on AI automation, let's not forget.
By following these ten guidelines, we are sure to improve our customer service.
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