What should be AI’s role in Customer Service?

In an era where algorithms drive how we engage with news, what social media feeds influence us, and our homes and cars continue to learn our behavior and do everything automatically, from adjusting temperature to turning on lights and keeping us safe, it’s no surprise that businesses are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance our customer experience and brand engagement. Customers want brands and businesses to know who they are, what they like, what they have bought previously and what they may want to buy in the future, and make all of it available readily, pay for it seamlessly, and if something were to go wrong in the process have it fixed quickly and easily.

Underlying all this is vast amounts of data being collected, stored and analyzed, relatively cheaply due to Cloud computing technologies. With the ability to convert speech to text and vice versa, and making that information searchable and learnable, software programs (bots) continue to gather intelligence about how customers (humans) interact, their sentiments, and are able to help businesses make informed decisions on how to continue improving the customer service experience.

But how much of this machine intelligence (AI) is too much? IVR’s (interactive voice response), for example, could frustrate the customer when they desperately want to speak to a human when stuck at an airport with a canceled flight or report a missing package. So, where do businesses draw the line between where the machine stops and have humans take over? Can machines always get it right by interpreting the data, or do they get biased by the programmers who wrote the software? Let’s look at how businesses could use AI to enhance human interaction but not eliminate it.

What should the customer expect from AI?

Recognizing who you are, assuming the business knows your phone number, your email, or some unique identifier associated with you, AI will authenticate you quickly for most transactions.

Quicker response times because AI, in many cases, can predict why you are calling (a delayed flight, missed delivery, etc.) and can provide a brief update, especially for common queries.

Anticipating your needs by learning your behavior and getting it right from underlying purchasing data and forecasting models

Enhanced agent interaction by having access to millions of interactions, recognizing patterns, and helping the human agent to improve the overall experience.

Quicker Resolution because in many cases, especially for low-value transactions, AI is enabled and empowered to resolve customer complaints (e.g. provide refund, file a claim)

Why AI cannot replace humans?

To retain consumers and establish loyalty in a competitive business environment, business’s must listen to consumers and address their concerns, quickly. However, there are areas where machines hit their limits when dealing with humans and their expectations.

Authenticity: Machines can never replace the power of people to give authenticity to a brand. A brand’s culture is made up of the shared values of the people behind that brand. The reputation of the brand is represented by the passion of the employees.

Interpretation: AI cannot interpret the “why” behind the results. AI has the ability to pull together data from thousands of sources and come up with charts and reports that may leave us in awe. But these results have no meaning without interpretation. The humans need to reason out the why.

Creativity: AI isn’t smart enough to do creative problem-solving. AI isn’t capable of analyzing the context in the external environment, thinking critically through complicated scenarios, and coming up with solutions.

Emotion: High-value purchases are often based on human emotions. A human understands that and can deliver on it. Machines take the emotion out of it and could thus impact the purchasing decision negatively.

Our Takeaway

Overall we can sum up that as Marketers, it is our role to harness technology and provide meaning to the work that machines do. While AI can quickly assemble knowledge, it struggles to replace or duplicate true human interactions. According to a McKinsey survey, organizations need skilled specialists who can analyze, distill, the data and clearly communicate information thereby contributing directly to sales effectiveness. That is why top-tier and forward-thinking organizations are using AI to complement what humans do to enhance organizational agility, productivity, and experiences.