You’ve likely heard the adage, “Work smarter, not harder.” Coined by industrial engineer and creator of the work simplification program Allen F. Morgenstern, the phrase suggests that to be successful, you don’t have to work longer hours or take on unrealistic workloads. Instead, focus on increasing the ability of people to produce more with less effort. This can include utilizing technology and automation as well as simpler changes such as organizing your workspace and turning off notifications that can stymie productivity. In this article, we’ll dig into how an artificial intelligence call center solution can help you and your team work smarter by streamlining processes, improving productivity, increasing employee satisfaction, and enhancing the customer experience.

Streamline Customer Service

Artificial intelligence presents multiple opportunities to ensure customers can reach businesses quickly. From AI voice tools that can be trained to answer incoming calls and frequently asked questions to intelligent chat bots, the technology exists to help take pressure off team members and provide the fast response customers expect. Gartner reports “54% of support teams use some form of chatbot, VCA, or other conversational AI platform for customer-facing applications. And by 2027, chatbots will become the primary customer service channel for roughly a quarter of organizations.”

However, to make the most out of an artificial intelligence call center, for example, organizations must ensure call (or chat) data is collected and evaluated in one platform—so teams have visibility into the customer experience and can better measure and strategically develop the desired customer experience. By consolidating data silos, teams can better assess how the AI and human team members are performing and make faster changes to further improve the process.

Improve Productivity

When employees are on the phone, they aren’t helping the customers in front of them. And when they’re busy in meetings and other tasks, they aren’t helping customers on the phone or onsite. It’s impossible to be two places at once. Yet, we often expect customer service personnel and sales teams to “multitask”. But multitasking (or task switching) has very real consequences not only on work productivity but also mental health. Psychology Today reports task switching is “expensive”. Here’s what we know based on decades of research:

  • It takes more time to get tasks completed if you switch between them
  • You make more errors when you switch tasks
  • If the tasks are complex, time and error penalties increase

With an artificial intelligence call center in place, employees can focus on higher level customer needs and other work that demands their attention. The AI call center can manage all inbound calls, responding to all customer questions with the ability to take a message or even transferring more complex concerns to employees in the moment. Techjury recently published that “AI can increase business productivity by 40%”! Which stands to reason, considering with AI the need for employees to task switch will decline and, as a result, they will become more productive.

Increase Employee (and Customer) Satisfaction

Organizations that are able to implement efficient processes that create a more reasonable workload for employees are more likely to positively impact employee satisfaction. When employees have the time and resources to do their jobs, they are more likely to be patient with customers, express empathy, and leave customers feeling taken care of. Bottomline, when your employees are happy, so are your customers. It’s a trickle down effect that you can influence from the top.

It’s important to note that a number of team members may feel like AI could take their place. While AI can certainly reduce overhead and the need to hire more staff, it should never be used as a tool to threaten workers. Make sure managers know how to communicate how a solution like an artificial intelligence call center can improve employee productivity, stress levels, and job satisfaction. It’s not a replacement but an enhancement tool that will improve customer satisfaction and loyalty over time.

Enhance the Customer Experience

Thanks to brands like Apple, Amazon, and Nordstrom, customers have high expectations when it comes to customer service. Multiple ways to communicate and receive a quick response are no longer “nice to haves”. They are table stakes for any business looking to grow. What’s more, customer loyalty only gets you so far. Gone are the days of choosing a brand over another simply because it’s what you’ve always done. In fact, “49% of customers who left a brand to which they’d been loyal in the past 12 months say it’s due to poor CX.” (Emplifi)

Consumers are savvy and have access to more information than ever before when making a purchasing decision. And they prioritize their experience with a brand sometimes over the cost if they feel heard and appreciated. That means you need to be available when they need you, whether that’s at 8:00 am on a Monday or 10:00 pm on a Saturday. AI can make your team available even when they’re off the clock. And, a streamlined customer service system can alert employees to customer concerns that were handled while they were away so they can follow up to make sure the customer is satisfied. It’s the little check ins like this that make customers feel prioritized and cared for. And, it can lead to brand loyalty and continued business for years to come.

Not All AI Solutions are Equal

While artificial intelligence is a newer to businesses, it is a quickly evolving technology that has proven time and again to help create efficiencies across industries. Whether you’re considering testing a chat bot for your website, currently using tools like Grammarly or Chat GPT to improve your communication, or ready to implement an artificial intelligence call center, every tool does have it benefits and potential drawbacks. Take the time to fully research solutions position to address your specific needs or challenges. There is no “one size fits all” approach that will work every time. AI tools must be trained and refined over time, which, well… takes time. But the time you invest to make sure your AI solution meets the needs of your customers will reap rewards far beyond ROI for years to come.

Interested in learning more about artificial intelligence call centers or answering services? Reach out to our team today! And, in the mean time, check out “Is AI Call Answering a Customer Experience Solution?“