Contrary to the widespread notion that artificial intelligence (AI) would revolutionise the world and lead to widespread job displacement, the actual impact has unfolded quite differently. In our ongoing nationwide roadshow, we are exploring how the contact centre industry is approaching and integrating AI, revealing a more nuanced perspective on its role. 

Our recent online seminar presents key findings from our extensive research, challenging the apprehensions surrounding AI. Rather than posing a threat to jobs, AI emerges as a valuable tool in the arsenal of contact centre professionals, enabling them to bolster their frontline colleagues in delivering outstanding customer experiences. Moreover, AI proves to be a transformative force in providing profound insights that can significantly contribute to informed decision-making and the formulation of effective business strategies. 

In essence, the narrative around AI extends beyond job elimination fears. It is, in fact, a technology that, when harnessed thoughtfully, empowers professionals to enhance customer service, glean strategic advantages, and navigate the evolving landscape of the contact centre industry. 

Leigh Hopwood, CEO at CCMA, discussed with some of the industry leaders that presented their approach to AI during the roadshow, such as Paul Manley, VP Customer Service at DHL Express and Ben White, Customer Contact Manager at Nespresso UK, and hear key advice from Steve Barratt, Digital Experience, Chatbot and AI Enterprise EMEA Lead at Genesys. 

There was so much to try and unpack on our session on 7th December 2023 we never got to answer all of the questions raised, so we asked our panellists to answer some of the remaining questions: 

What is your opinion about AI agents and what is the risk of them replacing human contact centre agents? 

Whilst AI will continually improve i believe there will always be a role for a human to deal with the complicated issues where a human will add value.  AI will be used as support for the human rather than replacing them. – Paul Manley, DHS Express 

How do you use AI to support live voice contacts? 

Within Genesys you would leverage the phone call with live knowledge and agent assist which is AI driven based on the conversation taking place and will surface the knowledge to the agent so they can communicate this to the customer – Steven Barratt, Genesys 

AI in the voice channel, how successful can this be? How best to start? 

Voicebots would be a great place to start – Steven Barratt, Genesys 

Do you have experience using any AI tools for coaching / onboarding agents in your organisations? 

We are also launching a co-pilot to prompt the agent to remind them to do things or ask questions of the customer based on the interaction using AI which will help with onboarding them so they get real time support based on the interaction – Steven Barratt, Genesys 

Can AI tech cater for an organisation that is bespoke one that only offers a service that no other Government Dept does and where we governed by Acts & Rules?   

Yes, within Genesys you can do this as we would use your own data therefore any knowledge articles which you maintain will be the source of truth to enable you to remain compliant – Steven Barratt, Genesys 

What is your opinion about AI agents and what is the risk of them replacing human contact centre agents? 

Whilst AI will continually improve I believe there will always be a role for a human to deal with the complicated issues where a human will add value.  AI will be used as support for the human rather than replacing them – Steven Barratt, Genesys 

Are any of you using AI to quality check interactions to increase sample size of interactions and insights on the quality of the agents service? 

You can do this within Genesys so that you can start to quality check all your interactions and use AI, and speech & text analytics along with sentiment to offer you full insight to all customer interactions – Steven Barratt, Genesys  

How can AI cater for different languages and we have the assurance that it is done correctly e.g.: the Welsh Language standards 

Within Genesys we have a number of languages that we can support.  The Welsh language is not currently supported – Steven Barratt, Genesys 

Could you share some insight into what you think the risk attached to AI agents is, and the possibility of them replacing human contact centre agents? 

We need to be careful with our brand – in other words we need to not deceive customers by allowing them to think they are talking to a human when actually they are talking to a bot.   We also need to give the customer clear choices and allow them to talk to a human when they wish – Paul Manley, DHL Express 

Are Paul/Ben using Speech Analytics to assess the call content and reasons for calls? 

We are currently in the design stage now building an application to use AI for Speech Analytics. We are aiming to have this completed and rolled out by the end of March 2024 – Paul Manley, DHL Express