By Cristina Fonseca, AI Director at Zendesk
Last updated on June 22, 2023
Person in front of a laptop
Despite the hype, AI isn’t here to replace your human agents. On the contrary, when human agents and AI join forces, they form a powerful CX team that leverages their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses.
Your agents shouldn’t be overwhelmed by low-value work. With AI at their side, they can focus on the tasks that make a difference, resulting in a better experience for all parties.
For many support teams, AI is already handling the majority of customer requests for things like password resets, refunds, or order tracking. For more complex questions, AI can taiwan email list direct customers to the right place and ensure agents have the information they need to deliver fast, personalized support. This includes providing recommended answers or help center articles that can make service simple and just a click away.
When human agents and AI join forces, they form a powerful CX team.
We believe AI will touch and guide each and every customer touchpoint over the next five years. This means the role of agents – and the makeup of support teams – needs to continue to evolve. Instead of handling the first customer contact, agents will step back to provide a critical layer of oversight and address complex queries that require human assistance. This will ensure AI remains accurate and continues to improve .
For businesses, the rethinking and reshaping of their support operations starts now. While we are in the early stages of AI development, these technologies are already having a major impact on day-to-day operations. Simply put, no agent should be left to manage password reset requests at the expense of solving larger, more complex issues. And going forward, their role will only become more important and strategic.
Here are some tips for CX teams to be AI-ready now and in the future.
Leverage AI now for rapid and immediate impact
AI may have come a long way since it beat you at chess, but we’re only just beginning to discover what’s possible. According to PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence study, AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 – a huge but understandable sum when you consider the sheer number of industries that can benefit from it.
For CX, AI is already having an immediate impact. According to our research, agents see AI as a tool that makes them more effective:
63% agree that having access to AI would help them find information faster.