It has been nearly 50 years since the call center came into vogue as the epitome of customer service. ACD (automatic call distribution) technology in the 70’s allowed companies to route calls to various agents as they came in. Since that time advances in software capability have revolutionized the way consumers interact with the organizations.
AI has represented the most meaningful changes in customer service, by adding functionality which eliminates humans in large part. Does this mean that the call center as we know it is going to disappear? Industry experts have considered three main scenarios.
There are basically three possible routes the call center aspect of business may travel.
1. Call centers will become obsolete and fade away.
2. Call centers will continue to be a strategic part of business.
3. Call centers will evolve along with the advances of technology, surviving the changes but looking very different.
Call Centers Disappear: AI technology is already performing many of the tasks that a human being used to. A customer can call into a vendor and get the status of their order, track a shipment, or make a payment without human interaction. From a psychological perspective, humans are getting more used to dealing with machine technology rather than a human being, but are they ready to give it up entirely? If the familiarity of speaking with another human is the tradeoff for faster and more efficient answers, they may in fact move in this direction. But this has yet to be seen, because of the basic human desire to communicate with another person.
Call Centers Remain Vibrantt: There is one driving characteristic of humanity which smart organizations recognize – the need for empathy. Often when a client calls into a customer service line, they are looking for empathy, and to speak with someone who can listen to their problem, help them with a solution, and yes – provide the emotional response they are looking for. This is why for all of the technological advances, nearly 3/4 of people still prefer speaking to a human being when trying to resolve an issue. Improvements in chat technology are starting to gain traction, but let’s face it – who among us hasn’t sat on the end of the phone line, frantically “pressing 0” to try to get to an actual human? Perhaps we should be encouraged that people still want to speak with people, in an age of clicks and apps.
Hybrid Call Centers Evolve: The most likely evolution of the call center, of course, is a blending of AI technology and the human touch. There are still areas where AI has to catch up in order to effectively take over for a trained representative, such as explaining technical issues. However, AI can effectively be utilized to record and analyze any prior calls, purchasing behavior or correspondence in order to route the caller immediately to the most appropriate call center representative. If technology can be used to more effectively route people – not just to the right department but directly to the person most likely to solve their problem – one of the most frustrating aspects of call centers, that of being endlessly transferred and put on hold, can be alleviated.
No matter what happens industry-wide to the call center, there is no denying that you need to proactively address your customer engagement strategy. Whether processing orders or resolving issues, communicating with your customer base effectively is critical to the success of your organization.
For more information on how to structure your company in order to compete in today’s technological environment. call Alliance IT. Our IT services professionals are dedicated to your growth and success.
