The rise of AI-powered solutions has sparked concerns about widespread job displacement, and nearly every industry has felt its impact. The customer service sector offers a glimpse into this future, as chatbots increasingly handle a variety of inquiries. While this is a significant technological breakthrough, the essence of exceptional customer experience lies not in managing routine tasks, but in addressing complex issues. This is only possible through pairing AI with well-skilled humans, ensuring that each interaction is handled with the expertise and empathy only humans can provide.
In a recent McKinsey survey, 3,500 consumer respondents of all ages said they are tired of digital self-service and prefer live phone conversations when seeking help and support. This even rang true for Gen Z, a generation typically known for their ability to communicate via text or chat.
For this reason, companies are supplementing their customer care agents with AI tools. This approach is boosting service quality, with some companies improving customer service levels by over 10% while cutting costs by more than 5%. In a survey of 3,500 respondents of all ages, live phone conversations emerged as one of the most popular ways to seek help. By combining AI with highly skilled workers, companies are expanding their ability to provide top-notch customer experiences.
Customer service interactions have also become increasingly complex over time. To combat this, some organizations are using GenAI to cut average call resolution times from an average time of 125 minutes to just seconds. Companies now need to integrate AI into other processes to give their employees more time to have meaningful interactions with customers. Companies will experience the most success here if they leverage AI for low-value interactions, reducing the overall volume of such tasks. This is where it makes the most sense to utilize AI because AI struggles with complex issues, which are essential for building customer loyalty and driving business growth.
Outsourcing has become a popular option with companies as they look for innovative ways to fill skills gaps and free up staff for more intricate tasks. This can be an efficient way to find additional skilled capacity and innovation capabilities when AI adoption cannot be implemented quickly enough to support it. However, beyond outsourcing, companies must invest in proper training to ensure new employees are confident in their skills and interactions with customers. Well-trained employees can better meet customer needs, leading to improved user experiences.
Contrary to popular belief, AI has the power to create more jobs – not take them away. Organizations that integrate AI with human intelligence will upskill workers and create more opportunities within the workplace. AI will automate simple tasks and, in the process, develop new, more complex types of jobs while augmenting worker capabilities and expanding their potential to do new tasks.
Organizations that tap into AI tools guided by human expertise will significantly uplevel their customer service, offering a premium “white glove” experience. Without the integration of human elements, AI risks producing errors that could harm both the brand and the customers – and we can’t have that happen.
