Conversational AI and the Future of Customer Communications

Since Google’s ultra-smart voice assistant, Duplex, made its prototype debut last summer, there has been a growing buzz in the arena of artificial intelligence and automation. Understandably so, considering Google’s realistic demonstration of the AI-powered voice assistants. While this demo was more focused on the context of personal use, the same technology has been heavily influencing how businesses conduct customer care operations as well.

Thanks to intuitive advancements such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Interactive Voice Response (IVR), using AI-based technologies for communicating with customers and facilitating their requests is now a prospect that isn’t too far away in the future. In fact, for some businesses, the future is now. For example, industry leader IBM has already unveiled Watson, a cutting-edge conversational AI technology that is well established and ready for use by businesses in a number of different capacities - from communication to security.

Artificial intelligence is a computer program that acts like a human after learning several data patterns and insights. Speech & voice recognition, machine learning, and virtual assistants are some of the popular features of AI. Conversational Artificial intelligence is a market that has emerged potentially lately and is estimated to continue to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years.

Conversational AI represents the technologies that are designed to provide users with a customer experience similar to human interaction. Best artificial intelligence tools are being used in different industries to resolve problems, answer queries, collect data, engage customers, and for efficient service delivery. With streamlined operations companies’ efficiency, productivity, and revenue boost. Chatbots and virtual agents are some examples of artificial intelligence software that can recognize speech and text and converse with real people. 

This became possible because of the consolidation of automated responses, natural language processing, and machine language. Conversational AI is being predicted to be a significantly important part of organizational facets of businesses in the future. Let’s talk about some of the best artificial intelligence software transforming our lives.

• Watson Assistant: a powerful artificial intelligence-based bot widely used in businesses for basic transactions. Launched by IBM Watson Assistant is a software that has an incredible record in executing simple transactions, answering questions, and linking customers with agents when mandatory. This outstanding artificial intelligence software has empowered customer service agents, amended customer satisfaction, and enabled businesses to hit a 337% ROI.
• Automat.ai: businesses will unquestionably agree on the significance of listening to their client’s queries to serve them better. Automat.ai is one of the best conversational AI software with amazing listening abilities that understands every customer and has implicit product recommendation engines that provide personalized recommendations and engage customers to cater to the premium shopping experience. The in-built e-commerce personalization suite of Automat.ai enables businesses to drive profit, improve trust, purchase confidence, and conversion rates, and strengthen customer relationships.
• Kore.ai: a business’s IT domain is a crucial division that must run smoothly. Kore.ai is the best artificial intelligence software that enables companies to use their human IT power to deal with critical business priorities and solve important tickets. It absolves them from high-volume, low-value activities, enabling the AI-powered chatbots to handle the rest. According to a recent report, this latest AI-driven IT solution has brought down call volumes by 32% and improved response times by 25%.

Artificial intelligence software has different pricing plans. You can buy their monthly, bi-monthly, or tri-monthly subscriptions. For training and testing purposes, free artificial intelligence software is also available on the market. Conversational AI tools help businesses accomplish their targets. Prompt response and quick resolution of customer issues help reduce customer churn and boost a business’s bottom line.

What are some of the futuristic advantages that conversational AI provides, giving it the edge over other automated systems that function without it?

With AI-based voice assistants, every call will first be filtered with IVR (which can help gauge the urgency of the customer’s request or pull the background information of the customer simply by identifying the voice). While common queries can be taken care of by the bot itself, complex matters can be forwarded to relevant personnel.

This reduces downtime, especially for customers who are in crisis and don’t want to be on hold until an agent attends to them. Thanks to their ever-expanding knowledge base due to machine learning, voice assistants can also understand multiple languages. In turn, they can help staff members understand and respond to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The potential in an AI-fueled Contact Center system doesn’t just end at resolving queries; it also extends to intuitive and resourceful integrations with other business software to get a full picture of your business operations, through an array of tools that have AI capabilities. For example, your Contact Center system can be connected with your company’s CRM solution to reveal data patterns or insights into a customer who may have contacted you via multiple channels, or show you the most common reasons that customers are contacting your business for support. You can also leverage AI-powered analytical tools (such as Business Intelligence) to study key trends and make sound predictions for the future of your business more confidently. After all, the ability to study gathered data from multiple perspectives (quickly and accurately) is one of the hallmarks of AI.

Contrary to popular belief, AI-based technologies are not positioned to replace humans in the workforce. Instead, this technology can free your employees from mundane tasks and give them the opportunity to focus on important initiatives for growth in your company. For example, as Conversational AI takes care of routine queries (while filtering and forwarding more complex issues to relevant personnel), your customer care team can focus on strategic and/or analytical tasks that will help take your company forward.

Keen to know which Contact Center solutions are powered by AI? Visit our Contact Center software page for a list of the latest products!