employees, AI, business survey

Customer service agents actually see a silver lining in AI, not just dark clouds. At least two new studies indicate agents believe generative AI will enhance their jobs and not eliminate them.

Nearly two-thirds of agents (65%) said they want to use real-time AI hints and suggestions, and 81% of those who use AI feel comfortable shifting an interaction from service to sales, according to Cresta, a provider of generative AI for contact centers.

Despite an apocalyptic storyline of AI eviscerating the industry, 91% of 1,000 agents polled said they are happy at work with AI-powered personalized coaching, compared to 57% of those with standard, randomized coaching.

They don’t see an existential threat but rather a pathway to greater efficiency, a Cresta executive said.

“The prevalent narrative is that AI fully automates contact centers, but why automate one of the few sources of two-way communication with customers to get good data feedback?” Devon Mychal, Cresta’s head of product marketing, said in an interview. ‘The agents overwhelmingly love [AI] tools.”

Meanwhile, Yellow.ai, a global leader in AI-first customer service automation, found large-scale adoption of AI within North American customer service operations and contact centers. Nearly 85% of respondents either plan to or are already leveraging AI, based on Yellow.ai’s study of 200 customer service professionals and executives in more than a dozen industries.

The study underscores North American organizations are ramping up efforts to meet rising demand for customer service automation beyond basic automation to embrace AI-first approaches. Some 58% plan to integrate AI into their contact centers and customer service operations within the next 12 months. What is more, 61% of executives expect positive customer responses from AI.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents anticipate greater efficiency (74.7%) and improved customer satisfaction (73%) with AI adoption. Two-thirds (66.7%) anticipate lower operating costs.

“Our study reveals that North American customer service professionals are eager to adopt AI, inspired by the success of pilot projects,” Yellow.ai Chief Executive Raghu Ravinutala said in a statement, announcing the results.

“Looking ahead, nearly one-third (32.5%) of respondents plan to implement fully autonomous customer service operations,” Ravinutala said. “This involves AI systems handling 100% of customer interactions, with employees up-skilled to oversee, manage, and fine-tune the AI system in real-time. This readiness demonstrates the industry’s embrace of future tech advancements, and we’re enthusiastic about leading this evolution for our customers.”

A majority of executives (56.5%) are dedicated to training employees to work with AI, according to Yellow.ai.

Despite enthusiasm for AI, challenges persist. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents believe integration of AI with current systems will be difficult, with high implementation costs (36%) and data privacy concerns (33%) lesser concerns.

One estimate cited by CustomGPT.ai warns up to 30% of traditional support functions will be displaced by AI-driven efficiency.

AI and contact centers optimally mesh when the human element is “front-and-center” and AI is used as a tool by people, experts say. This, in turn, has helped call centers improve efficiency, reduce costs, enhance customer satisfaction and provide more personalized service.

The lure of AI’s three A’s — augment, automate, and accelerate — assists businesses to deliver “better employee and customer experiences,” Barry Cooper, president of CX Division at NICE, said in an email message.

“An overreliance on AI in customer call centers is certainly not advised,” AI expert Jennifer Jones-Mitchell said in an interview. “That said, if you properly train AI Agents (custom LLMs) to achieve the objective of customer satisfaction while giving the tech every asset and instruction it needs, you can optimize virtual assistants to handle a wide variety of queries, in every language.”

Indeed, most companies say AI shaves the time to complete customer interactions on average by 39% — or nearly six minutes per call — according to recent research by analyst firm Metrigy.

“The ability to automate FAQ and provide the most human-like experiences with the latest GenAI is now very possible,” Conversica CEO Jim Kaskade said in a message. “In fact, with proper ‘grounding’ or use of client-data to train the AI to be the best of all employees, with the entire enterprise’s FACT base, the sky is the limit.”

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