Over the past year, the use of AI-driven tools and features in Contact Centre solutions has increased significantly, from call transcripts and summaries to sentiment analysis and extensive use of chatbots. As AI becomes more sophisticated and prominent, use cases multiply and become more complex.
So, what’s in store for AI in contact centres?
I spoke with Ben Knox-Johnston, Business Development Manager at Conversant, to explore what we can expect in the upcoming future.
AI in Contact Centres: The Future
“AI is already making big contributions to the way contact centres operate, and as industry leaders start seeing the benefits, we’ll see more and more features making their way into this space,” Knox-Johnston notes.
Here are some of them:
Advanced Conversational AI: As AI progresses, we’re expected to see significant advancements in its conversational capabilities, greatly benefiting contact centres.
“The next-generation AI systems will be even more advanced, accurate, smarter, faster, and better at understanding more complex interactions,” Knox-Johnston says.
From engaging in multi-turn conversations to understanding context and providing more human-like responses, there’s plenty in store.
Emotion and Sentiment Analysis: Future AI-driven contact centres will incorporate advanced emotion and sentiment analysis technologies.
“By analysing tone of voice, speech patterns, and transcriptions, contact centres will be able to get key insights into customers’ sentiments and emotions throughout their call journey,” Knox-Johnston explains.
This capability will allow for more empathetic interactions, tailored responses, and improved customer satisfaction.
Hyper-Personalisation: In the future, AI will allow contact centres to offer hyper-personalised experiences, driven by deeper integration of customer data and advanced analytics.
“AI will be able to help business understand their customers’ preferences, make recommendations based on sentiment or previous experiences, and create personalised support,” Knox-Johnston says.
Voice and Visual AI Integration: The integrations of voice and visual AI technologies are likely to become more prevalent in future contact centres.
“We’re already seeing how AI can interact with photos and videos, and bringing this into the world of customer service will help us gain a much deeper understanding of customer needs,” Knox-Johnston predicts.
This integration is expected to enhance the quality of remote interactions and provide richer, more immersive customer experiences.
Predictive Customer Service: Advancements in predictive analytics will enable AI-powered contact centres to offer even more proactive customer service.
“When integrated into a contact centre, AI will start learning from its data, which will allow it to predict issues, identify patterns, and initiate proactive engagement with customers.”
This proactive approach will help businesses address customer concerns before they escalate and improve overall service levels.
Conversant: Upcoming Launches
Now that we’ve established where AI is headed on an industry level – what is Conversant working on for their own contact centre module? Here’s what we can say about the upcoming additions to their omnichannel contact centre for Microsoft Teams:
“We are in the final stages of developing advanced sentiment analysis capabilities to be added to our solution,” Knox-Johnston shares. “It’s currently in Beta testing and is planned to be rolled out officially in the next quarter.”
Conversant is also planning to roll out more advanced AI-based features in the future, so stay tuned.
For more information about their Contact Centre for Microsoft Teams, visit Conversant’s website.
