Artificial Intelligence at the Service of Customer Relations
The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the global economy is today described by specialists in the “industrial revolution”, as steam machine, oil and electricity and computer in the past. The integration of Artificial Intelligence technologies into business is growing.
Artificial intelligence, however, remains a notion whose definitions vary greatly. At the crossroads of three major digital trends: Big Data, machine learning and cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence can be described as a technological platform to help people:
- perceiving: processing of information from sensors, analysis of images, sounds;
- analyzing: deduction of answers from a knowledge base, personal assistance, etc.;
- understanding: language generation, sharing and consolidation of knowledge, etc.; and finally
- making decisions.
AI at the Service of Customer Relations: How Chatbots Revolutionize Our Consumer Relationship
From HR management (automatic selection of candidates for a desired profile, analysis of CVs, etc.) to law or accounting (proofreading of contracts, automation of accounting acts, etc.), the applications of the Artificial Intelligence already exist in many businesses. For example like a service as a software by GatekeeperHQ’s contract management system uses AI to make certain processes more efficient.
Among these opportunities, the AI also proves its legitimacy to accompany the improvement and the modernization of the customer relationship.
Chatbots, jewels of AI applications in customer experience, were riding high and are one of the preferred solutions by companies to move towards a more personalized customer relationship. Forecasts estimate that 80% of mobile applications will be replaced by instant messaging within five years and that chatbots could generate up to $8 billion in savings per year for customer services by 2022.
The one-to-one relationship created by these tools has the following benefits for businesses:
- inform and improve the accessibility of information: use the chatbot as an improved search engine;
- advise and help the decision: accompany customers in the act of buying or soliciting the company through personalized advice and adapted to the expectations;
- sell differently and facilitate the completion of an act: once the decision is made, propose to plan, reserve and order from a conversation; and
- assist and retain by improving and fluidifying the entire consumer journey.
In full swing and increasingly developed by the general public, chatbots take on very different forms, with heterogeneous functionalities and technical levels. From a technical point of view, they rely on an AI technology called “Text Mining” that can range from simple analysis of the keywords of a query to the management of intentions (language comprehension, ability to couple a will to topics) or even self-learning exploration of content via machine learning (analyze queries, automatically keep up to date by feeding on the data). Chatbots can be an attractive lever for companies wanting to improve their customer relationship, but the gains actually generated depend heavily on the level of performance of the technology being developed.
As technology and usage continue to evolve, an even more successful application of AI for Chatbots is now emerging with emotional management.
In a context of improved customer experience, fast, personalized and responsive customer feedback management is a key success factor. Companies are starting to take an interest in this topic by using AI technologies to analyze the emotions that come from customer feedback: analyze faces to measure audience interest/advertising perception, analyze words used in feedback to infer level of dissatisfaction and prioritize responses, etc.
By the multitude of uses they offer, chatbots will be led to revolutionize the way companies interact with their customers, towards ever more personalization and responsiveness. However, they are not the only application of AI to modernize the customer experience. New opportunities are emerging today from the alliance between AIs and other innovative technologies.
Combine AI with Robotic Process Automation Technologies to Combine Enhanced Customer Experience with Efficiency Gains
Among the AI applications, the solutions of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) are in full swing. This technology aims to perform a series of pre-programmed actions, following predefined business rules. It allows to automate many processes with low added value for companies (administrative processes, automatic data extractions, HR management, etc.) while cashing massive request volumes.
Combined with Artificial Intelligence, RPA solutions will be able to process a wider range of content and be able to adapt to a problem, a context by activating the adapted process. This will enable companies to optimize and automate many customer relationship processes such as customer return management: automating the analysis of handwritten letters, voicemails, photographs, etc. In the energy sector, for example, these solutions could automate the entire billing process: from meter photography sent by customers to subscriber billing.
