The impact of technology on customer service – by Peter Doveren

Technology can be incredibly useful in the success of customer service, especially when it comes to speed of resolution. 69% of consumers attribute their positive customer service experiences to the quick resolution of their issues.

But speed doesn’t count for everything when it comes to customer service. The biggest differences between the most and least satisfied customers are associated with complaint handling, emotional connection, customer ethos and reputation. To ensure quality, balancing technology with a human touch is key to great customer service.

How to integrate technology into your customer service

There are a few different ways that technology can be useful when integrated into customer service areas of your business. Let’s take a look at where you could see the biggest differences.

Handle and automate routine tasks

AI can make automating tasks easier, increasing the efficiency and productivity of your customer service. Automating tasks like appointment scheduling, order tracking, and balance inquires can reduce call centre workload and improve customer satisfaction. 

You could also integrate self-service options, like live chat features on the customer support page, to encourage users to engage with AI chatbots to resolve issues – speeding up response to customer queries.

Distributed workforce

AI can allow you to invest in scalable services and at-home infrastructure, that leads to a more distributed workforce.

There are lots of flexibility benefits to cloud communication that often means you aren’t limited by on-premises systems – so staff can be on-site or working remotely using the same platform.

Identify vulnerable callers

While AI can be useful in aiding efficiency and speed when dealing with customer queries, 80% of consumers do expect to interact with a person when they contact a company.

Technology can provide real-time assistance to agents, ensuring they are better equipped to handle sensitive situations when a caller does come through to them. This means more complex customer interactions can get the time and attention they need from agents.

Workforce optimisation

AI is not just for helping customers – it can actually make assessing agent performance much easier with automated call transcriptions.

By sharing feedback with staff, identifying areas of improvement and coaching them to provide a better customer experience in the future, you can improve the productivity of your workforce and customer satisfaction.

Discourage abandonment

Phone calls (29%) are the preferred communication channel for complex issues – but how do you stop consumers from abandoning the call when lines are busy?

Predictive analytics can be used to estimate wait times, announce how long consumers should expect the delay to last, inform callers of their place in the line and allow them to schedule an automatic callback.

Omnichannel support

With a wide range of different platforms that consumers can use for customer support, it’s key to keep all channels efficient. Integrating voice calls, live chat, email, messaging apps and social media into a unified platform allows customers to switch between channels seamlessly without losing connection.

You can also captivate customers with augmented reality (AR) to offer innovative product demonstrations, remote assistance, and augmented interfaces.

The future of technology

There’s lots of potential in tech within customer service that we expect to see in the coming years, with an increase in the use of AI to better serve users.

• By 2026, 42% of CX leaders foresee generative AI influencing voice-based interactions.
• 79% of marketers feel that generative AI will help businesses serve customers better.
• 75% of support teams traditional customer service metrics are changing due to developments in AI.
• 88% of call centres use AI-powered solutions to improve their customer’s experience.

The negatives of technology

Although it can be exciting to implement AI, it’s important to note that bad experiences with technology can negatively impact your brand. That’s why we believe a mixture of technology and human interactions are key to achieving effective customer service.

• 2 negative experiences can lead to brand abandonment.
• 68% of customers would not use a bad chatbot again.
• 99% of customers feel more comfortable with a human assisting to resolve their issues.

How technology can help your customer service

As technology advances, it becomes more practical and useful in helping with day-to-day CX tasks – streamlining your customer service and ensuring speed when resolving issues.

At Sigma Connected, we believe technology has its place in CX and that’s about enhancing both the customers experience and the agents. But for us, it’ll never fully replace our agents. Integrating AI or other technology will free time for our agents to deal with the complicated, complex calls and tasks that we’re know for, plus increase their productivity by decreasing administrative tasks – but ultimately customers want a human response to their queries and issues. And they’ll always get that from Sigma Connected.

If you want your customers to have a real conversation, with a real person, get in touch with us today and we can discuss your individual customer service needs and how Sigma Connected can help you.