Navigating the AI revolution in customer service

Whether you’re ready for it or not, the AI customer service revolution is here. AI-powered technologies are changing the customer experience and the pressure is on to adapt. Despite the much-vaunted benefits of AI in customer service – prompter service, faster resolution and smoother experiences – adopting new tech isn’t always as straightforward as it seems. 

Even if you’re excited about the benefits of AI, you have to wade through myriad opinions, tech options and potential complications first. There’s so much conflicting information and hype out there that deciding what’s worthwhile and what’s not can be difficult. And that’s before you consider business-specific challenges like integration with legacy software and adapting internal processes to fit.   

Of course, it’s not all doom, gloom and confusion. AI has enormous potential – you just need to know how to harness it. That’s where an expert partner is invaluable. The right partner can help you with every element of the process – scoping appropriate technology, identifying process changes, integrating with your legacy tech and implementation. It’s about cutting through the noise and making AI work for you.

Technology that leverages both generative AI (that produces new content) and assistive AI is being used to change the customer experience and make life easier for customer care agents. This tech can triage and direct customer enquiries, answer customer questions, make bookings, change appointments, help customers find their own answers, summarise case histories, and even predict customer behaviour.

In short, it’s a game-changer for strained service teams. No wonder over 80% of customer care leaders in a recent study said they were investing or planning to invest in GenAI technologies.  

Despite widespread enthusiasm, there are challenges when it comes to AI adoption. Here’s what care leaders are grappling with:

1. Implementation and integration  

Will deploying an AI solution be straightforward? It depends on your current tech. If your existing systems don’t work well with each other and your data sources are scattered, it could be difficult to integrate a new system with your existing stack and get the results you’re after. If your current systems aren’t connected, you could also run into problems scaling AI across your various service channels. For example, if your customer service management system isn’t connected to your online service portal, call centre, interactive voice response (IVR) system, email and chat, there may be challenges in using AI to deliver a consistent customer experience.   

2. Safety, security and governance  

Safety and security are hot-button issues for new AI users – and it’s important to know what you’re getting when you adopt a new platform. Will your customer data be secure if you’re using an AI platform? Can you reassure customers that their sensitive information is safe? Will your business data be used to train AI tools? 

Generative AI, which generates answers and makes semi-autonomous decisions, can add another layer of complexity. If you use AI to answer customer queries or make account changes, who is responsible if something goes wrong?  

3. Realistic goal setting  

AI can do some amazing things, but it’s not a cure-all. If you think of it as a solution to all your customer service challenges, it could be difficult to set clear, achievable goals when planning your deployment. Because AI solutions are so broad and improvements are often intangible, it can also be hard to measure the ROI of your investment, - which makes it difficult to justify the investment and make the business case!

Pressure to keep up with the customer service Joneses can be overwhelming. But, due to the inherent complexities of AI adoption, it’s not a decision that should be rushed.  

Working with an expert partner helps you make the big decisions around goals and platforms, and resolves implementation challenges. The right partner will guide you through the decision-making and deployment process with precision so you can maximise the value of your investment. 

Here’s what that looks like:  

Stage 1: Drivers, pain points and tech limitations 

As with any major project, the first step involves getting to know your business. By working closely with your customer care leaders and agents, your implementation partner should gather insight into your specific pain points and limitations. This means looking at the frequency of customer inquiries, average resolution times and other key measures to find out how best to support your customer service team. It also involves examining your existing tech and customer service protocols to see how an AI-powered solution could fit.  

To learn more about easing the workload on your customer team, read our blog on ‘How a self-service platform could lighten the load for your customer team’.

Stage 2: Goal setting and change management  

Next, your partner will help you create a deployment strategy with clear goals and a timeline. At this stage, an effective partner will also work through potential issues. These include technical challenges around integration, data migration or quality concerns, governance issues, deployment timelines and training for your customer service teams. It’s also crucial to plan implementation around your business – how can you introduce new technology with minimal impact on customers?

Stage 3: Design and deploy  

While some AI tools are sold as easy plug-in solutions, implementing an AI-driven customer service platform is rarely quite that simple. Even if you and your implementation partner have chosen a platform with a range of functions, you must fit those tools with your existing tech and design workflows to link everything up.  

Deployment is the next step, and it’s here that a skilled partner really shines. Your partner should be able to manage the technical elements of implementation, deal with data migration and integrations, and help your team get up to speed with their new tech tools. They should also help you work through any teething problems as you get up and running.  

How do you find the right partner for your AI journey? Fusion5 is a great place to start. We’ve been supporting Australian and New Zealand businesses through tech transformations for more than 20 years, working in a wide range of sectors. We’ve always been ahead of the pack when it comes to emerging tech – and AI is no different.  

ServiceNow is our AI-powered solution to customer service challenges. The customer service management (CSM) solution includes a range of AI tools that leverage predictive intelligence and natural language processing to give your customers real-time answers and your service agents real-time insights. You can do everything from routing incoming jobs to the right agent and analysing agent performance to using AI-driven search tools to help customers find resources.  

Fusion5 has been delivering enterprise service management solutions for over a decade, so we know the technology intricacies of service management technology inside and out. We can ensure seamless integration with your existing tech, connecting the dots across your customer service channels. It’s about building a CSM solution that fits your business and solves your customer service challenges – there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to AI.  

Want to explore the potential of AI-driven customer service? Talk to our team now.