Customer Service Reinvented with Conversational AI

Digital6 Technologies understands the need for small to mid-sized businesses and startups to maximize their customer service within their existing capacity.

Excellent customer service is essential for every SMB from retail to law firms, insurance to hospitality, and manufacturing to transportation. It has long been a practice to train and evaluate employees on customer relations as they interact on a personal level, especially those staff on the front line.

However, the trend now is toward customer service provided by artificial intelligence (AI) cognitive services. Many employee service transactions can be complemented, backed up and even replaced by this conversational AI, using chatbots and virtual assistants. The conversation starts where the customer is, whether it’s your website, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or a basic SMS.

Not sure you want to get involved with AI?

Well, you already are. AI cognitive services are already embedded in our daily routines from smartphones to making dinner reservations through an automated service.

Why not use these readily available conversational AI tools to serve your customers throughout their end-to-end experience with you and your product or service? It will definitely pay off!

31.7% of major companies are currently using AI in customer service.

Tata executive survey

Challenges for Electronic Customer Service

What are some of the most frustrating scenarios for a customer trying to access information about your services and products? They typically range from the simple and all too frequent ones to complex serious situations, including:

  • No one answers the phone
  • It takes too much time to navigate an interactive voice response
  • Live agent is offline
  • No language options
  • Incorrect responses due to human error or distraction
  • Being transferred from department to department
  • Inaccurate or outdated info re products and service
  • Concerns about fraud or identity theft

Remember that your staff and agents are also annoyed when they have to stop what they’re doing to answer the phone, check inventory or have a long discussion about delivery options. That frustration will inevitably be reflected in their interaction with customers.

These are just a few of the common complaints that can be eliminated with up-to-date conversational AI cognitive services, including:

  • Smart chatbots to deliver responses to customers on social media with info about delivery times, tracking orders or tech support
  • Improved interactive voice response with natural language processing (NLP)
  • Capacity for translation into dozens of common languages
  • Automated routing to most appropriate department or support agent
  • AI driven data analysis to provide predictive, personalized support, ready for customer contact
  • Face and voice recognition

Why Use AI-Powered Cognitive Services?

AI helps you optimize your capacity for customer service from both the customers’ and your employees’ perspective. Everyone wins.

When you combine the capacity of AI with the competency of supplementary human support, both customers and staff appreciate the:

  • 24/7 support

A chatbot doesn’t take lunch breaks or vacation; essential info is always available for your customers

  • Shorter response times

AI can usually work faster and with more precision than a human who might have to do research and type in queries and responses; this means shorter conversations, faster service bookings and more responsive troubleshooting for product or service issues

  • More efficient use of human resources

While AI support technology takes care of simple queries, your employees can spend more time on their primary jobs but still be available to respond to more complex requests

  • Seamless service

The customer can be handed back and forth between AI and a human agent, depending on the info and tasks required, without losing the momentum of the transaction

  • Personalized solutions, offers and discounts

AI predictive, analytic tools can immediately access the customer’s previous choices and preferences across various platforms in order to create a targeted offer

You, as the owner/manager of the SMB or startup, will appreciate:

  • Increased data collection and analysis, especially for customized and pre-emptive recommendations
  • Increased fulfillment rates due to quality of transaction
  • Extended security functions around data mining and financial transactions with voice and image recognition
  • Sustainable loyalty from satisfied customers
  • Grateful workforce, glad of the tools that reduce their tedious tasks and enhance the rewarding ones
  • Reduced costs and increased productivity thanks to a more efficient work distribution between AI tools and actual employees
  • Scalability to handle increased volume of customer service; easy to scale up business if nearly 70% of customer conversations can be automated

Digital 6 Technologies AI Solutions

Be innovative in using AI powered apps for delivering excellence in customer experience. The collateral result is a more efficient workplace with satisfied employees.

You will want to consider the several categories of AI cognitive services that have proven successful when embedded in the apps of SMBs and startups:

  • Decision-making

Make informed, smarter decision quickly

  • Language

Use natural language in apps and bots to create conversations and analyze texts

  • Speech

Integrate speech processing; e.g. voice to text, text to voice, real time translation

  • Vision

Recognize, identify and organize images, videos and digital ink

  • Web Search

Use autosuggest and custom search engines to speed up the process

The Digital6 team is pleased to you proven, effective technology solutions, whatever else works best for your particular business.

Strategy for Deploying AI Cognitive Services

Before jumping to any specific product, take time to consider these basic guidelines for planning AI services for your SMB or startup:

  • Work with existing platforms

You don’t have to invest in developing your own conversational AI. Digital6 specialists can recommend existing platforms such as Microsoft Azure AI and IBM Watson.

  • Start small

Take your time and use a phased approach to developing your AI capacity, building on your current business processes.

  • Chatbots as a first step

Deploying a chatbot is a best practice portal into AI services for an SMB. Chatbots immediately increase your capacity to engage and interact with customers, establishing a your business as credible presence. You won’t miss a chance to support customers or sell product. Meanwhile, the pressure is off staff for answering the most basic or complex questions or routing the customer to an appropriate option.

Are you ready for AI?

Digital6 specialists are available to review your operation, identify areas for improving conversational customer engagement and recommend the best AI services to achieve your goals. The bonus is their knowledge and advice on how to ensure cost effectiveness and enhanced productivity for any size of business. 

Boost your business! Contact one of our Digital6 Technologies solution specialists now to start the conversation about AI cognitive services.

“According to Forrester Research, 63% of customers will leave a company after just one poor experience, and almost two-thirds will no longer wait more than 2 minutes for assistance.”

Forrester Research