How AI and IoT Are Impacting Business Communications

Breaking Down AI and IoT Trends

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    In 2015, there were about <a href="https://ihsmarkit.com/industry/telecommunications.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">15.4 billion connected devices</a> in existence; by 2025, this figure will swell to 75.4 billion. <a href="https://www.cmo.com/features/articles/2017/8/24/15-mindblowing-stats-about-artificial-intelligence-dmexco.html#gs.2MCzGYhT" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">77 percent of consumers</a> are now using at least one AI-powered device or service. Oftentimes, customers engage with AI without even realizing it.
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As global communications are changing, contact centers are being forced to keep up with the pace. The contact center, after all, is one of the most important touchpoints for customer communications and businesses are being challenged to update their technologies as well as their customer service strategies.
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The AI Emergence
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AI is being used in a few different ways in the contact center. First and foremost, AI has emerged as a major driving force behind interactive voice response (IVR) systems and chatbots. In the past, automated conversations were very basic. But thanks to AI, bots can expand beyond rudimentary conversations and respond accurately to complex customer queries. For this reason, there is growing interest in using AI-powered bots to provide self-service throughout the day, and after hours.
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Now, a gap is growing between companies that are actively using AI in the contact center and companies that are not; companies that are using AI can provide much better self-service by reducing on-hold times, lowering costs, and streamlining conversation flows for agents. Companies that refuse to embrace AI will fall farther behind the competition in the coming years. Businesses are therefore strongly advised to work AI into their customer-facing processes.
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We are also seeing more and more companies deploying AI for intelligent call routing. Routing decisions that used to rely primarily on basic input data (like a customer’s language, location, age, and purchase history) are now being enhanced with real-time intelligence engines. AI can pull data from a wider pool, and combine that information with additional characteristics (like a caller’s mood) to put a customer in touch with the right associate.
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Contact centers, it should be noted, are also using AI to collect real-time threat intelligence, in order to prevent fraud during interactions. Many businesses now use AI in the background to gather data and flag suspicious activities.
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The IoT Impact
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The IoT, meanwhile, is having a major impact on the way that businesses approach customer service. First and foremost, companies now have access to much more data than they had in the past. Connected endpoints can provide a wealth of information that can be analyzed to better understand the customer experience. Contact centers should have access to this information, in order to provide relevant service.
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This, of course, also means that agents need to be better prepared to handle technical questions. Many contact centers are now providing additional training for agents, to get them up to speed.  According to one study, <a href="https://www.ttec.com/customer-strategist/resources/blog/future-contact-centers-ai-and-iot-fueled-services">67 percent of respondents</a> said their contact centers trained associates to handle customer interactions differently due to connected/IoT technologies. Twenty-three percent of contact centers, it should be noted, hired associates with different skill sets to support IoT technologies.
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While it’s important to have a working knowledge of IoT and an AI-driven customer service strategy, it’s important to remember the third component to an advanced contact center: A robust unified communications (UC) platform. It all comes together with UC, which can serve as a centralized environment where agents can access incoming messages from any device and leverage the support of AI and IoT services.
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<em>This post was originally published on <a href="https://www.star2star.com/insights/blog/ai-and-iot">Star2Star</a></em>.
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Contact us to learn more about how BetterWorld’s <a href="/">white glove telecom</a> services can help your business navigate the changing AI and IoT landscape.
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