{"id":63552,"date":"2024-09-26T11:30:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T10:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cxtoday.com\/?p=63552"},"modified":"2025-10-19T09:37:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T08:37:38","slug":"unlimited-possibilities-for-service-providers-in-conversational-ai-8x8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cxtoday.com\/contact-center\/unlimited-possibilities-for-service-providers-in-conversational-ai-8x8\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlimited Possibilities for Service Providers in Conversational AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cloud-based artificial intelligence was supercharged following the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers increasingly wanted a self-service option when interacting with contact centers. In the future, data transformation is set to be taken to the next level, so consumers can seamlessly interact with AI or human agents, depending on their needs. \u201cConversational AI is driving the contact center of the future, leveling up the customer experience, and opening doors for innovation and revenue growth among Value Added Resellers (VARs) and channel partners,\u201d says Michelle Paitich, Global Vice President of Channel Sales for 8×8<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Conversational AI: The Next Frontier<\/h2>\n

Conversational AI \u2013 or technologies that users can talk to \u2013 is supercharging the contact center experience by leveraging Natural Language Understanding (NLU), emotional intelligence and customer analytics. The integration of conversational AI and knowledge management empowers, informs, and assists throughout the customer journey. In the contact center, a hybrid agent workforce of conversational AI-powered virtual and live agents is elevating the experience and outcomes.<\/p>\n

Conversational AI is the evolution of IVR (Interactive Voice Response). When IVR was widely introduced into contact centers in the 1990s, call queuing and automatic call routing became common. It provided 24\/7 access to virtual agents and knowledge banks, reducing the reliance on human agents to deal with routine, mundane tasks. This reduced human workforces and lowered business costs. Reliance on virtual interactions and their functionality has increased since \u2013 including speech-enabled user interfaces and integration with back-end knowledge management.<\/p>\n

The Role of AI in the Contact Center<\/h2>\n

AI has been gaining importance in the contact center \u2013 from the first flush of IVR to today\u2019s ecosystem including ML, NLU, natural language processing (NLP), automatic speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS), and speech-to-text (STT) processing. AI is no longer just powering self-service in the contact center \u2013 it is integrated into workforce and performance management, customer interaction analytics, and process automation throughout the enterprise.<\/p>\n

Solutions such as 8×8\u2019s Intelligent Customer Assistant (ICA) are transforming call center experiences. ICA enables call centers to effortlessly engage customers with human-like interactions and help reduce customer friction. The tool allows for smooth handoffs between channels \u2013 including bots and live agents \u2013 and creates engaging, personalized conversations with bi-directional CRM sync.<\/p>\n

Frost & Sullivan\u2019s 2023 Contact Center Outlook – Customer Perspectives report has provided us with the current and projected use of AI in the contact center. Significantly, 61% of the 751 contact center stakeholder respondents consider investing in self-service technology in the next two years to be either important or crucial. According to Frost & Sullivan\u2019s Global State of AI report, 71% of enterprises have embarked on the AI journey to support business outcomes. The Contact Center Outlook report identified process automation (80%) and voice authentication (79%) as the top technologies that have already been deployed or are planned within the next two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI use in the contact center is on the rise and conversational AI is the primary area of innovation and investment,\u201d says Paitich.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

IVR in Action<\/h2>\n

Currently, contact center agents in tech support must talk customers through technical issues that are difficult to visualize. This usually ends in the agent scheduling for an engineer to visit the site to fix the issue \u2013 which is expensive and results in delays in solving the customer\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where the IVR comes in. It can be employed on a mobile device to assist a customer in diagnosing and fixing a problem before bringing in an agent. The service tech bot works alongside the customer using the mobile app, integrated camera, augmented reality (computer vision), and intelligent search to provide a feature-rich, immersive, and engaging CX. Visual assistance is presented at every step, including graphics or diagrams, images, documents, or how-to videos. If an engineer is required, the AI application can help diagnose the issue, check inventory and order parts if required. The process is streamlined and sped up.<\/p>\n

Agent Assist<\/h2>\n

The interplay of human and virtual agents is the next primary area of innovation and collaboration. Frost & Sullivan\u2019s 2023 Contact Center Outlook found that 52% of respondents plan to invest in agent assist capabilities and the same percentage plan to invest in RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and process automation. This increased reliance on automation and AI helps address some of the key customer frustrations with contact centers, namely: lack of personalized experiences and unengaged agents.<\/p>\n

AI can take the mundane tasks away from human agents \u2013 reducing workforce churn and ostensibly resulting in human employees that are more experienced, specialized, and willing \/ able to address complex customer needs. Agent assist helps agents retrieve the most relevant information about a customer quickly and significantly reduce the amount of after-call work time by automatically filling in customer information collected. Nurturing and empowering this hybrid workforce of human and digital agents brings a human touch to the effectiveness and efficiency of digital channels.<\/p>\n

AI at the Top of Funnel<\/h2>\n

Improved digital channels not only help contact centers better serve their existing customers \u2013 they also improve the experience for prospective customers. Not only does today\u2019s customer enjoy self-service, they will also use the internet to research and compare product features, prices, and service. This could be among family \/ friends, social media, review websites, and more. If product information is hard to find, you could lose a potential customer to a competitor before they\u2019ve interacted with you. Frost & Sullivan outline some of the ways AI can enhance processes at the top of the funnel:<\/p>\n

Prospecting<\/h4>\n