Call centers are extremely data-heavy operations, and they handle a high volume of account information, financial data, IT assets, and more. All of this has to be monitored through a CRM or ERP system, and countless data and IT staff are charged with the responsibility of maintaining these systems, inputting data, and other mundane tasks that tie them up and give them less time for business processes that benefit more from their human touch.
AI can never replace that human touch, but it can handle many of those mundane processes, giving staff more time for more important work. Due to call centers’ heavy reliance on high volumes of data, they are a prime market for cutting-edge AI automations that save companies time and money while also improving accuracy and data security.
That is why we are going to cover all of the following in this guide:
- Common call center AI solutions
- Benefits of AI in call centers
- The best AI deployment options
As we go through each, we’ll paint a clearer and clearer picture of what cutting-edge AI technology can do to improve call center operations.
Common Call Center AI Solutions
AI excels in data ingestion workloads. This means any business process that requires a staff member or software to read data from a document, image, or other database and enter, organize, or otherwise manipulate it can be automated through AI. It can even integrate already automated functions to take a document and its data through an entire workflow from start to finish.
Below is a list of some of the most common call center AI solutions we’ve seen and/or implemented:
| Business Process Automation | Both traditional and generative AI functions can be implemented in call centers, including automating vital business processes such as data entry, data organization, report generation, security, regulatory compliance, and more. |
| IT Service Management | AI IT tools can automate IT operations, create helpful support materials, offer self-service portals for users, improve support ticket response times, and generate alerts and reminders for scheduled maintenance or network issues to reduce downtime. |
| Customer Service & Success | Generative AI tools excel at customer service and success. AI chatbots, automatically generated support emails, and self-service automation that can provide clear and custom-tailored support information to customers and clients can cut call volumes and improve customer satisfaction. |
| Lead Nurturing | The same generative AI tools provide high-quality lead nurturing automation through email and other forms of contact material generation. This can be paired with more traditional AI automation functions to ensure that all of these emails are sent out on time without staff having to oversee them. |
| Marketing | Call centers, and the companies that leverage them, can leverage AI to generate copy or shop page descriptions for products and services. |
Understanding some of the practical use cases for AI in call centers can be helpful to paint an image of what integration may look like, but the benefits are what companies will be paying to experience. Let’s dive into some of them to get a better idea of what the outcome of quality AI solutions can be.
Benefits of AI in Call Centers
AI solutions aren’t valuable simply because they are the nicest, newest software innovation on the market. They provide tangible value that will improve your company’s bottom line and improve the quality of your call center’s interactions.
| Cost Reduction | AI solutions reduce costs by automating administrative workloads and reducing the time and money necessary for vital functions such as data entry, organization, report generation, and more. It can also reduce the financial impact of tech issues through IT automation and maintenance reminders. |
| Better Customer Satisfaction | Automated customer support tools such as chatbots and self-service portals shorten response time and make communications more informative, improving customer satisfaction by ensuring clients have adequate education and prompt answers to queries. |
| Improved Customer Acquisition | Leveraging applications of AI in business development like lead nurturing solutions listed above can increase lead flow and conversions by improving your company’s contact frequency and quality with leads, and bolstering your company’s online presence. |
These are just a few examples of the benefits AI can offer call centers. All in all, AI operates as a force multiplier for nearly any business function, allowing each employee your staff to do more in the same amount of time through convenient automation, and improve the quality of their work through AI’s accuracy and ability to proactively alert users to potential errors.
Best AI Deployment Strategy
There are a number of off-the-shelf (OTS) AI tools available for call centers. OTS tools are simply AI models with pre-defined parameters out-of-the-box that can be linked to your database and immediately serve a singledesignated function. These include automated data entry tools for specific documents, AI self-service portals for your IT department, and other similar solutions.
To maximize value, though, call centers should leverage multiple AI solutions at once. While this can be accomplished by simply purchasing a few different OTS AI tools and integrating them separately, it is far more effective to work with a third-party AI expert and/or custom developer to create completely custom workflows that seamlessly integrate multiple AI functions.
This can also improve the functionality of AI in your call center since it can allow different AI solutions to interact with one another when their out-of-the-box parameters don’t accommodate that. This is how you can create workflows that can automate and/or assist a staff member’s workflow from start to finish.
As a result, the best way to deploy call center AI solutions is to work with an expert custom AI software developer to create bespoke tools for your specific use case. This is why our clients choose to partner with 7T.
Implement Call Center AI Solutions with 7T
At 7T, we use a problem → solution approach to creating AI solutions for our clients across countless industries. Through our custom-built platforms, machine learning and AI technology can provide significant operational advantages with a robust ROI. Our team will identify your organization’s challenges and pain points, oftentimes even showing up on-location for a time to embed ourselves within your business and understand your needs from a first-person perspective. Then, we’ll architect a value-generating solution to transform your vital business processes and meet your goals.
7T is based in Dallas, Houston, and Charlotte, NC, but our clientele spans the globe. If you’re ready to learn more about how to improve ERP systems, contact 7T today.
