There is a constant concern in the BPO industry regarding the growing preference towards artificial intelligence. The way technology, AI, and machine learning are being imbibed into the call center industry, the day when they replace human agents is not far away. Or is it?
There have been discussions and debates at length whether AI will replace human agents in the BPO industry or not. And while technology, in the upcoming years, will be sophisticated enough to be independent of any human interference. However, there are still justification-backed reasons why the possibility of this happening is slim.
So, let’s discuss in-depth why we think that artificial intelligence will not replace human agents in the call center industry yet. But before we do that, first we have to know about how technology is used in outbound and inbound call center outsourcing in Canada, the USA, or any other part of the world.
Artificial Intelligence
The primary notion behind artificial intelligence is that it mimics human behavior and implements various machine learning processes to assess all of the information and find out what to do with it. Keeping this in mind, there are two AI categories that you should learn about.
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Narrow AI:
Narrow AI is the best that we have available at this moment. Examples of some advanced AI are Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant. Even self-driven cars and other facial or retina recognition technology fall under narrow AI. Needless to say, the automated chatbots and smart IVR for the BPO company come under the categorization of narrow AI.
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GPAI:
General Purpose AI isn’t a reality yet. In fact, the technology that could be categorized under the GPAI is far from actual implementation yet. The kind of AI you see in sci-fi movies on bots working naturally as humans, or conquering the cosmos, makes brain processing much faster. We still have decades to go before such AI is integrated into everyday life.
Robotic Process Automation in Call Center
RPA, or robotic process automation, can be termed as a contrast to artificial intelligence. While AI is more of thinking and processing information better and faster than humans, RPA operates rule-based. The primary job of an RPA-enabled system is to perform the task that it is told to do so, or programmed to function.
However, similar to AI, RPA can also be divided into two forms, which are,
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Attended RPA:
Attended RPA is when a process automation bot is put live on the agent’s workstation. The primary function of attended RPA is to assist the agent in doing the job better. For example, it may be programmed to walk the agent throughout the process of handling any specific call. Moreover, it may even help to collect all the information from other systems and put them together in front of the United States call center agents in an easy-to-read format.
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Unattended RPA:
As the name suggests, unattended RPA is a contrast to unattended RPA. With this, the automation is set up separately and performs tasks independently. One example for this would be the bot that collects information that the customer support outsourcing company agents input and uploads the same on multiple legacy systems for future use.
Why AI Won’t Replace Call Center Agents
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Customer Prefer Human Agents
The implementation of AI was at its peak during the Coronavirus pandemic. The way AI eased life during the low social life was commendable. However, even with that, customers always prefer talking to natural agents compared to bots or IVRs. Talking to human agents brings about a sense of empathy among the customers.
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Human Agents Have to Intervene Even after Bot Assist
The developments of AI technology are not very sophisticated yet. So, though fast and intelligent, the AI-powered bots cannot handle all of the customers’ queries independently. Moreover, the AI cannot even completely understand customers’ complete queries.
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Ever-evolving Tech
The dynamic technology world is a boon, as much as it is negative. However, since technology is evolving so fast, the chances of the present technology being obsolete are high. So, a business won’t invest in tech that would be out of trend so quickly.
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Good Pairing
Human agents in an outbound or inbound call center outsourcing company will not be very efficient as a standalone. Similarly, AI as a standalone won’t be effective either. However, the combination of both is a force to reckon. So, once you get them to complement each other well, you will notice that your brand’s success story will get a notch higher.
Summing Up
Indeed, artificial intelligence and other tech-related developments have been a big bonus for the service industry. The quality of customer support outsourcing in the United States, or any other country, is taken a notch higher with the right mix of human agents and artificial intelligence.
The BPO sector already has many developments going on, including the implementation of hardcore artificial intelligence through chatbots, IVRs, self-answering services, etc.
