The Vital Evolution of Customer Service Agents in a GenerativeAI Automated Age - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Question. How Much Has Changed for Agents in 6 Months? The Answer. A Ton!  An Overview and 4 Key Market Strengths

Overview: “The Times They Are A-Changin”.  Bob Dylan Saw It.  What is Happening?

Just how much things change in 6 months!  GenAI/ConvAI for customer service was a hot trend and was the plan of the future in Q1.  Times change, and this market now duplicates EV’s. Some companies are all-in, some are all-out, and most are in between (like hybrids) on a spectrum that runs the gamut.  Most importantly, opinions on where we will be in 3 years are all over the map. Thanks much to Forrester senior analyst Christina McAllister, who knows this sector very well and shares multiple insights with us here on how and why this is morphing. Forbes, saying ‘let the confusion begin’ in July, showed Forrester’s US CX Index plunging and ASCI’s CSAT Index rocketing up. Knowing that dichotomy, smart, cost-effective leaders who make the shrewd moves will triumph.  Those that generate ROI in this market without risking NPS, CSAT, loyalty and agent retention, which is so critical, will be the winners regardless. 

How can opinions differ so much?  We’ve learned immensely in 6 months and see compelling next-gen AI tools.  Potential cost-savings seem huge.  Agent tools now abound, which change the role of agents in theory to focus on the serious issues.  However, we are also hearing real customer complaints, CSAT in CustServ is plunging and there’s recently a real TV ad touting live agent support.  RAG execution, LLM issues and hallucination problems remain, and 2 companies that utilize agents just got VC funding.

The net effect is that the upside and downside are both larger, and what role the agent will play remains a critical question.  Multiple market, technology and user trends are driving this dichotomy.  Analyzing both sides of that coin help shape the smart strategy.  CustServ SW, CCTRs, CCaaS and BPOs remain hyper-competitive.  We analyze the multiple pros and cons, then recommend 5 actions to triumph and drive agent success and agent retention regardless of how quickly the market evolves or reinvents.

Four Strengths: How Generative AI Helps Service and Your Agents

1. Automation can reduce operating costs if executed properly. The simplest issues get resolved automatically and faster, leaving the thorny issues for agent resolution. According to McKinsey, “Gen AI is the latest and potentially most transformative of these advancements, and it can have an unprecedented positive impact on customer assistance. ”GenAI can analyze previous call transcripts in real time and present agents with options, reducing the traditional agent response of ‘just give me a minute to look over the situation.’' Agents can spend much less time researching and more time resolving.
2. Generations X, Y and Z are much more comfortable with automated solutions than baby boomers and millennials. The latter groups are more concerned with personal service and more likely to get exhausted and switch to a competitor after a bad experience. Growing gens X, Y and Z prefer self-service options and are willing to try multiple self-service options to reach a resolution.
3. GenAI agent assistance tools can empower them with more options automatically generated, allowing them to choose, thus leading to faster service and boosting FCR.  GenAI as a live copilot can create the best of both worlds where the customer interacts with an agent and the agent is served up viable answers in real-time, elevating both CSAT and agent retention over time. 
4. Resolving the ‘low hanging fruit’ issues automatically empowers agents to focus on the complex service issues that genuinely need agent intervention. One low-risk efficiency is customer authentication, a time-consuming process that can now be 100% automated. Retrieving contact history in real-time with automated summaries on screen reduces AHT. Examples abound. ‘Wrap time’ can become the Oldsmobile or Buick here, antiquated due to GenAI translating recorded calls or chat transcripts into a brief, usable summary.

Omdia’s report on AI implementations yielding the most value here shows that ‘lateral tasks’ and RPA’s are the low hanging fruit.  Their survey of 230 insiders (August 2024) ranks feedback on perceived ROI.

The upside for GenAI in customer service seems endless, with automation driving huge cost-savings at a critical time.  It’s a win-win, right?  Not so fast.  In fact, recent multiple market signals show just the opposite.  There is proof as a few companies now highlight human resolutions to growing, nagging customer service issues as their selling points.  Is this a market adjustment or a long-term change?  We'll address that in chapter 2 next week with 4 key weaknesses, then 5 recommendations in chapter 3 for success regardless of this morphing market’s journey.