Human vs. machine: how do you support your customer and contact centre team?


ddm-mens-vs-machine

Chat and voice bots are ideally suited to contact centre applications because they deliver significant improvements in First Contact Resolution (FCR) – even outside of ‘business hours’ – and because they facilitate self-service. In other words, they enable the customer to complete simple actions and processes themselves, allowing contact centre employees to focus on more challenging and complex cases. 

In addition, they support employees in their interactions with customers, partly because – if properly implemented – they provide insight into the contact history and make recommendations on how the customer can best be served.

An umbrella European organisation, customer of our partner Chatlayer.ai, had a chatbot implemented to offer their thousands of employees support and follow-up to questions about work and health in times of COVID-19. The bot enabled them to share unified COVID-19 information, resulting in a 70% decrease in operating costs1). At another customer, a provider of tickets in the European transport sector, the bot now answers 89% of all requests2), allowing the service staff to focus on the more complex questions.

1) Source: Chatlayer.ai: customer case COVID-19

2) Source: Chatlayer.ai: customer service case

Human vs. machine

But there are also limits to what bots can do for customers and employees. When it comes to sensitive information, for example, or situations that require a certain amount of empathy. In such cases, human service employees are still (much) better able to serve the customer. That is why bots are increasingly programmed to detect customer emotions, so they know when to transfer a call to an employee.

It is therefore important to formulate a clear objective in advance about the tasks and processes in the customer journey that the bots should and – perhaps more importantly – should not take over. Above all, keep in mind what the customer wants. Let him decide when to switch to an employee, at any point in the contact process. If the interaction takes place outside opening hours, give the customer the choice to continue the conversation with an employee the next working day.

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About DDM

At DDM Consulting we believe that our customers benefit most from tailor-made advice, without preference for a particular product or specific supplier. That is why we offer a wide range of intelligent omnichannel contact centre solutions, delivered by renowned partners who are all specialists in their field. 

How we work

Together with the client, we evaluate the current contact centre processes as well as the requirements and preferences for the new platform. We apply our years of experience to find the best match, and provide advice on the potential optimisation and automation of business operations, for example through the use of AI.

We naturally guarantee a successful implementation of the new solution, and ensure that all back-end systems are seamlessly (re)connected. After the deployment, we are at the service of our customers to offer advice and aftercare.

But we go one step further: time and time again, we push the boundaries of the chosen platform, and adapt it to the customer's specific business processes and needs. Our team has the business and technical expertise to achieve the maximum potential, even when it comes to an out-of-the-box solution. This is our way of ensuring that every customer makes optimal use of the capabilities of the chosen platform!

Our clients

Our clients come from a wide range of sectors, from major financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies, to telecom operators, healthcare institutions, government agencies, retail, and media.

Our team

We have grown into a team of about 30 contact centre experts, and are mainly active in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. To be able to guarantee the highest quality, we continuously invest in the knowledge, training and experience of our employees.