When you call a customer service contact center, the team on the other end typically has three goals in mind: It's about reducing response times, solving problems, and resolving them within the shortest possible service time.
However, resolving the issue can require a significant investment of time and may conflict with the overarching business goal of minimizing service duration. These conflicting priorities are common in customer service contact centers, which often rely on the latest technology to meet customer needs.
To pursue these competing demands, these organizations practice what is called ambidexterity, and there are three different modes of achieving it. They are structural separation, behavioral integration, and sequential alternation. So what role might artificial intelligence (AI) systems play in improving how these organizations move from one ambidextrous mode to another to accomplish tasks? Is not it?
A new study involving Binghamton University School of Management (SOM) investigated that question. Researchers used data from a variety of contact center sites to investigate the impact of AI systems on the ability of customer service organizations to move into ambidexterity mode.
The important point is that it is a delicate balancing act. While AI is a valuable asset when used properly, these organizations should not rely on it solely to guide their strategy.
SOM's Associate Professor Sumantra Sarkar, who helped conduct the study, said the study aims to explore how today's organizations leverage AI to guide the transition from one ambidextrous mode to another. He said it was about better understanding. This is because certain structures and approaches may be more beneficial for up to 1 to 2 months. Next.
“Customer service organizations often balance leveraging emerging technologies to increase efficiency and save money,” Sarkar said. “This dichotomy is the essence of ambidexterity: exploring new technologies to gain new insights, and leveraging them to increase efficiency.”
As part of a three-year study, researchers studied five contact center sites: two global banks, one national bank in a developing country, one telecommunications Fortune 500 company in South Asia, and a telecommunications hardware world We investigated the practices of leading infrastructure vendors.
Many customer service organizations have made investments in AI in recent years, citing the potential for customer dissatisfaction if they did not, but researchers believe these organizations are making the most of AI's potential. I discovered that it is not. They have been using this primarily for self-service applications.
The AI-assisted tasks researchers tracked at these sites included:
- Use AI systems to automatically open applications, send emails, and transfer information from one system to another.
- Approval or disapproval of loan application
- Provide personalized service based on customer data and contact history
The researchers found that while it would be beneficial for customer service companies to leverage the benefits of AI systems to guide their business strategy and be proactive in meeting any challenges, they also found that while it would be beneficial for customer service companies to be proactive in leveraging the benefits of AI systems to guide business strategy and address any challenges, We decided that this should not be done at the expense of valuable learning opportunities. their staff.
Sarkar said that to fully leverage the benefits of AI, leading customer service organizations need to examine every customer touchpoint and identify opportunities to improve customer experience while increasing operational efficiency.
As a result, new entrants to this tech-savvy industry need to understand how companies with 20 or 30 years of experience have adapted to changes in technology, especially AI, over that time before developing their own business strategies. Mr. Sarkar said that there is a need to learn the basics.
“Any business is a balancing game, because decisions made at the beginning of the year based on forecasts have to be revised again and again,” Sarkar said. There is a growing tension within customer service organizations about whether they want to be more efficient or break into new territory, and they need to work harder to strike that balance. Using AI effectively in the right way can help achieve that. ”
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