The Rise of the Hybrid AI/Human BPO
Recent developments in conversational AI threaten the survival of traditional BPOs. In the next 10 years, unless they adapt, traditional BPOs are at risk of going out of business.
Artificial intelligence is not entirely replacing humans in the customer support industry. But it is giving agents superhuman abilities. At least, it is for some BPOs . . .
The Problem: Bifurcating “Self-help” and human agent support.
There have traditionally been two branches of customer support: (1) “Self Help” and (2) Live Agent. It is common for the corporations we work with to have two separate teams handling these (perceived) different aspects of customer support. But the bifurcation of customer interactions often causes poor experiences for the customer and missed opportunities for the corporation.
The bifurcated approach produces inferior results for two reasons. First, most “self help” solutions focus primarily on saving cost, not improving the customer experience. They tend to measure success by how many customers they “contain” or “deflect” from reaching a live agent. But how often do these technologies actually improve the customer experience? Typically, they only improve experience through efficiency in cases there are long wait times to speak with a live agent.
The topic of long wait times brings us to the next point. Most contact centers have long wait times because human agents are expensive. Very expensive. If a company is outsourcing domestically (inside the U.S.), they will be spending roughly $1 million per month for every 200 dedicated agents.
So customers today are extremely frustrated because companies are trying to impose “self help.” And when customers finally find a way to reach a human, they often have to wait, and wait, and wait.
The Solution: Giving agents super-human abilities with AI.
So, what does this look like? This is perhaps best explained with an example. Imagine a customer initiating a conversation with a chat bot. If the question is super-simple, the bot will answer it immediately. But if the question is more complex, a human agent is automatically brought into the loop to help guide the AI bot. But it isn’t just any human agent. It is the agent with the highest CSAT scores for handling that specific type of question that is currently available. The AI bot is drafting most of the responses. The human agent is simply clicking a few buttons and typing in a sentence here-and-there. The result is higher CSAT, better, CES, and significantly lower costs.
That is the BPO of the future. Correction: that is the BPO of today. This currently exists. If you are part of a traditional BPO and your company is not thinking this way, it is time to wake up.
Let’s Talk
If you want to find a BPO that is using AI to drive remarkable efficiency and results, we are happy to help. You can send an email to jwalter@zmaxinc.com or schedule a 15-minute Zoom call below.