Agent AI Copilots Are the Future of the Contact Center  

The Agent AI Copilot and the Future of Work

The term ‘AI copilot’ means different things to different people. To Microsoft, for instance, it means a helpful assistant that sits within your internet browser or desktop to enhance your workflow. Essentially, whatever you want to achieve through AI, your AI copilot should make that easier. In the contact center, that means delivering outstanding Customer Experience.

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the agent. How does it feel to use an AI copilot?

• Today, agents work through browser-based cloud interfaces. The AI copilot sits within this interface, meaning that accessing it is as simple as logging onto their agent interface. The copilot sits on the screen, alongside customer interactions and supporting data.

• Before an interaction, the copilot can surface useful performance data to drive agent improvement; opportunities for professional development can be highlighted, alongside personalized feedback generated just for that agent.

• During an interaction, over either voice or text, the AI copilot provides a range of services to make that conversation seamless, from real-time sentiment analysis to script suggestions. If the agent begins to struggle, the copilot can flag an interaction to supervisors for intervention.

• After an interaction, the copilot takes the burden of data entry off the agent’s shoulders. The copilot creates an accurate transcript, from which key details can be surfaced. These details can then be used to populate post-call forms, keeping customer records up to date and accurate, while cutting down the amount of time agents spend on data entry.

The AI copilot transforms the agent into a hyper-productive customer advisor. And every improvement in agent efficiency translates to contact center cost savings. That means better Customer Experience, delivered for less.

But as beneficial as this technology can be, implementation is rarely smooth sailing.

Implementing an Agent AI Copilot

Generally, AI adoption is C-suite led. Leaders are keen to explore the benefits AI can bring, and that kind of senior support can go a long way in removing blockers and alleviating resistance.

That said, trying to introduce a new technology into your organization is always a challenge. You’ll face friction; people will want to hang on to their old ways of working. AI offers unique challenges; people will be skeptical of technology with the potential to replace their roles entirely.

To ensure a smooth AI adoption, you need to make clear to your agents exactly what an AI copilot is supposed to achieve: Rather than replace agents, an AI copilot will enhance them.

• The first stage is education – teach your agents how to best use the AI copilot. Education should focus on workflows – point at the places in the agent’s day where an AI copilot will speed up tasks, or transform their practice. Whether that’s through hyper-personalized feedback, real-time script suggestions, or real-time call transcription and summarization.

• The second stage of implementation is roll-out – making a particular tool accessible to all your employees. The benefit of a cloud CX solution is that it’s accessible from anywhere, and allows for new features to be deployed on mass at a click. This roll-out can be staggered to certain groups of users, or deployed on mass.

• Finally, you have to prove value. A comprehensive set of reporting tools is essential when it comes to demonstrating a return on investment. Track agent performance down to the individual level and map the trends; tell a story about how the AI copilot has transformed working life.

Technological adoption is never easy, but once you’re through those tentative early days, an AI copilot can lay the groundwork for other forms of AI adoption.

Beyond the Agent AI Copilot

‘AI’ is an umbrella term. When we talk specifics, it can be easy to forget just how broad the technology actually is. We’ve focused, in this blog, on tools to empower agents during interactions, but a major proportion of interactions can be automated even before they reach agents. And this automation works in synergy with agent AI copilots.

• One of the simplest ways to improve the quality of customer interactions is to give your agents space to work. When your agents are swamped with simple and repetitive inquiries, they can’t devote an appropriate level of attention to the interactions that matter. That has knock-on effects on the customer – they feel rushed, dehumanized, and ignored.

• A good proportion of these simple interactions can be automated entirely. Generative AI-powered chatbots, equipped with proper guardrails to prevent hallucination, can provide fluent and helpful advice to customers – directing those customers towards self-service agents, or escalating to a human agent where appropriate.

• And just because an interaction has been automated, doesn’t mean its quality has to suffer. AI chatbots can use adaptive personas to change their language and communication strategy according to the customer; ensuring a personalized experience that sets the customer at ease.

Adopting an AI copilot is one thing; giving it the space to work is another. If agents are rushed off their feet by interactions that can be easily automated, they’re not going to have time to explore the full potential of the technology. Like any innovation, the AI copilot needs space to work.