The Rise of the AI Machine

This is an all-too-common phrase that consumers hear from an automated voice. While AI has come a long way and now lives up to the intelligence part of its name, not all systems are created equal. Tools like Enlighten AI are the service that never sleeps, doesn’t need breaks, and can handle request volume on an epic scale.

Another AI tool is CXone SmartAssist which enables your customers to communicate naturally, whether by voice or chat, to resolve support issues or ask questions. SmartAssist responds quickly and carries out consumer tasks by delivering relevant personalized information efficiently. This level of AI accelerates resolutions, providing customers with answers quickly and easily.

AI makes self-service more intelligent in three ways:

• Smarter routing
• Cross-channel connections
• Real-time agent coaching

Smarter routing

Do you know where customer queries are coming from? Or if they are even happening? By leveraging AI, you meet

customers at the start of the digital journey, not the end. More intelligent interaction routing looks up the customer’s communication style and experience preferences and identifies the skilled agent with the best-predicted performance for the customer, then directs the customer to the agent, improving their experience and business outcome.

Understanding how to convert interactions into solutions or when and where customers disconnect from their digital journey allows for greater connection to customer expectations for seamless CX experiences every time.

Cross-channel connections

Research conducted by “The Contact Center Executive’s Agenda⁵” states that one out of two contact centers use at least nine channels to serve customers.
If a customer needs to communicate across multiple channels, (e.g. if they start with a voice call and then want to switch to text or have details emailed after a call) the customer’s intent and interaction details should transfer seamlessly across channels without requiring the customer to repeat information or questions when switching to a new channel.

AI can also accurately determine intent based on customer questions making chatbots more effective. When a digital self-service channel is unlikely to work, AI can send the customer to an agent with all information up to that point, improving the speed and quality of customer resolutions.

Real-time agent coaching

AI allows agents to receive in-the-moment coaching with embedded desktop tips based on phrases spoken or omitted, customer satisfaction metrics, and AI-driven
soft-skill behaviors. Real-time interaction cues help agents improve customer satisfaction during an interaction. It alters their approach and reinforces the skills they learned in coaching sessions.

AI doesn’t only improve customer experiences; agents see a 25% improvement in job satisfaction when working with an AI-powered system. Productivity also dramatically increases with a 50% jump in operational efficiency⁶.

Smart self-service powered by AI is the best way to surprise and delight customers. Together, tools like Enlighten AI and CXone SmartAssist help build a much stronger CX bridge. They also quickly improve brand loyalty by meeting and exceeding customer expectations every time.

But not just any old bits of knowledge. A specific set of knowledge parameters that have been created and placed in an accessible framework. In the contact center world, it is called Knowledge Management (KM).

Smart knowledge management begins at the customer’s first point of need and makes the right answers quick and easy to find. NICE CXone Expert does just that by unifying the content your customers need into one self-service experience extended to agents and any preferred channel, on any device, at any time, and in any language. Building smart self-service options is a huge customer pain point, 36% want more efficient and intelligent service⁷.

Within this platform, a robust KM solution offers multiple features and capabilities that help effectively create, capture, distribute, and share organizational knowledge. This provides the customer with:

• 24/7 support translated into all the languages your customers use
• Optimized content which supports findability across all channels, including web search
• Improved containment of lower-cost self-service, limiting the number of interactions that escalate to agents
• Personalized results specific to customer or agent profiles
• Proactively guiding customers and agents to organization-approved content, so they don’t find unclear or misleading information elsewhere

While your customers get the instant gratification they want, your contact center reaps the benefits. CXone Expert can reduce costs through ticket deflection, boost self-service success rates, and improve first- contact resolution and average handling time.