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TalkDesk

CX pros focused on AI & automation investments

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Talkdesk’s The Future of AI 2022: Progressing AI Maturity in the Contact Center report indicates that despite consensus (85%) around the value of artificial intelligence (AI), companies are hedging their approach by continuing to invest, but curbing deeper deployments in the near-term due to challenges around organisational alignment, security, and gaps in talent.

As customer service expectations grow across every type of industry – from retail and consumer goods, to financial services and insurance, even healthcare – fast-moving organizations are gaining a competitive edge by using AI and automation to deliver better service and boost productivity.

To reap the benefits and avoid being left behind, 79% of customer experience (CX) professionals say their company plans to increase investments in the year ahead. Fifty-two percent acknowledge that without AI and automation, customer satisfaction will decrease; 48% expect a decline in contact center team productivity. Yet, the use of AI and automation in contact centers has scaled back; for example, their use in self-service declined from 69% in 2021 to 60% today.

Implementing new technology always represents an uncharted territory for companies and AI is no different. The former rush to embrace AI initiatives appears to have met with the reality of the challenges companies are facing, primarily around three key areas:

1. Misalignment on AI business goals

CX professionals report less confidence in their own understanding of AI. The percentage of those saying they feel moderately to extremely familiar with AI in the contact center dipped from 93% a year ago to 87%. Similarly, the number of respondents characterizing their organization’s application of AI technology as more advanced fell to 35%. Resistance to change within their organizations and lack of strategic vision were commonly cited hurdles.

2. Security risks and IT challenges

Eighty percent believe AI will improve identity and authentication security within the next two years. Nearly as many (75%) agree further that AI technology will allow customer data to be more secure than with a live agent. The belief that AI will improve security seems to contradict findings that security is a key barrier to AI deployment; however, half of the respondents attribute security concerns to the limitations of legacy contact center infrastructure.

3. Lack of in-house AI expertise

Another common obstacle to advanced AI implementation is the lack of AI professionals who can build, train, and maintain AI solutions. New technology, such as human-in-the-loop tools, can help democratize the use of AI in the contact center, making it easy for agents to train and maintain AI models without the need for specialized programming skills. According to the survey, 15% of companies are already taking advantage of these emerging tools.

“As contact centers continue to evolve from cost to growth centers, falling short on AI maturity can negatively impact not only the most important contact center KPIs, such as customer satisfaction and productivity, but also broader business goals tied to revenue and lifetime customer value,” said Ben Rigby, Talkdesk senior vice president and global head of product and engineering, AI, automation, and workforce. “Working closely with a CX technology partner that has deep AI expertise can allow organizations to break through the barriers to deployment and achieve their AI ambitions.”

Download the full report here.

DOWNLOAD: The UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide 2022

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The UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide 2022 is a deep dive into the largest and most comprehensive study of the UK contact centre industry.

This report reflects a full comprehensive facts and hard data about every aspect of UK customer experience management, technology, and strategy, this report will arm you with the best tips to transform your contact centre and prepare it for the future. It identifies seven of the major pain points and issues that affect the contact centre industry and presents specific solutions that you can use to solve these challenges.

With sections on:

– Improving quality and performance,

– Maximising efficiency and agent optimisation,

– Digital, cloud, and the customer of the future,

– Outbound and proactivity,

– The customer experience,

– HR and agent management,

– And, strategic directions.

Click Here To Download

Contact Centre Masterclass: How to Turn AI into ROI and loyal customers

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Advances in AI Automation through Conversational Artificial Intelligence are enabling companies to provide high quality customer service at scale while also helping call centres achieve significant cost savings.

But the AI topic has been around for years so how do you actually achieve the promise of Conversational AI in your contact centre today?

Join this session to learn about:

  • The top use cases for AI and how they will help you re-imagine your agent roles and customer experience
  • How to build your business case for AI to demonstrate the cost savings and growth that could be gained from investments
  • See a live demonstration of the leading tools for Self Service, Insights and real-time Agent Assist to serve your customers better than ever before.

To provide a more personalised experience during the session, spaces are limited.

Click Here To Register Today

Talkdesk named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for CCaaS

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Talkdesk again named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for CCaaS.

We believe Talkdesk was positioned as a Leader based on our strong commitment to Gartner’s four pillars of great customer service, and our vision for analytics-driven engagements for both customers and employees.

Download the report to learn what Gartner says about Talkdesk as a 2021 Magic Quadrant Leader.

WEBINAR REWIND: A digital-first strategy for customer engagement

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Don’t worry if you missed last month’s excellent Talkdesk webinar on customer engagement – You can now watch the entire session again online!

Customers are increasingly opting to engage digitally with the companies they do business with. This has as much to do with the continuing demographic shift to predominantly digitally native consumers as it does with changing communications preferences.

In light of these changes, businesses need to reevaluate their contact centre strategies, specifically the role digital transformation will play in allowing them to offer a digital-first option for customers to engage.

Join Talkdesk and Salesforce experts in an insightful conversation moderated by Blake Morgan, on driving customer engagement through digital transformation.

Watch the webinar again to learn more about:

  • How can you empower your customers through digital channels and automation.
  • Tips for supporting the growing volume of digital engagement interactions.
  • How to tie all your CX interactions together with context by leveraging omnichannel.

Click Here To Access Webinar

DOWNLOAD: The future of workforce engagement in the contact centre

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By Talkdesk

This year, as employers and employees navigate a work environment that is anything but “business as usual,” leaders in every area are discovering more questions than clear answers. And the contact centre is no exception.

While many uncertainties remain in determining the future of workforce engagement, it is safe to expect that those organizations prioritizing employee experience have much to gain, both in bottom-line results and an enhanced CX.

What you’ll learn:

    • Which workforce model will dominate in the post-pandemic world.
    • What the future holds for contact centre engagement and Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) tools.
    • What role collaboration will play in the contact centre between now and 2025.

DOWNLOAD REPORT

WEBINAR: A digital-first strategy for customer engagement

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Thursday, Nov. 4, 10 a.m. BST | 11 a.m. CET

Click Here To Register

Customers are increasingly opting to engage digitally with the companies they do business with. This has as much to do with the continuing demographic shift to predominantly digitally native consumers as it does with changing communications preferences.

In light of these changes, businesses need to reevaluate their contact center strategies, specifically the role digital transformation will play in allowing them to offer a digital-first option for customers to engage.

Join Talkdesk and Salesforce experts in an insightful conversation moderated by Blake Morgan, on driving customer engagement through digital transformation.

Join us to learn more about:

  • How can you empower your customers through digital channels and automation.
  • Tips for supporting the growing volume of digital engagement interactions.
  • How to tie all your CX interactions together with context by leveraging omnichannel.

Click Here To Register

WEBINAR REWIND: The future of AI in the contact centre

300 250 Stuart O'Brien

Don’t worry if you missed last week’s insightful webinar about the future of AI in the contact centre – You can now re-watch the entire session online.

The in-depth discussion saw Paul Lasserre (Global Segment Lead for Applied AI solutions, AWS) explore the maturity of AI in the CX space, the key barriers to AI adoption, and the top predictions for the future of AI in the contact centre.

Contact centres worldwide are adopting AI technology to reimagine the customer journey and empower agents to deliver faster, more accurate customer service. Yet despite 89% of CX professionals recognising the importance of leveraging AI in the contact centre, only 14% of organizations consider themselves “transformational” in employing AI to do the heavy lifting for their business.

The session explore the obstacles organizations face on their journey to AI maturity and how can these barriers be overcome as automation becomes a CX standard.

Click Here To Watch Again

5 Minutes With… TalkDesk’s Jay Gupta

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In the latest instalment of our contact sector industry executive interview series we spoke to Jay Gupta, Global Director of Product Marketing at Talkdesk, about the company, the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic, the importance of operational efficiencies and the potential for artificial intelligence…

Tell us about your company, products and services?

Talkdesk was founded in 2011 by Tiago Paiva. He recognised that the problems contact centres face didn’t change, but businesses needed a better way to find solutions and deliver impressive customer experiences. Talkdesk is helping customers innovate a better way to great CX with Talkdesk CX Cloud™, an end-to-end customer experience solution that combines enterprise scale with consumer simplicity, all on a single unified platform. Talkdesk has since been named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CCaaS for the second consecutive year.

What have been the biggest challenges the Contact Centre/Customer Services industry has faced over the past 12 months?

The pandemic completely restructured our day-to-day lives, many of us working from home and relying on online services. The companies that thrived were those who provided digital, frictionless customer experiences. Customer expectations became higher than ever, with 68% of customers reporting that a single poor customer service experience would negatively impact their brand loyalty. This pressure on brands to offer the amazon-like customer service was one of the biggest challenges in the contact centre industry and pushed businesses to rapidly accelerate their digital transformation roadmap.

And what have been the biggest opportunities?

Especially over the past year, it is clear that the efficient operation of the contact centre is key to any business success. However, even the most efficient contact centres are not often viewed or operated as strategic assets, and companies miss clear opportunities to generate significant enterprise value by failing to invest in unlocking the true potential of contact centres. In direct response to this, Talkdesk has launched the ‘Cost-to-growth’ campaign which leverages the contact centre as a growth centre through 3 stages: Assess, Dream, and Launch.

What is the biggest priority for the Contact Centre/Customer services industry in 2021/22?

I think the biggest priority for the contact centre industry in 2021/22 would be to upgrade legacy technology and take advantage of cloud based technologies. The cloud has allowed so many people to work from home and been one of the main reasons businesses have been able to continue over 2020. Businesses are now recognising that every aspect of their organisation needs a cloud based solution to operate as efficiently as possible, as well as safeguard against unusual events.

What are the main trends you are expecting to see in the market in 2022?

I would definitely expect to see an increase in the adoption of AI and automation. We are seeing an increased recognition of the benefits of AI for providing agents with real-time contextual information, better managing the contact centre workforce, as well as delivering personalized, 24/7 customer service. I would expect this to be a growing priority in the contact centre industry in the near future.

What technology is going to have the biggest impact on the market this year?

This year, cloud-based intelligent security solutions are having a huge impact on the market. Intelligent Security, such as Talkdesk’s ‘Guardian’ enables businesses to gain better visibility of their remote workforce and effectively mitigate risks such as insider threats, noncompliance, negligence, and unpredictable work-from-home infrastructure. This technology can also ensure that customer interactions are handled securely and compliantly, regardless of where agents are located.

In 2025 we’ll all be talking about…?

In 2025, I think AI will become mainstream. We’re seeing more businesses across industries, big or small,  who don’t necessarily have the technical clout of a technology giant like Amazon, but want to transform their contact centres with AI to offer an Amazon-like customer experience. With 84% of organisations now believing customers expect self-service options 24/7, AI is providing contact centres with the tools to deliver impressive, frictionless customer experiences outside of the call centre operating hours. AI is also being used to empower agents by providing them with real-time, contextual information so they can answer customer questions more quickly and accurately. Finally, contact centres are now able to intelligently uncover friction points in customer journeys. I expect AI will be essential to the operation of the most successful contact centres in 2025.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learnt about the Contact Centre/Customer Services sector?

The contact centre is often positioned as a cost centre despite sitting at the heart of customer experience. I was surprised to learn that businesses are extracting more value from their contact centres by enhancing their customer experiences. Delightful customer experiences that boost customer satisfaction and brand loyalty can catapult contact centres from a cost centre to a profit centre.

WEBINAR: The future of AI in the contact centre

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

Tuesday, September 14, 2021, 10 a.m. BST

Join talkdesk for a virtual discussion with Paul Lasserre (Global Segment Lead for Applied AI solutions, AWS) to explore the maturity of AI in the CX space, the key barriers to AI adoption, and the top predictions for the future of AI in the contact centre.

Contact centres worldwide are adopting AI technology to reimagine the customer journey and empower agents to deliver faster, more accurate customer service. Yet despite 89% of CX professionals recognising the importance of leveraging AI in the contact centre, only 14% of organizations consider themselves “transformational” in employing AI to do the heavy lifting for their business.

What are the obstacles organizations face on their journey to AI maturity? And how can these barriers be overcome as automation becomes a CX standard?

Sign up to explore how businesses are adopting AI and the top predictions for the future AI in the contact centre.

Click Here To Register

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