In a recent research project on Investment in Process Automation and Anticipated RPA (Robotic Process Automation) projects, APQC (American Productivity and Quality Center), a business institute found some valuable insights:
- Investments in Process Automation and anticipated RPA projects are second only to Analytics and Data Management.
- RPA projects are almost twice as likely as near-term investments in AI or intelligent automation.
- The number of RPA projects per organization nearly doubled from 2017 (8.6) to 2018 (14.9).
There is no question that the adoption of automation technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise.
Developments in AI have created profound transformation in the space of automation, rapidly propelling it from merely mimicking human tasks to almost thinking like a human. This leads to a sea of automation possibilities in both back and front-office operations across several domains including customer service.
Cognitive technologies, products of the field of artificial intelligence including computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, speech recognition, and robotics are being utilized in various ways to enhance customer experience; machine learning enabled programs to provide personalized suggestions to online consumers is one of the use cases we have experienced in daily life.
Specific uses of implementing RPA and AI-enhanced customer service:
- Chatbots can capture primary information and respond to queries on several channels 24×7
- Virtual assistants can provide human-like customer service via voice and text
- AI-enabled tools can assist customer service agents to ingest a customer’s history while answering queries
- Predictive analytics can help in identifying future trends by understanding behavioral patterns and emotions to provide context-appropriate customer service
Let’s understand how leading organizations across various industries are utilizing these technologies to elevate their customer service delivery.
Chatbots are revolutionizing customer experiences in Banking
Banks such as Swedbank have noted positive results achieved with the help of their chatbot-‘Nina’. Instead of occupying the agents to answer customer queries, the bank has utilized ‘Nina’ to take care of the service calls and let the agents focus on more serious and complex issues. According to the bank, out of 40,000 conversations a month that ‘Nina’ handles, the chatbot resolves 81% of the issues.
RPA enabled Pre-registration process automation in Healthcare
Boston Scientific has automated an entire multistep pre-registration process for their customers to save a significant amount of human time and effort. Upon receipt of the new pre-registration form as a PDF file, RPA Bots transcribe the information in the Billing Assist Tool and notify the inventory team about the successful processing of the form. This automation helps in eliminating possible human errors, saves a considerable amount of time and frees up the resources from a manual data entry job to perform more productive tasks.
Using AI to improve Insurance CX
According to Accenture, three-quarters of insurance executives believe that AI is about to reshape the industry dramatically. Advances in AI are allowing insurers to search through their huge databases more quickly and efficiently. This enables a more personalized approach to risk management, reduced liabilities and lowered premiums. The ability to access data faster than ever before also allows insurers to process claims in a few hours instead of weeks.
As customer expectations rise, it’s harder than ever for organizations to deliver services that meet the desire for instant gratification and deal with the demand for tailored one to one customer conversations. Businesses are being compelled to use Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation technologies to meet these needs. In fact, by 2020, Gartner predicts that 85% of customer interactions will be handled this way. Are you ready?
