“Predicting the future isn’t magic, it’s artificial intelligence.” ~ Dave Waters
The rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is paving the way for enhanced efficiency, greater innovation, and increased customer satisfaction across the support industry. In fact, businesses are leveraging it to develop deeper insights and curate impeccable self-service experiences. No wonder that 95% of customer interactions will be AI-assisted by 2025.
But with an ever-evolving support landscape and a plethora of tech options available, choosing the best-suited tech for your business could be challenging. Well, taking note of AI trends is a solid start. Let’s take a look at the hottest ones for 2023 & beyond!
1. Generative AI to Go Mainstream
Support agents deal with a massive amount of cases daily. Sometimes, they simultaneously work on multiple customers’ queries at once while waiting for data from the legacy system to load. As a result, they may either end up reiterating solutions or problem-solving similar issues from scratch. This is where Generative AI comes into play!
Built on large language models, Generative AI models handle considerable data and generate unique text, images, and other content with a level of accuracy that mimics humans. In 2023, agents will be able to operate more efficiently, develop more empathetic responses to customer queries, and resolve cases faster.
Did You Know? ChatGPT, the latest generative AI model, has taken the internet by storm by reaching one million users in the first five days of release. Developed by OpenAI, it uses the variant of the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) to make effortless conversations with humans. The fact that it can be used to provide automated answers to customers’ queries makes it a boiling-hot trend for the customer support domain.
2. The Surging Popularity of Predictive Analytics
Resolving customers’ problems quickly and accurately is the need of the hour. This is where predictive analytics enters the frame! It uses data analysis, ML, and AI to help predict the future behavior of customers based on previous purchases, viewed products or services, search history, etc. The information can further be utilized to propel effective case routing, i.e., connecting customers to the best-fitted agent right off the bat.
In addition, support teams can use it to identify customers who are at high risk of leaving. Subsequently, providing them with valuable and proactive solutions will increase the satisfaction score, resulting in a lower customer churn rate.
84% of support leaders consider customer data and analytics as a top priority in 2023.
3. AIOps to Open the Door for Proactive Customer Support
The key to exceptional customer support is the ability to resolve issues even before they occur. Unfortunately, most monitoring tools fail to provide complete visibility of customer insights required to understand their needs and behavior. So, what is the solution to this conundrum? Next-generation AIOps applications that interpret the entire support ecosystem so that the right issues can be prioritized and quickly acted upon.
Using AI and ML, they equip support teams with valuable data on customer profiles, support history, prior resolutions for similar issues, etc, thereby empowering them to personalize customer interactions and offer proactive support. A win-win situation, right?
According to Global Market Insights, the AIOps platform market size surpassed USD 3 billion in 2022 and is poised to grow at a CAGR of 27% from 2023 to 2032.
In addition, AIOps are a crucial use case for case classification. They help determine case field values without human intervention. It also taps into predictive intelligence to populate picklist and checkbox fields based on past case data. This results in a plethora of benefits, such as improved data accuracy, less agent burnout, and faster case resolution.
4. Hyper Automation Will Become More Significant
Automation in business processes is nearly new. However, thanks to the expansion of AI, Machine Learning (ML), and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), a whole new level has been unlocked, leading to hyper-automation.
Hyper Automation is a business-driven approach that goes beyond conventional business process automation and expedites digital transformation. By marrying AI with RPA, it automates repetitive tasks that help support agents to focus on complex business functions, thereby augmenting their productivity. As an effect, they are motivated to deliver better and more relevant support to customers.
Hyper Automation will be one of the indispensable technology trends that will mark the next decade, according to Gartner.
If deployed strategically, hyper-automation can help transform a plethora of customer support processes. One such biggest example is knowledge creation. How you may ask? With the help of AI-powered apps, support teams can now populate articles on the go as a by-product of their resolutions. These KB articles can further augment knowledge discovery and drive self-service.
5. Automated ML or AutoML for Streamlining Customer Feedback
According to Zendesk, 61 % of customers will defect to a competitor after just one bad experience and 76% after two negative experiences.
An essential part of delivering remarkable customer support is handling customer feedback, quickly and efficiently. However, acting on it can be complex and time-consuming if done manually. This is where Automated ML or AutoML comes in!
It helps classify customer feedback, making the overall process more efficient. How you may ask? The AI-enabled classifications can be used to send automated responses, route complaints, and other actionable feedback to appropriate support agents. This, in return, improves the resolution time and overall customer experience.
So, it would not be wrong to say that AutoML is going to provide the foundation for next-generation customer support in 2023 and beyond.
Leverage the Power of AI For Stellar Customer Support
Keeping customers at the center of business is essential. By integrating AI and its branches like machine learning, companies can go above and beyond with the quality of customer support. And now that all the latest AI trends for 2023 are revealed, you can take the next step by integrating an AI-powered platform into your tech stack. Request the demo today!