One of the questions people are asking the most, these days, is whether artificial intelligence will impact their jobs enough to make them disappear. The truth is that it is not yet known for sure if something as alarming will really happen and if society will change as much as people imagine.
For now, what we know is that artificial intelligence is becoming a tool to help us perform better and inspire us, without having to pull out all the stops to do a great job.
Call centers and chat customer service, some of the jobs most at risk
Call centers are centers that answer calls from customers, to offer them a service or to assist them in case of doubts and problems. The chat customer service is usually multidisciplinary, providing solutions to doubts and questions, as well as dealing with complaints or problems of various kinds.
Currently, it is the job most affected by artificial intelligence, as most companies are contemplating or setting up chatbots to respond, something that most people don’t seem to be liking very much.
Effectiveness vs. Human empathy
According to Science Direct magazine, more than 80% of consumers prefer to hear a human voice and advice on the other end of the phone or computer, leading to more dissatisfaction, apathy and distrust of chatbots.
Here, companies face a major dilemma: to provide 24-hour round-the-clock care with attention that does not stand out, or to have people who do have empathy and a more global understanding of the situation, something that could put a person’s mind at ease in a problematic situation.
What do experts think about the implementation of artificial intelligence in call centers?
Companies such as the Boston Consulting Group claim that, in the future, most of the staff of every call center will probably be replaced by artificial intelligence, creating savings for the company of more than 60%.
However, other professionals such as Alex Gómez Meneses (professor at EAE Business School) believe that artificial intelligence will still be “a co-pilot” for now. He does not see the total replacement of people by these digital smart tools, but has a much more optimistic view that people will always be needed to provide solutions to other human beings.
What would artificial intelligence do in a call center?
Surely, artificial intelligence will be able to create texts autonomously to answer all the questions that customers may have. They may also be able to generate audios in order to verbally respond to questions or complaints.
For companies, this would offer higher performance, greater customer service coverage with around-the-clock service and faster response times. However, it is still too early to get an idea of what artificial intelligence will be able to do and what it can become. It seems that for the time being it is a complement to human labor and should be treated as such.
