Businesses that require a strong customer support department have begun taking advantage of the many ways artificial intelligence can streamline their process. AI is especially beneficial for B2B organizations that must ensure their client base has total access to product support at all times. By implementing an AI-powered chatbot, they can offer their clients 24/7 automated service that’s quick and easy.
However, some businesses are using AI as a replacement for human agents. And while AI-powered tools like chatbots are stronger than live support reps in many ways, there still needs to be a close collaboration between the two. If not, a business could risk forming a reputation for not caring about their customer’s needs. If you feel this has happened to you, it’s time to reconsider your AI objectives. Let’s go over some important points.
AI Can Help Boost Agent Performance
Just because you’re using AI-powered tools doesn’t mean all your support headaches will go away. You’ll need to rethink the way your live agents operate alongside these tools. This provides an excellent opportunity to offer superior service to your client base. With customer support automation tools in their hands, your agents can harness the speed and accuracy of AI and still provide the human touch to clients who require it. For example, by positioning your agents as chatbot supervisors, they can easily take over when a client isn’t finding the answers they need. This prevents them from getting stuck in a chatbot loop with no assistance from your team.
Promote Multi-Channel Support
Due to the nature of the B2B industry, your clients are typically as busy, if not busier, than you. They’re using your product to enhance their own operation, which means they often need issues resolved quickly. Artificial intelligence can help you provide this level of service, as long as you’re using it correctly. A great way to provide reliable service is to provide your clients with multiple ways to get support. For example, an AI-powered chatbot can send links to content in your knowledge base using keywords the customer types during a chat session. This helps empower your clients to educate themselves instead of relying on your support team to help them find answers.
Drive Change with Support Metrics
If you’re not using AI to help you track client trends, you need to start. Understanding how your customers are using your product and finding answers to problems is invaluable information for any support team. Artificial intelligence can make this process easy. These tools can measure client behavior in real-time and provide insight into how they prefer to get support, how long it’s taking, and what level of satisfaction you’re providing. All this information will allow you to make necessary changes where things are falling flat. It will also help increase client retention and boost your business reputation.
Change the Way You Use AI-Powered Tools
If you’ve implemented AI support tools but haven’t really experimented with new ways of using them, it’s time to reconsider your objectives. You’ll be surprised how much positive change will occur once you rethink your day-to-day operation.
PhaseWare can provide software for B2B customer support that will help you utilize artificial intelligence and streamline your process. Contact us today to learn more.