By Marc Bellini, Nokia
In the United States alone companies spend $112 billion on call centers each year,[1] but only half of all customer service issues get effectively resolved. In response, customer care is evolving from a static model of ‘reactive customer care’ — associated with high operations costs — to an intelligent, automated, and predictive model that reduces costs and ensures that subscribers are happy with services that just work. Cable multiple system operators (MSOs) can make life easier for subscribers, by offering an omni channel customer care solution that includes compelling and effective self-care tools and much-improved agent-assisted care.
The time is coming fast when customer care systems, leveraging humanoid interfaces powered by machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and bots become so advanced that we enter the era of autonomous care. To facilitate this transformation, MSOs need to embrace next-generation customer care technologies.
Interactive bots provide an ideal interface for customers experiencing common issues that have simple solutions, such as connecting to Wi-Fi, resetting forgotten passwords, or checking on the status of a scheduled technician appointment. For many MSOs, it is these simple issues that drive a large volume of help desk calls. Interactive bots can also be used to create powerful self-care and augmented customer care solutions, which power web-based chat or instant messaging tools, as well as behind-the-scenes support for customer service representatives (CSRs).
Proactive bots — combined with advanced, predictive analytics — can determine when a customer is experiencing connectivity issues. Rather than waiting for that customer to seek technical support,remedial action can be taken proactively. The customer issue is resolved automatically, without the need for any interaction between the customer and the help desk. This is known as autonomous customer care and it is the desired objective for both MSOs and customers alike. According to industry analyst firm Analysys Mason, autonomous customer care is the fastest-growing sub-segment of customer care, with sales forecast to reach 1.486 billion USD by 2020.[2]
For MSOs, a reduction in the number of help desk calls that require human intervention reduces support costs and frees up CSRs that can be trained to handle more complex tasks or to provide premium technical support. For customers, it results in faster response times and a better customer experience.