Contact Center software are drunk on AI
I attended one of the worst webinars I can remember.
And I know it's my fault because the topic already said it all and because I could have left early.
But what can I do? I'm a sucker for trash TV.
To prevent the title of this article from simply becoming clickbait, let me get straight to the point by giving you some bad news:
AI won't save the fate of your Contact Center. AI is just a tool, and if you don't fix things first, it will only make them worse.
And this article could have ended like this and simply be one of those short posts that attract all kinds of haters and where people fight in the comments.
Well, people can still fight in the comments. But I want to first argue my reasons.
I attended an hour and a half of a webinar where a major player in the Contact Center software world was trying to demonstrate the usefulness of AI by showing garbage data.
One of which struck me in particular:
AI Saves Agents 6 Minutes Per Call on After-Call Work
Now, I understand that 6 minutes less on a call is a wow effect.
In fact, my reaction was: “wow, this is crap”
Let me show you the slide, properly censored for obvious reasons:
And now let's look at some numbers together:
AHT 14 minutes
Wrap-up 16 minutes
We haven't even introduced AI yet, and already the first two data points smell like crap.
In fact, on the same company's website, it says that wrap-up is part of AHT.
Which makes this data absolutely meaningless.
If AHT is 14 minutes, how can wrap-up, which represents a portion of AHT, be 16 minutes?
I am confused.
But let's overlook the mathematical doubts and introduce today's Star:
Thanks to AI, AHT is reduced by six minutes, totaling 10 minutes
I really don't know where to start.
But as a Consultant working to improve the cost efficiency of Contact Center Operations (oops, did I accidentally slip in an attempt to advertise my services?), I feel obligated to alert you and open your eyes.
Sixteen minutes of wrap-up? Are your agents on average off the line for sixteen minutes after closing the call?
There are two possibilities:
Either you have a performance problem
Or you have a process problem
AI certainly isn't solving either of these for you. In fact, the wrap-up is still an absurd number: 10 minutes.
And I dare not imagine how much this absolutely useless and misleading AI is costing you.
But let me help you save money by not buying it and without paying for a consultation:
If you have a performance problem, you should ask yourself what your Contact Center's Team Leaders are doing.
If you have a process problem, you should ask yourself what your Contact Center's Operations Manager is doing.
If you paid for AI before understanding the two points above, you should ask yourself what you are doing.
Make sure you are addressing the root cause and not just the symptoms.
If you want to learn more about the most common mistakes made by Contact Centers that are costing you a lot of money, you can download the free guide so that I can then flood you with emails until you buy my services out of exhaustion and frustration.
P.S. The Guide may contain traces of grain containing gluten, but certainly doesn’t contain AI.