1. Contact Center Solutions Help Improve the Citizen Experience
Contact centers extend beyond a typical support call center to include an area with a “density of interactions,” such as a billing team, nursing station in a hospital or sales associates on a retail floor, says Bryan Martin, CTO for 8x8, a contact center and cloud communications company.
Communication Platform as a Service solutions such as Webex Connect can elevate call centers with AI, voice bots, and improved audio and video clarity, says Anurag Dhingra, senior vice president and general manager for Cisco Collaboration. Interactions can be automated using natural language programming and natural language understanding.
CPaaS platforms can also remove background noise (such as other voices or ruffling papers) during support calls, Dhingra says. Webex offers this feature on its meetings platform and in its contact center software.
LEARN MORE: Contact center modernization shouldn’t be put on hold.
2. Contextual Data Analytics Enhances the Citizen Experience
Contextual data analytics enables personalized experiences in which an agent receives detailed information specific to a citizen. For example, the agent might automatically know which department of motor vehicles is closest to a citizen caller who is inquiring about a specific permit. This context can be valuable for solving problems.
Citizen service requests should be resolved proactively and quickly, Dhingra adds. That means not putting callers on hold or making them repeat themselves. The contextual information that data analytics tools offer can help avoid unneeded conversation.
“I think that data fabric and the sharing of all the metadata associated with communications helps make an organization much more efficient,” Martin says, adding that customer relationship management tools can also provide context for citizen calls.
3. AI and Automation Improve Citizen Services
When agencies use manual processes, citizens can become frustrated due to slow workflows and a greater number of errors. Automation can improve productivity and reduce the risk of mistakes.
“When you talk to a human, that human will have more information to personalize the experience for you, because the AI solution can look at previous interactions, see patterns, predict what somebody might be reaching out about and equip the agent to deliver a better experience,” Dhingra says.
AI tools can now listen in on voice and digital interactions, observe what is being typed and provide suggestions to agents on next steps, Martin says.
RELATED: AI is poised to transform the citizen experience.
Although customers may at times get frustrated with bots and request a live agent, bots are becoming more efficient at helping with tasks that cause agent burnout. But to improve the citizen experience, organizations must hand off calls to a human quickly if the individual has spent several minutes with a bot, Martin says.
With the emergence of generative AI, contact center solutions can now add empathy to an interaction, according to Martin. For instance, if someone is experiencing a delay in receiving access to certain benefits or expresses hardship on a 311 call, the bot can speak in an understanding tone and ask questions that convey empathy.
As generative AI emerges to elevate contact center experiences, don’t expect it to replace humans altogether, Martin adds: “There's always going to be a place for a human in the system, but how efficient we can make that human, how productive, how happy we can make that person, those are the questions to answer.”
