For 95% of users, the quality of customer service influences their choice and loyalty to a brand. Experience, therefore, is the key factor in differentiating yourself from the competition and gaining customer loyalty. Aspects such as omnichannel, immediacy or personalization are essential to meet the needs users’s expectations. On this way, technological innovation is the great enabler. But, how has the technology evolved from the first IVRs to voicebots or systems that converse with the user in natural language?
Speech recognition systems for customer service
Speech recognition systems have had a real revolution in recent years. In 1952, Bell Laboratories created a solution capable of recognizing absolute numbers. But it was not until the 1980s that the Hidden Markov Model began to be used to calculate the probability that a certain word would proceed to another. That’s how word-based systems were left behind to move towards applications capable of understanding phrases. The turning point came in 2011 when the first advanced virtual assistant, Siri, was introduced on the iPhone 4S.
This evolution of voice recognition systems has also reached customer relationship centers. If the first IVRs, on many occasions, delayed the resolution of customer requests and frustrated the relationship between brands and customers; conversational IVRs or open-ended question systems allow to manage customer requests immediately, without waiting or dialing on the keyboard, conversing in natural language with the user.
Thus, customers who want to contact brands don’t have to listen a speech anymore, press the number corresponding to the department they want to talk to on the telephone keypad, hear another voiceover that gives them indications of the key words they should use to indicate their request, or repeat it again because the system has not understood them. Now, with call sterring or open-ended question systems, users only have to answer the question, "How may I help you?"
Thanks to natural language recognition technology, artificial intelligence and identity extraction, open-ended voicebots understand user requests formulated in colloquial language. They automatically classify the call and solve the problem or, in case of complex requests, refer the call to a specialized agent. Reducing waiting times, eliminating barriers by naturalizing the service and offering 24x7 service, while optimizing costs for the customer relationship and improving the main indicators of service quality.
More than 10,600,000 calls thanks to an open inquiry system
In order to improve the availability and quality of the 060 citizen service, the General State Administration has incorporated an open question system to classify the calls made by citizens in colloquial language. Thanks to this system, the information telephone number of the Government of Spain has answered the requests of the citizens 24 hours a day and has improved the availability of the service and its management.
With the unification of 230 lines from the various government agencies into a single telephone number, 060, the volume of calls has multiplied by 5 in recent years. It will receive a total of 10,799,961 calls in 2019, according to data from La Moncloa.
After knowing the user's request, the system is capable of automatically classifying 96% of the calls. Thus, it is possible to request appointments for different agencies, pay fines, obtain information on public employment, carry out administrative procedures or know the state of the roads, among other services, without waiting, lost calls or closed questions.
On the other hand, more complex requests are referred to a specialized agent who will have the necessary information to resolve citizens' queries quickly and efficiently.
However, open-question solutions are an efficient solution for companies with large call volumes since it is necessary to have a sufficient volume of requests to train the system and extract the necessary insights to enable continuous improvement.
Brands with a less significant volume of requests also need to digitize their customer service. Virtual assistants or chatbots are an efficient solution for companies that receive requests through different channels and must respond immediately, without time limits and without an increase in costs. Technological innovation allows a virtual agent to handle the most recurring questions and needs of customers in each customer's preferred channel.
The pandemic has highlighted the importance of contact centers in the business strategies of companies in the new reality, the digital transformation of customer services or citizen care is a critical factor for companies. The attention offered to users helps to attract new customers, retain the current portfolio and build the loyalty of a consumer who is willing to pay more for a friendly experience.
