“AI” (artificial intelligence) has been all the rage this week. Okay, AI has been all the rage for some time now. It has been all the rage for 20 years! So, why does anyone care about it now? Microsoft made good, not great, headlines with AI this week.
One of the significant advancements with websites over the last few years has been the addition of “chat.” The problem is that people have learned that this is not a new idea. It is something that voice call centers failed miserably at ten years ago.
Remember the last time you called your cable company?. Chances are, you activated an automated voice system that feebly attempted to solve your problems by pushing 9… 2… 7… or who knows what combination of these numbers. It’s called “containment“.
Most companies try to keep (contain) you within the automated system. Most of the companies get incentives to do just that. Keep you from talking to a real person. Why? It costs a lot of money to speak to a real person. Chat is no different… but chat allows these same companies to invoke AI. It enables the provider to ask you a variety of questions that to which you may have already provided the answers.
In many cases, chat can be more frustrating as sites and companies have off-shored this to (potentially) even less reliable sources than were handled by the old voice systems.
SiteStaff provides something that both AI and automated phone systems cannot do. We don’t ask irrelevant questions. We don’t make website guests feel they are in an endless queue or being handled by a robot that will repeat details that have already been provided.
Are you old enough to remember when you could call your doctor’s office, and you knew the receptionist’s name? She went to school with your daughter. Remember when you called the car dealer, and his niece still would schedule your oil change?
SiteStaff believes that having real people, not AI, makes a significant difference in how you deal with your customers.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and comments. Chat with us today!
Michelle, Client Services Director