AI and CX: 7 questions to ask yourself before speaking to an outsourcer

Automation has already transformed how our industry delivers customer support and content moderation. Now AI promises to do the same. The right partner can use it to help you cut costs, improve outcomes, and drive impact at scale.?

But when every outsourcer promises the same things and uses the same buzz words, it can be hard to know where you stand. Because let’s be honest:

• Budgets aren’t infinite.

• Time is precious.

• AI and automation’s features and functionalities can get pretty confusing, pretty quickly.?

Here are seven questions to ask yourself to help you cut through the BS, establish what you really need in order to deliver the best possible experience, and bring your strategic vision to life.

1. Is it AI you need? Or good ol’ automation? You won’t be able to articulate the value of either unless you understand their uses. Need to handle repetitive tasks and processes, like routing conversations to the right team? Automation. Need more advanced learning functions? Like generating contextualized responses? That’s where AI comes in.
2. Are you underestimating human expertise? Human support can be your secret weapon in customer support. As an example, our specialist Mods can evaluate which customer support tools are most suitable for your integration needs
3. What kind of conversations do you want to have with customers??Are you clear on the difference between conversational vs. generative chatbots? The latter is perfect for cutting costs, saving time and boosting efficiency. More important customer interactions? That’s where conversational AI bots shine.?
4. Can your support content fuel every chatbot interaction? Optimizing AI chatbots demands high quality support content — and the ability to review and optimize the material they use. Choose a partner who can spot gaps in your existing inventory, create and update content where it's needed, and analyze your bot metrics to understand how that content’s performing.
5. What does your end-to-end customer support experience look like??The best outsourcers optimize the end-to-end CX, and provide conversation designers who can play a strategic role in refining journeys over time. That includes mapping individual user experiences, collecting and interpreting customer feedback, optimizing workflows and reporting on their success.?
6. Could your customer conversation data work harder? Chatbots generate performance and conversation data: a goldmine of insights. Look for an outsourcer who can help you mine them, and transform them into opportunities.
7. Is ‘flexibility’ as impressive as you think? The most mature AI models in outsourcing unlock powerful foresight — foresight that makes any need to flex up or down largely irrelevant. We’re not saying you should disregard flexibility entirely. But next time it’s advertised as a USP, apply some healthy skepticism to their AI strategy.?

Don’t get left behind outsourcing’s AI-automation curve. To explore the above in more detail, get in touch with us: https://msq.cm/ContactUs