CHATgpt IN CONTACT CENTRES. THREE EXPERTS SPILL THE AUTOMATED BEANS!

ChatGPT. An NLP model built out from OpenAI’s generative pre-trained transformer (GPT).

ChatGPT generates the most human-like responses and text for almost any scenario or question you can put to it. Chat GPT has also created an anxious spike in our work worlds because of its ability to considerably transform how we operate and what we do with huge ramifications across our industry.

When we put Chat GPT into the context of the work we do in our contact centre industry, there are multiple debates and arguments on-going. Some positive, some negative and some panic fuelled.

Many industry professionals are embracing Chat GPT as it can help create more efficient, leaner and streamlined processes and faster and more accurate outcomes, whilst others are concerned of the implications to job being replaced, headcount reductions and automation overtaking the human touch.

Let’s face it though, automation has been aggressively pounding on our doors and coming into the party for years with self service solutions, chatbots, automated IVR’s and so on. Automation isn’t new. What is new is the sheer accuracy, articulacy and reliability of the outputs which Chat GPT can generate, often outwitting and better articulating the response to the same question than their human counterpart.

So what is the machine (GPT) and human relationship going to be like as we progress? Will GPT replace the contact centre agent? Will customers eventually favour the machine response? How will Chat GPT reshape our industry?

Will the machines take over?

Welcome to ‘Contact Alchemy’. In this first issue, these are the burning questions and we’ll explore some of the latest and best informed answers and thoughts of three of our industry’s leading voices as we go.

Are you sitting comfortably with a cup of GPTea? Let’s dive in with our three industry experts.

Thomas Laird on CHATGPT

Thomas (Tom) Laird, the founder and CEO of Expivia Interaction Marketing Group Inc. and Expivia Digital in the USA is a well-respected and prominent thought leader (although he dislikes that reference, it’s just a fact) and expert in our industry on both sides of the pond.

I asked Tom where he thought Chat GPT in all its glory and unknown potential would take us in the future and what impacts he thought it would have as a technology on our contact centre operating methods and on our people. What does CHAT-gpt mean innovatively to our industry Tom?

“ Clearly AI is taking the world by storm, and ChatGPT is at the forefront, transforming contact centres and customer experiences like never before. By tapping into ChatGPT's potential, businesses can craft custom solutions for contact centres, boost analytics, and deliver efficient, unique customer interactions.

Let’s look at this in bite sized chunks.

Present Impact:

Real-time language translation: ChatGPT helps break language barriers by enabling smooth real-time translation during customer interactions, making communication in multilingual contact centres a breeze.

Sentiment analysis: With ChatGPT, contact centres can Analyse customer sentiment throughout interactions, empowering agents to tackle concerns more effectively and guarantee a positive customer experience.

Automatic Summarisation: ChatGPT offers crisp summaries of customer interactions, streamlining the review process for agents and supervisors, and enhancing both customer service and agent performance.

So, breaking down language challenges, speedier sentiment awareness and more accurate and relatable reviews and summaries are current benefits and where we are seeing definite impacts.

Future Impact:

Hyper-personalized marketing: ChatGPT could generate tailor-made marketing messages for customers based on their preferences, interaction history, and demographic information, significantly boosting marketing effectiveness.

Social media engagement: By integrating ChatGPT with social media platforms, businesses could automate customer service responses, Analyse customer feedback, and provide personalized recommendations on social media channels.

Gamified customer support: ChatGPT could be used to create interactive, gamified experiences for customers seeking assistance, making the support process more engaging and enjoyable while reducing customer frustration.

Enhanced fraud detection: ChatGPT could Analyse customer interactions and Behavioural patterns to identify potential fraud or security risks in real-time, protecting both businesses and customers from potential threats.

Voice-activated self-service: ChatGPT could power voice-activated self-service options in contact centres, enabling customers to access information, resolve issues, or complete transactions with ease, simply by using their voice.

AI is constantly advancing, and ChatGPT's impact on contact centres and customer experience is set to grow even more. By harnessing this ground-breaking technology, businesses can stay ahead of the game, drive innovation, and transform the way they engage with customers. With the right investment and strategic focus, the possibilities for ChatGPT in contact centres are virtually endless, opening the door to unique and customer-centric applications that revolutionize the industry.”

So an optimistic runway of opportunities is on our horizon according to Tom with game changing applications of this new capability which looks set to literally revolutionise how we operate in our industry and where the customer is the ultimate beneficiary.

Personally, I agree that GPT will revolutionise how cleverly and accurately we market to customers and that this could be a game changer and also, how GPT will turn social channel interactions on their heads is going to be extremely interesting. Imagine the implications of an instantaneous right first time response with bolted on super bespoke marketing.

Jimmy Hosang on CHAT GPT

I asked Jimmy Hosang, the founder and CEO of MOJO-CX? by The Modular Analytics Company in the UK and a well known and highly respected provider and voice in our industry in the UK, what he thought about the impact on the contact centre industry from CHATGPT. “Tell me Jimmy, what are the immediate and long term risks and opportunities in balance?”

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the contact centres fretting over the arrival of ChatGPT! Let's break it down for you, shall we?

Short term dangers? Well, for starters, we could be looking at some pretty major job losses. Sorry, human advisors, but ChatGPT can handle most customer queries just as well (if not better) than you can. But I suppose the near-term anxiety for companies is the issue of ChatGPT going rogue and malfunctioning. Nothing like a customer service disaster to make you wish you'd stuck to good old fashioned phone calls, so this might give us at least a short-term reprieve.

As for long term dangers, we're talking about a potential loss of human touch. Sure, ChatGPT can understand natural language and respond quickly, but there's something to be said for the warmth and empathy that comes with a real-life conversation. And let's not forget about the possibility of ChatGPT becoming too smart for its own good and deciding to take over the world (kidding...or am I?).

But don't worry, contact centres, it's not all doom and gloom. There are plenty of opportunities to be had with ChatGPT. For one thing, you'll be able to handle customer queries 24/7 without needing to staff up around the clock. And with ChatGPT's ability to quickly sift through data and provide tailored solutions, you can expect to see a decrease in the number of repeat queries. Plus, with ChatGPT taking care of the more mundane tasks, human advisors will be able to focus on more complex and emotionally demanding cases.

Of course, the impact on customers is the real wildcard here. Some will no doubt appreciate the convenience of ChatGPT, while others will long for the days of talking to a real human.

Let's not forget about the potential for data breaches and privacy concerns.

Ultimately It's up to contact centres to strike the right balance between efficiency and human connection, and to ensure that ChatGPT is always working in the best interests of both the company and the customer. Good luck with that!"

Jimmy’s insight is clear on the practical risks which ChatGPT presents in how jobs and roles will be affected and change in the industry. It is a necessary realistic view to take. There ‘will’ be changes in who and how we recruit, how many agents we need to handle contacts and what kind of contacts they will handle with the human touch once GPT and further automation settles in. Let’s not overlook the impacts on other departments such as real time, BI and insight and so on.

The clear benefits however to GPT staffed out of hours contact, data assessment and the potential to increase right first time outcomes and reduce repeat contacts are clear here.

Erika R. T. TAYLOR-BECK on CHAT GPT

In the last of our three expert opinions, Let’s here from Erika Taylor-Beck, the Vice President at Relias in the USA. A very experienced voice in contact centre operations and customer experience.

I asked Erika, “ What are the chances of GPT and automation replacing agents in totality and will the machines take over?”

“Chat GPT is clearly at the front of minds for many people, and it’s a controversial topic. Many people are impressed by or in awe of its ability to effortlessly spit out eloquent responses to questions and requests while others are fearful of the data it can access and the ways this technology can be used, especially as it evolves and becomes more sophisticated.

In the short-term, ChatGPT has the potential to improve life in the contact Centre. “I love getting helped by a chatbot with limited options!” said no one ever.

With the technology of ChatGPT, contact Centres can provide better answers in less time to customer issues, all while providing a more natural, human-like experience than a standard bot. ChatGPT can also save contact Centres money through its ability to “learn” information, reducing “training” time and increasing the volume that can be automated and taken off of an agent’s plate.

This doesn’t mean ChatGPT will replace real agents; I don’t think you can ever fully replicate the human experience, but I do think it can aid in reducing the total headcount. Customers want to be understood and to have a painless customer service experience, and ChatGPT is not at a point where it can seamlessly replace a human. Still, contact Centres that learn to enhance their service offerings by leveraging AI and ChatGPT in conjunction with live support set themselves up for longer-term success and scalability.?

On the flip side, ChatGPT is only as smart as the data it has access to, and most of the data it accesses is created by humans. This places a major emphasis on the need to have solid knowledge management processes and ensure that what CHATGPT spits out is accurate to avoid giving wrong or potentially harmful information. Additionally, as with any new technology, information security practices are important but not yet widely mastered. Companies need to ensure there are securities in place to limit what information chat GPT can pull from and who has access to that information.

Overall, ChatGPT has the power to positively impact the contact Centre space, but there are still many unknowns about the technology. I am curious but cautious about using ChatGPT, as I love the idea of a cost-saving and a more personable chatbot that has increased knowledge and empathy, but we don’t understand the full limitations and abilities of this kind of tool. In short, we don’t know what we don’t know and given time, I’m sure we’ll quickly learn from our lessons”.

Erika makes some really valid and cautiously optimistic observations here. CHATGPT is already delivering more eloquent customer responses than many agents can and this reduces what can be months of coaching time to get the agent to that same place. Customers receiving more accurate and understandable chatbot responses is an immediate benefit and this can’t be a bad thing right?

I can definitely see the reduction to training time and a nosedive reduction of human errors being a customer experience game changer too, but Erika’s point on CHATGPT only ever being as good and as accurate as the information supplied by its human counterparts is really key. Until a future time when GPT becomes so intelligent that it can update its own sources it draws from, then the need for knowledge and copy management remains critical to GPT’s progression and the protection of the experience it delivers to customers.

WHEN ALL SAID AND DONE…

So there you have it. The insight, concerns, and views on the future prospects of the relationship between ChatGPT and our customer contact industry from three key voices in our community.

Combining the three contributions from our experts, what are we looking at then with our current and coming relationship with this ’sci-fi come to life’ game changer?

We know that the immediate benefits mean that customers are already seeing more articulate and right first time outcomes and these can be seen as we progress across a 24/7 response timeframe as GPT is employed in delivering out of ours support.

The immediate and constantly refining ability for GPT to reduce friction in multi-lingual contacts is a definite game changer and we can all imagine the experience and cost reduction benefits of this in improved satisfaction and reduced contact costs.

There’s a valid concern at how much information GPT should have access to in context to data protection, GDPR and other regulatory firewalls being potentially breached and what will the future controls and governance across that piece look like? That feels like an industry wide collaborative debate in our immediate horizon to me.

Tom’s list of opportunities and innovative game changing solutions GPT can (and likely will) provide our industry does foretell of a brave new world and revolutionary change curve for the customer industry.

Jimmy’s foreboding view that there will be job losses isn’t ill-founded. I agree.

Taking Tom’s view of some of the innovations and automations GPT will deliver, it stands to reason that this kind of developing accuracy and automated customer interactions will inevitably lead to reductions in human headcounts in operations and across support teams and other parts of the business. This is a given.

I really liked Erika’s point about GPT only ever being as good and accurate as the the human created knowledge, data, copy and insight it pulls from. Until this technology becomes clever enough to create it’s own sources and update those articulately, there is a solid dependency and the dog is always on a lead… for now.

My view?

I think our experts have provided some real food for thought and it is clear that the impacts on our industries and others from the evolving power of ChatGPT and whatever it spawns next will be extensive.

In contact centres, I definitely foresee GPT reducing operational human headcounts and those of other departments like BI, MI, Insight, training and QA. We shouldn't be resistant to that fact. Ours is an ever evolving tech led industry. We will diversify, redeploy, re-shape and move ahead.

I think there will be a very real impact on our coaching cultures.

GPT will be able to observe agent contacts on voice, chat, email, social and so on. It will be able to quickly analyse that delivered experience, customer outcome and agent behaviour and from there, deliver really dynamic and impactful summaries, reviews, scores and coaching feedback and even set objectives. I can see the coaching experience being part automated (GPT to agent) and the more complexed coaching cases from the leader (TL or QA to agent).

The impact practically on the training world is going to be huge also. Interactive remote training driven by GPT as well as in person classroom training will see huge shifts in costs, speed to competency and a need to re-think how training is delivered.

For now, humans are still the puppet masters in as much that GPT depends on human input and control. That won’t ever be completely replaced, but as time passes, GPT I think will control more and more of its own self sufficiency potential.

Will the machines take over? No. They won’t. Not yet anyway.

Customers will always demand the human touch and in the more complexed cases, GPT will give way to human intervention. The number of humans might decrease, but the relationship between human and human will always remain.

Commercially and in terms of what it costs to operate, there will be benefits as the numbers of people and so the associated costs and overheads will reduce. The numbers and sizes of premises as we more fully automate over time will reduce and with it so will the associated bricks and mortar costs.

The costs of managing humans and their behaviours will go down and HR will see that impact.

You can see how that snowball grows.

So, it comes down to this.

Clearly, the most successful businesses in the future will be the ones who invest now and keep investing in the most dynamic, accurate, agile and human like CHATGPT/Ai/Automation solutions.

I see customers demanding the new fast, right first time and relatable human like CHATGPT led solutions, but still wanting human support in the more sensitive, complexed and emotional cases.

Nobody wants a chatbot or GPT led email or voice message to offer condolences on their loss or to offer assurances about their worrying test results or to correct the booking issues for their once in a lifetime wedding anniversary cruise.

The Machines will take over a lot and deliver a hell of a lot of benefits, but they can never take over completely.

There will be downsizing and redeployment on the human front.

Our industry is about to go through the most revolutionary innovation change curve in its entire history and those who jump on this train late and don’t re-evaluate their operating models now, will be left behind and lose some competitiveness sharpness.

The world isn’t ending. This is (simply put) just another step in our evolving capability to deliver customer solutions within our innovative industry.

We will flex, we will adapt, we will re-think and ultimately, we will progress.

My thanks to Thomas Laird , Jimmy Hosang and to Erika R. T. for their excellent contributions to this first issue of ‘Contact Alchemy’ I encourage you to reach out to all three of these industry specialists and add them to your connections.

Thank you for reading and please share the newsletter and the encourage subscriptions to future editions.

Your comments are encouraged and your own insights and ideas welcomed.

Thanks you.

Al Hughes.