Overcoming Challenges of Natural Language AI in Contact Centres

218
Filed under - Archived Content

Our voices are as unique as our fingerprints. Add to that the fact that there are over 6,909 spoken languages in the world. No wonder that even the most advanced technologies have a hard time giving us the exact answers to our search terms.

The popularity of voice-driven searches is only increasing, even though Google has capped it at 20% of the total search volume. With Interactive Voice Response technologies such as Siri, Cortana and Alexa, to name a few, being increasingly used by smartphone users of the world, it will not come as a surprise that a time when all search is made using voice control will be upon us.

interactive-voice-response-510

Businesses know that meeting customer expectations is the only edge that they can have in an already saturated service industry. How then can they possibly overcome the challenges that natural language poses to artificial intelligence?

Threefold Challenge for AI Models

Firstly, let’s look at the rookie mistake most technology solutions are making with their contact centre software. Instead of treating each voice as a unique entity, most AI models are treating it as data. Applying computational statistics and pattern recognition to transform the text into data and not understanding it is one of the biggest challenges that AI models need to overcome.

Language cannot be generalised and broken down into a fixed set of formulae. The second fallacy that AI models are making is not to take into consideration the context in which a word or a phrase is used. AI models will need to be enabled with a linguistic structure that will allow it to comprehend the language and then come up with a suitable solution.

There is no disputing the fact that, no matter what, the customer is always right. Enabling the AI model with the power of reasoning will help reduce friction between your customers and your AI model. An AI model that takes into consideration the fact that each customer requirement is different from the other will help it suggest the best solutions. Businesses have ultimately to build a relationship of trust between the AI and its customers.

Meeting the Ever-Changing Customer Expectations

Artificial Intelligence will have to meet the ever-changing expectations that customers have. The only way to ensure a match between the search and the answer is to truly empower your artificial intelligence model. Only when AI starts to comprehend conversational questions from our natural speaking voices and derive the sensible contexts from large chunks of texts will exceeding customer expectations be possible.

Businesses have to invest as much research and development into their AI-driven contact centre software as they do in their line of products and services. There is a lot of scope for improvement with AI models, but for that, firms need to make a start. All in all, an AI solution that is intuitive and enables digital-first consumer interactions that makes search results effective, efficient and accurate is the goal that we need to achieve.

Thank to Maggie Kensington writing for Aspect Software. For more information on Aspect please visit their website 

Maggie Kensington is a Senior Technical Writer. She has close to 5 years of diversified ITES experience ranging from managing technical support and project teams, transitioning strategic business processes and projects, leading high-impact process engineering projects, partnering with globally located cross-functional teams and delivering high-level business performance analytical solutions for an Executive Leadership team.

Author: Rachael Trickey

Published On: 9th Dec 2016 - Last modified: 26th Feb 2019
Read more about - Archived Content

Follow Us on LinkedIn