Tag: customer service

The terms automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have become synonymous with each other in recent times and are often used interchangeably. This can make the concept of automation seem overwhelming to some businesses that are not yet in a stage of their digitalisation journey where AI would be practical or beneficial.

We live in a world with the luxury of easily accessible information. Let’s face it – as empowering as that is, it can at times feel overwhelming. To keep things simple, we thought we would share a few tried-and-tested behaviours that have proven themselves, repeatedly, to be the most vital elements to get ‘right’ in a business.

During discussions with several of our contact centre customers, the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on call centres and customer experience (CX), strategies is often raised. Various articles have been published relating to AI, machine learning (ML) and bots replacing humans in contact centres, focusing on the advantages that AI brings when compared to having people servicing customers and more.

South Africans are navigating a protracted period of high interest rates, food and fuel prices, and low economic growth, which is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. The economic environment makes attracting new customers more difficult, forcing businesses to focus on customer retention and growing wallet share.

Findings contained in a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) indicate that Africa’s economies have the potential to become major players in global supply chains.

The evolution of consumer expectations in the insurance industry is reshaping the traditional insurer-customer dynamic. Customers are no longer satisfied with a one-size-fits-all approach; they are looking for a more personalised, meaningful, and continuous engagement with their insurance providers.

Formal retailers in South Africa are losing billions in annual sales because of a disconnect between the customer touchpoint mix that they prioritise and those that their customers prefer. This is one of the key findings of a big data research study that was conducted on our behalf.

A survey conducted by Gartner has found that chatbots will become the primary customer service channel for about a quarter of the world’s organisations by the year 2027, having evolved over the past decade into a critical technology component of a service organisation’s strategy.

South African languages pose quite a challenge to voice assistants. The country recognises twelve official dialects, but these subdivide into many regional, cultural and colloquial accents. Most South Africans speak more than one language, further colouring their speech. This situation is by no means unique.

While digitisation and automation create many opportunities for businesses to streamline tasks and deliver benefits of ease and convenience to customers, this doesn’t automatically translate to good customer service. In fact, that assumption can create a significant risk for any business, because the simple truth is that you cannot entirely remove the human element from your business when you are dealing with customers who are human.