Delta Air Lines is using generative AI tools to tap its knowledge base in ways that help agents deliver faster customer service. “Let’s say someone asks, ‘What should I do if I want to take my golf clubs to a Caribbean destination?’” said Danielle McPherson, director, global reservations- contact center operations. “Gen AI can help them deliver answers more quickly, giving them more time to build relationships with our customers.”
That’s an example of how gen AI is already helping organizations, according to Sheila McGee-Smith, president and principal analyst, McGee-Smith Analytics, who moderated an Enterprise Connect keynote session, “Is Gen AI Already Delivering Business Value to Enterprise CX?”
Immediate benefits
Other immediate benefits from the appropriate use of gen AI tools include improved call routing to the right human or virtual agents, as well as a reduction in average call handling time. “Gen AI is good at returning information to humans,” said Barry Cooper, president of CX division, NICE. “We now hundreds of customers using AI solutions, and many are seeing a real value with compliance issues.”
Gen AI tools can also “listen” to customer conversations and suggest actions for agents in real time, said Pasqual DeMaio, VP customer experience services, AWS. He added that gen AI is very good at call summarizations reducing an agents’ routine workloads.
For supervisors, gen AI can send an alert when an agent is overwhelmed, or summarize an agent’s multiple conversations for review or training. In fact, Cooper suggested that it may make sense to start with gen AI on the supervisory level before moving into agent assist or customer-facing workflows.
Another way to improve CX is to train gen AI on the best practices of a contact center’s top agents, improving training for new agents, and reducing the stress on current agents. “Using AI to combine information across data sets and make it understandable is one of the big benefits,” DeMaio said. “To test the value of AI, we set up heart rate monitors and saw agents relax when they were being helped. And a relaxed agent has more empathy to connect with customers.
Testing the tools
McPherson said Delta Air Lines is testing AI tools to find more ways to help its people and customers. “We have a ton of data from our digital apps, daily operations and contact center teams,” she said. “So, we are looking a variety of use cases for leveraging AI, including integrations with our knowledge base.
For instance, gen AI can be trained on natural language responses. “Agents like being able to type questions without coding when even their mistypes don’t matter,” McPherson said. “And getting a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to questions like bringing golf clubs is huge. I think the potential value of gen AI is off the charts as long as you use it carefully and are mindful of the risks.”
