Will AI eliminate humans in the retail contact centre?

When it comes to artificial intelligence, one of the most common questions in the mind of retail customer experience leaders is, “what will happen to humans when AI takes over?” “Will AI eliminate humans in the contact centre?” On one side of projections, analysts cite a dismal future for the role of live agents in retail, with estimates of redundancy within the decade. These sensationalists, as I’ll call them, are more interested in evoking shock than they are in preparing customer experience leaders for the future. Continue reading Will AI eliminate humans in the retail contact centre?

Successful automated customer self-service can only be achieved through mastery of natural language processing, says Aspect Software

As the customer experience continues to evolve and omni-channel engagement becomes more commonplace, the appetite for automated customer self-service – such as text-based chatbots – is leading many businesses to take steps to deploy technologies to make this a reality. Continue reading Successful automated customer self-service can only be achieved through mastery of natural language processing, says Aspect Software

Robot productivity fluctuates just as much as human productivity does

Surely robots don’t get tired, can work 24/7, are fully skilled at what they are programmed to do, and don’t have any pesky motivational issues – so their productivity must always be consistently high? Absolutely not. This is according to Neil Bentley, Non-Executive Director & Co-Founder of ActiveOps, a leading provider of digital operations management solutions. Continue reading Robot productivity fluctuates just as much as human productivity does

Salesforce to invest in its UK business over five years to support growing customer base

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, plans to invest more than $2.5 billion over the next five years to fuel the growth of its UK business. The company is making the announcement ahead of participating in Prime Minister May’s Tech Investment Roundtable hosted at 10 Downing Street. Continue reading Salesforce to invest in its UK business over five years to support growing customer base