Automation and artificial intelligence are often sold to businesses with bold claims. They are deemed to be labour-saving resources that will allow your business to be more dynamic and smarter, and to move with the times. And before we say anything else, let’s be clear – AI certainly has its place in the business world and can have all of those impacts. However, it is always wise to be cautious when implementing any new initiative, and AI is no different.
Freeing up your workforce to be more productive in the business is never a bad thing, and businesses that can balance the automation of certain tasks with the smart implementation of human intelligence will generally fare well. Those are simple facts – and the challenge for you as a business owner is in knowing how to achieve that balance. Some tasks are perfect for AI, some need to be given to people who can think on their feet. Some jobs are best kept for agency business development, while others can be kept in-house. For the moment, let’s focus on where AI can be used – and more critically, on its limitations.
AI is only as good as it is programmed to be
There is a good chance that as a consumer, you engage with AI on a weekly or even daily basis. If you make a phone call to a business, you’ve probably gone through a menu or two to get where you need to be, and that’s a use of AI in and of itself. The intention is to negate the need for someone on the end of a phone line to listen to your query and then pass you through to another department (which might then repeat that process). The important thing about using AI is that it actually does negate this need. AI isn’t doing its job if a customer comes through to you and has to give you chapter and verse on what they need.
AI is only as good as you let it be
More and more businesses are using chatbot software to engage with customer queries and complaints, and let’s just get one thing out of the way right now: the customer knows you’re using a chatbot. They don’t even mind that this is the case, as long as the chatbot performs the job they need it to perform. Chatbots should be used in a way that ensures that if the customer is using emotive language, they are quickly put in touch with a human who knows how to handle that language, defuse the emotion and treat the engagement with the seriousness it needs. AI does not work when used as a shield to repel annoyed customers.
Your human staff need the right training and preparation
For the most part, AI in your business will mean that customers come to your website or your phone system and are quickly directed to the place they need to be. That means that human staff won’t be doing much of that work – they’ll be expected to deal with the tougher questions, the bigger complaints and the more emotional customers. That can easily impact upon customer support staff, who are likely to have to think on their feet, placate emotional people and – there’s no getting around this – listen to language that often becomes abusive. Staff need to be trained to expect this and have the support needed to deal with it. They should not be expected to be punching bags while AI handles the easy bits.
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