AI is transforming how we work and live. The impact of AI-powered tools on our daily lives cannot be understated. We are truly living at the dawn of a new era of AI-enabled innovation and convenience.

The power of AI to revolutionise customer-facing operations is growing. There has never been more tools to support and enhance customer interactions. Today, high-performance teams leverage AI to answer common customer queries, predict customer needs, and provide round-the-clock support.

And as these tools grow in power, we will see significant changes in how we meet customer needs.

But as powerful as AI is, there is still no substitute for human interaction. Empathy, creativity, cultural adaptability and contextual insight are still at the heart of customer experience. These are skills AI can't replace. 

In this AI-enabled future where human agents seamlessly collaborate with AI-powered tools to deliver enhanced customer experiences at scale, where do we draw the line between what AI does best, and what human agents do best?

In this article, we look at some areas where AI is a good fit for customer-facing teams, and where AI can deliver significant value. And we take stock of some of the skills and functions that are best performed by human agents.

When is AI a good fit for customer-facing teams?

AI-powered tools unlock significant benefits for customer-facing teams, including:

1. Boosting productivity

The ability of AI-powered tools to automate routine tasks allows customer-facing teams to get more done more quickly. Virtual assistants and chatbots can handle common customer queries and gather data about each customer's needs, allowing human agents to resolve queries at a higher rate. 

2. Enabling greater personalisation

By analysing data such as purchase history, preferences and previous behaviour, AI-powered tools can empower customer-facing teams with detailed profiles of each customer. This enables teams to deliver personalised customer experiences, building greater loyalty and improving customer satisfaction.

3. Ensuring 24/7 availability

AI is a popular tool to enable round-the-clock service and 24/7 availability. Chatbots powered by Natural Language Processing can handle a broad range of queries, while AI-powered self-service portals and knowledge bases can provide customers with recommended resources and support. 

4. Increasing efficiency

AI-assisted tools excel at optimising workflows within customer-facing teams. By analysing queries in real time and providing customer-facing teams with quick access to relevant resources, teams can speed up their response times and handle greater volumes of queries.

AI-proof skills for customer-facing pros

The benefits and use cases of AI are growing by the day, but there are still some tasks that no algorithm can perform. From empathy to adaptability and understanding context, these are our top picks for the five essential skills in customer-facing teams that AI can't replace:

1. Showing Empathy 

As one of the most impactful human skills that customer-facing teams bring to interactions, empathy is essential to strengthening customer relationships. 

Skills such as active listening, expressing genuine concern for customer issues, understanding customers' stress or frustrations, and reframing issues in a more positive light all improve the overall customer experience and ensure that every customer feels understood and valued. 

2. Innovation 

Customer-facing teams have benefited immensely from a broad range of tech-enabled innovations over the past few decades. But these tools are only that - tools. To truly drive innovation within any business, especially in customer-facing teams, you need a human hand. Humans are uniquely capable of experimenting with technology to find new solutions to customer issues. 

The ability to build cross-functional teams based on specific customer challenges also remains solely within the domain of human agents. By applying intuition and strategic thinking to how customer queries are resolved, human teams can drive continued innovation within their customer-facing operations. 

3. Abstract Problem Solving 

Where AI excels at completing repetitive, rules-based tasks, humans have the innate ability to bring abstract problem-solving to customer challenges. Our unmatched ability for creative thinking gives teams freedom to step outside standard responses and solve unique problems more effectively. 

By finding creative solutions to customer issues, human teams can ensure they leave a positive impression on each customer, improving customer satisfaction and retention.

4. Cultural Adaptability 

Most customer-facing teams operate in an environment of diversity, where they need to handle queries from customers from different backgrounds and cultures. Our uniquely human ability to be open-minded and seek to understand diverse customer backgrounds enable us to adapt our language and communication styles based on customers' expectations. 

By being sensitive to cultural differences and nuances, human teams can reduce miscommunication and improve problem resolution. This builds a competitive advantage as customers are more likely to choose brands that demonstrate cultural inclusivity.

5. Understanding Context

Placing customer requests and queries into context can accelerate the rate at which issues are successfully resolved. 

Here, AI can play a valuable supporting role by recording previous customer interactions and preferences and providing human agents with insights into the context of each customer's request.

However, humans are uniquely able to interpret emotional cues that can help them adapt their approach to resolving issues. This enhances the quality of the interaction and strengthens the customer relationship. In addition, human agents can bring their understanding of each customer's industry landscape, business environment, cultural needs and more, ensuring solutions are developed within the correct context of each customer's needs.

Closing

While some may predict AI will replace human teams entirely, there’s a reality check in order—machines can’t connect with customers on a truly personal level. In a world of increasing automation, it’s the human touch that keeps customers loyal and coming back.

The best-performing customer-facing teams will deploy AI as a support tool to accelerate the delivery of great customer experiences. And they’ll continue to invest in their human teams, encouraging them to bring their empathy, creativity, innovation and cultural adaptability to interactions with customers.

If you’d like to learn more about the future of AI/human collaboration in customer-facing operations, head over to www.timetoreply.com/blog