Call centers are getting a dose of intelligence – artificial intelligence, that is. Challenged with rising customer expectations and security concerns contact centers around the space are turning to AI to better serve callers. In the latest Call Center Commerce Tracker, PYMNTS explores how call centers around the industry are using new technology, combined with human agents, to give customers the service and security they demand.
Around the Call Center Commerce world
Fraudsters have their sights set firmly on call centers. Cybercrime targeting contact centers more than doubled in 2017, jumping by 113 percent from the year before. Call centers were particularly fatigued by attacks near the end of last year, according to IntraNext CEO Patrick Brown, as the holiday season brought with it a new wave of fraud.
Now, companies around the space are turning to new technologies to up their fight against rising fraud.
In a recent interview with PYMNTS, Brown, along with Alex Pezold, co-founder of cloud tokenization services provider TokenEx, explained that tokens could be used to protect not only customers who call contact centers, but also the centers themselves. The companies recently discussed how a combined approach of DTMF data capture and tokenization helps keep cybercriminals at bay.
Elsewhere, major financial players Barclays and HSBC are putting faith in voice-based verification; both companies recently announced new voice recognition services. Barclays said they would use the technology to help protect against phone-based fraud, and HSBC announced it’s turning to voice-based verification controls to safeguard mobile banking customers.
For more on these stories and the rest of the latest headlines from around the space, check out the Tracker’s News and Trends section.
How AI is changing call centers
An increase in cybercrime is far from the only change contact centers have had to deal with as of late.
Recently, contact centers have become the primary customer-company interaction point, as more commerce moves toward online and mobile channels. According to Chris Bauserman, vice president of product and segment marketing for call center solutions provider NICE inContact, those companies will need to focus on embracing advanced tools and strategies to better serve their customers if they hope to succeed in the future.
So far, many of the tools include AI technology, but that may only be the beginning. Bauserman told PYMNTS in a recent interview for this month’s Call Center Commerce Feature Story that he envisions AI playing an even bigger role in the industry going forward – but not replacing humans altogether, at least not in the foreseeable future.
“Quite frankly, AI is never going to replace the human customer service agent,” Bauserman explained. “But, what it can do is make that experience much better for the customer, and they’re going to make a lot of different transactions much easier to do.”
To read the full story, download the Call Center Commerce Tracker™
About the Tracker
The Call Center Commerce Tracker™, powered by IntraNext Systems, serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent call center commerce news and trends. The Tracker also includes a provider directory highlighting the key players comprising the call center ecosystem.
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