Customer service is the next industry to get an AI boost

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This year has been the year to deliver widescale AI solutions, with technologies from OpenAI and Google taking much of the spotlight in recent months. Besides the public-facing conversational tools, many organizations are starting to adopt artificial intelligence in an effort to enhance worker productivity.

Integrated cloud communications platform provider 8x8 is the next company to jump on the bandwagon, and this time, it’s looking to deliver a boost to customer services.

The company has now launched a pair of artificial intelligence tools aimed at both customers and the workers behind customer service, in addition to platform-wide integration with OpenAI - the company behind ChatGPT.

8x8 artificial intelligence assistants

Robin Gareiss, the CEO of research firm Metrigy, detailed how conversational AI improves revenue by 20.7%, customer ratings by 26.7%, and agent productivity by 22.7%.

“Transforming into an AI-powered contact center is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity for companies that want to deliver stellar customer experience and gain competitive advantage," Gareiss explained.

The company’s first tool - 8x8 Intelligent Customer Assistant - is designed to be a user-friendly conversational AI for self-service customer service. Examples for the tool include being able to automatically handle customer requests, deployment across different communication services like WhatsApp, and capturing insights for performance optimization.

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The Intelligent Customer Assistant is also able to share details with live agents in an effort to tackle blind transfers.

The second product - 8x8 Supervisor Workspace - combines analytics, performance management, and team admin capabilities. It’s designed to help companies rectify any customer experience issues and increase efficiency.

Beyond this, OpenAI integration is available across the 8x8 XCaaS platform, offering up things like transcription, translation, and summaries.

With artificial intelligence experiencing a huge surge this year, businesses of all sizes are beginning to refine their search for online productivity tools in terms of AI capabilities and so adopting such technology earlier on will prove beneficial to -aaS companies.

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With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!