In today’s fast-paced world, integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and tech has revolutionized various industries, including offshore call centers.

Call centers have witnessed significant transformations in the past few years due to the evolution of AI, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP). We’re going to explore the effects that this technology has had on offshore call centers, diving into both the pros and cons.
Whether you’re working for an offshore call center or you’re looking to outsource your customer service or sales calls, we hope you’ll find value from our experiences below.

Types of AI in Offshore Call Centers

Predictive Analytics

Utilizing AI algorithms, predictive analytics can analyze historical data and identify patterns that are happening on calls. This can help forecast call volumes, customer behavior, and much more. The downside is that this is all post-call analytics, and can’t help your team while they are live on the call.

NLP & Speech Recognition

NLP is a portion of AI that interprets human language, allowing for sophisticated conversations with prospects and customers. Real-time call coaching software is a combination of NLP and speech recognition (transcription) software that allows agents to react in real-time on calls. This is a step up from post-call analytics software.

Virtual Assistants & Chatbots

Both of these types of technology have been around for a while, only getting more and more sophisticated. This is allowing call centers to ramp up faster when customers are seeing high volumes of calls.

Sentiment Analysis

The next wave of AI is sentiment analysis and this tech begins to understand the tone and sentiment behind the voice on the phone. It will be able to understand satisfaction levels on calls, detect potential issues, and help the agents take proactive measures to ensure every call is a positive experience.

Results of Integrating AI

Across multiple industries, especially offshore call center operations, we’ve seen the following results from integrating AI. Now, positive results can take time depending on the technology, but with Abstrakt, we’ve seen customers achieve immediate results from integrating our software into their tech stack.

1. Improve efficiency and productivity

The integration of AI has greatly enhanced the efficiency and productivity of offshore call centers. There are two sides to this technology:

• Virtual agents/chatbots: This technology can handle routine customer inquiries and automate repetitive tasks.
• Real-time call coaching software: This technology is focused on helping live agents decrease call handle time and increase first call resolution with real-time, live feedback to agents based on what the customer or prospect is saying.

However, maintaining a balance between automated systems and humans ensures that customers receive the appropriate level of support, fostering trust and loyalty.

2. Enhanced customer service

AI has significantly contributed to improving the overall customer experience in offshore call centers. NLP algorithms allow agents to better understand and respond to customer queries more effectively.
Resulting in higher customer satisfaction scores.

3. Central repository to onboard agents and clients faster

A common issue we see among call centers, in general, is there is no centralized repository to handle questions or objections, access scripts, etc. It’s all scattered among Google Docs or other types of wikis.
Scripting technology isn’t new, which is how most agents follow what is supposed to be said on calls. However, what if your agents didn’t need to place customers or prospects on hold because anytime a question is asked it would automatically show them how to respond? Game-changing, right? That’s what AI is providing to offshore call centers across the globe.

4. Improve data analytics

For most offshore call centers, it’s important to show your clients how well your agents are handling their customer inquiries. That’s where enhanced data analytics can play a tremendous role in the success of your agents. Understanding trends on objections or questions being asked, talk time ratios, patience indicators, and more can improve agent performance within days.

“Call centers are using AI to efficiently predict consumer behavior, find insights into customer journeys, and envisage their future behavior and response to specific actions.”

– Global Industry Analysts Inc.

Ensuring Successful Implementation of AI

One of the most important aspects of AI is ensuring that implementation is a success. It doesn’t matter how fancy or how much of an increase in efficiency your agents will receive if it’s not implemented correctly.

Here are some of the best practices we’ve seen across offshore call centers.

1. Defining clear objectives

The first step is often the most important. You need to define your objectives that address specific needs within your company or team.What problem are you trying to solve?

How will the AI tool interact with your current tech stack?

Will it scale with your company?

Consider the unique needs of your team and how the stack will fit into its overall operations.

2. Choosing the right AI tools

Once you have defined your objectives, it’s time to narrow down the specific AI tools that can be used. Word of mouth and/or referrals will continue to be the best way to prioritize your list.

Review G2 and compare the companies you’re looking at. A great place to start is the Conversation Intelligence software or Contact Center Quality Assurance software categories.

3. Implementing over time

This is often one of the biggest mistakes we see and why the adoption rate of new technology like AI might take longer than expected.

You need to start small. Work out the “kinks” and figure out where your implementation process needs to be adapted.

When it comes to AI tools and offshore call centers, they can be overwhelming at first.

Think of it as a “walk, jog, run” approach. This has helped some of our customers regardless of where they are located in the world.

4. Identifying metrics to evaluate performance

What is the ROI of the AI tool you’re using? Is it affecting both the bottom line and the top line growth?

If you don’t have an answer to these questions, it’s time to figure that out.

AI tech should be creating efficiencies while also allowing for growth for your agents.

5. Continuous training and improvements

As with any new tool, there needs to be continuous training to ensure the adoption is there within the offshore call center. It’s also important to choose a vendor that will support your team through this. AI is great until your team isn’t using it right. Then it could be causing more issues than benefits.

Takeaways

Do your research. Yes, AI is here to stay and you can either adapt and learn how it can make your team more efficient or you can get left behind. But that doesn’t mean just jumping in with the first company that says they offer AI solutions for call centers.

It means comparing technologies and vendors to ensure you find the best-suited option for your agents.

Measure, measure, and measure again. Lots of companies throw money at new technologies without setting expectations first. Are you looking for a 1% improvement or 10% improvement? Be realistic based on what your call center is capable of. Offshore call centers can see higher returns. But it is highly dependent on how you utilize and measure the software.

Lastly, if you’re evaluating an offshore call center make sure they are utilizing AI. The technology will only continue to improve and you’ll be thankful for the insights and results your company will receive.