Optimize and modernize the call center with DataSkill ACUMI and IBM Watson.

Long wait times. Outsourcing. Unresolved issues. Excessive agent transfers.

Whether it’s a voice or chat environment, call and help centers are primary sources of customer frustration—and attrition. Even the term “call center” can carry a negative connotation. This challenge affects telecom, financial services, tech, healthcare and other markets.

Real-life call center data compiled by DataSkill, representing thousands of customer calls and chats, has revealed key indicators as to why customers abandon companies. For example, customer satisfaction scores plummet dramatically when issues fail to be resolved by the first agent engaged (via chat or phone). This is why most call and help centers share a similar goal—decrease agent costs while increasing customer satisfaction. The term “time is money” rings undoubtedly true in this highly competitive environment.

Find truth in patterns with classification.

DataSkill’s ACUMI software, powered by IBM Watson, identifies call center patterns with its Classifier module.

It represents specialized classification algorithms curated to provide the best performance on customer conversations. The data delivers real-time processing by a cognitive solution for analysis. The Classifier module surpasses generic classification equivalents by providing robust models for skewed data sets common to customer service communications. Simply put, ACUMI enables call centers to learn from customer experiences and react accordingly.

Identify the cost of each experience with cognitive intelligence.

At any given time, a large call or help center receives 4,000 to 7,000 calls or chats worldwide. Agents must address thousands of questions accurately within a short amount of time, or customer satisfaction decreases. Based on DataSkill and Watson aggregate data, each transferred call in a telecom call center results in 18 minutes of valuable agent time on average. Assuming each minute of agent time costs 50 cents, these transfers can cost an organization as much as $30,000 per week.

Optimize three key call center metrics with AI.

DataSkill and Watson enable global organizations to augment their call and help center metrics in the following areas:

Call resolution: When an initial call fails to get resolved, it must be escalated to another agent. This not only costs valuable agent time, but customer satisfaction decreases with unresolved issues. Solving problems quickly and efficiently is critical.

Call-handled time: Call and help centers lose money with each extra minute that an agent handles a call. When organizations cut down call-handled time while solving the customer’s problem, that translates to money saved. It also shaves wait times for customers, which results in a more positive experience.

Customer satisfaction: Negative customer surveys and feedback scores will foreshadow customer churn.
Therefore, in reference to the two metrics above, call resolution tactics are worthless unless the issue is truly
resolved in the mind of the customer; similarly, reducing call-handled time is worthless if the customer feels rushed
and unimportant.

Empower agents with machine learning.

ACUMI and Watson translate common language into industry terminology, helping agents identify problems
faster. The software uses a high level of automation to interpret human questions and human intent, resulting in
more one-call (or one-chat) resolutions. This not only elevates customer satisfaction, but it radically reduces call
and help center costs.

It also automatically shares the knowledge of “high-level” agents with “low-level” agents (on their screens). This not only gets problems resolved earlier, but it brings all agents up to the knowledge level of top agents.

Solve issues without human intervention.

The software also identifies pipeline configurations that do not require a live agent. For example, a common
password reset request can be identified by the technology and resolved quickly and automatically. Through
machine learning, the software trains data to handle such an issue, freeing up an agent’s time to address other
questions.

DataSkill ACUMI benefits for call and help centers:

• Predicts problems, setting service agents up for success
• Scales the expertise from experts and shares it across the organization
• Mitigates customer attrition from unresolved issues
• Provides real-time reactions to huge volumes of data
• Automates “knowledge worker” intelligence with cognitive models
• Reduces workload through automatic identification and classification of cases