Article • 4 min read
Lead your call center into the AI era with Zendesk voice
Da Lauren Jumper, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Zendesk voice
Ultimo aggiornamento October 29, 2024
Artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize the way brands interact with their customers. In fact, by 2027, AI will touch 100 percent of queries across service channels. This shift is already underway, with AI acting as the first line of defense across all touchpoints for forward-thinking companies.
And while many customers are used to interacting with AI chatbots—with 51 percent of consumers actually preferring to interact with bots when they want immediate service—AI-powered support for voice remains elusive. Which is a missed opportunity for businesses, because when 80 percent of consumers still rank phone interactions as their preferred customer service channel, getting phone support right is business critical.
That’s where Zendesk voice comes in. A pioneering AI-powered voice solution, Zendesk voice allows businesses to meet customers’ evolving expectations while improving operational efficiency and agent productivity. It’s built natively into Zendesk to facilitate seamless transition across channels and is powered by AI to autonomously resolve calls and provide actionable insights that allow leaders to stay ahead in a competitive landscape.
Deliver seamless support across channels
In an era where customers interact with brands across multiple channels, delivering a consistent experience no matter how they engage with a brand is key to maintaining customer loyalty. A Gartner survey found that 93 percent of customers reported high customer satisfaction (CSAT) when there was a seamless channel transition. However, in reality, over 62 percent of customer service channel transitions are “high-effort”, with customers having to repeat information they’ve already provided.
That’s why Zendesk has built a voice solution that allows agents to route, manage, and report on voice the same way they would all other channels within Zendesk. Native voice support allows service teams to get full context into every interaction, no matter where the interaction began. By breaking down these silos between channels, businesses can drive higher operational efficiency, enhance agent productivity, and better personalize service.
Autonomously resolve calls with AI agents for voice
The need for round-the-clock support and rapid issue resolution has never been greater. With 61 percent of CX leaders reporting an increase in total calls, businesses face mounting pressure to find a solution that doesn’t leave agents feeling overwhelmed and at the mercy of unexpected volume surges. AI has emerged as this game-changing solution.
Zendesk AI agents, which have already revolutionized efficiency at scale across digital channels, are now available for voice via our preferred partner, PolyAI. AI agents for voice use generative AI and the next-generation spoken language technology to autonomously resolve over 50 percent of incoming calls. These AI agents can authenticate callers, answer complex questions, complete transactions, intelligently route calls, and more. Leveraging AI agents for voice reduces hold times, simplifies workflows, and offers a more effortless, enjoyable customer experience.
Boost agent productivity with AI-assisted support
With AI agents resolving 50% of inquiries, that still leaves another 50% to be answered by human agents. And as businesses strive to meet increasing customer expectations, agents are often stretched thin by administrative tasks, like call summaries and manual follow-ups. To empower agents and help them close out calls faster, Zendesk voice now includes AI-powered transcripts and summaries that automatically generate after calls. This reduces the time administrative tasks take up and helps agents stay focused on delivering exceptional service.
Coming in 2025, we’ll be extending our copilot capabilities to voice. When a voice or digital AI agent conversation needs to be escalated to a live human agent, Zendesk AI will share the caller’s intent, sentiment, transcript & summary right in the ticket before the call starts. During the call, AI will continue to analyze the ongoing voice conversation and provide agents with suggested next actions based upon business procedures and customer’s knowledge base.
Turn call insights into action with Zendesk QA for voice
In addition to meeting customer expectations and resolving their inquiries, CX leaders are facing increasing pressure to continually improve the customer experience. Quality assurance (QA) programs allow business to analyze conversations and evaluate them for potential areas for improvement.
The advent of AI-powered Zendesk QA enables business leaders to evaluate 100% of conversations—whether handled by human or AI agents—offering unprecedented insights into customer behavior and service performance. With this level of insight, leaders can identify and fix gaps in CX and take action on churn risks and outliers. What’s more, they can refine processes to improve the quality of customer experience to boost CSAT.
Ready to see what Zendesk AI can do for your business?
With AI infused into every step of the customer journey—including voice support—customers can access seamless service when and where they need it, agents can feel empowered to work more efficiently on more complex cases, and business leaders can stay ahead of the curve. Transform your CX with Zendesk’s lineup of AI-powered tools that are easy to deploy, use and scale and are built to drive real ROI.
Visit the Zendesk voice page to learn more about bringing your call center into the AI era or watch the on-demand recordings of the Zendesk AI summit here.