AI Armor: Protecting Customer Service Agents Against Abuse

Customer expectations are at an all-time high. The facilitation of near-instant gratification has led to reduced consumer patience and more frequent temper tantrums. Though no-wait resolution is a common expectation from customers seeking support, delivering abuse to contact center agents shouldn't be the default response to an imperfect interaction. Unfortunately, a recent study found that a staggering 90 percent of customer service workers reported an increase in abuse and hostility from customers in the past year.

It seems that customers are forgetting that the voice on the other end of the line is, in fact, a fellow human being … but what if it weren’t? To better protect their frontline employees from verbal abuse, many organizations are exploring innovative solutions like advanced artificial intelligence-powered voice assistants. This technology can serve as a vital buffer between customers and human agents to help prevent tense situations and ensure more positive, constructive interactions for all involved.

Restoring Civility in Customer Service

Advances in machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) are paving the way for a new era of customer service interactions. Cutting-edge voice AI can communicate with callers so naturally that it may not be immediately obvious that the caller isn’t speaking to a human. AI is equipped to handle many routine calls, like FAQs and order status updates, as well as more complex interactions, like booking reservations or processing price adjustments. Since the voice assistants are always available, they can easily serve as the frontline agents fielding customer calls, dramatically reducing the call volume and quality that reaches human agents.

As voice AI becomes more sophisticated, it will increasingly be able to mitigate customer frustrations with improved emotional intelligence. In response to the specific situation at hand, the voice assistant will adjust its tone of voice and manner of speaking to fit the context without sacrificing functionality. For example, if a caller is trying to access their recently deceased grandmother’s account, the AI’s tone will become softer and more empathetic while still offering proactive solutions for the caller’s anticipated needs.

If the AI isn't able to meet the customer’s needs, it will escalate the call to a human agent. Voice assistants reduce workload and stress for human agents, allowing them to focus on providing exceptional customer service for sensitive requests that require a personal touch. Now the caller doesn’t have to wait on an endless hold or loop through a convoluted menu tree, decreasing feelings of frustration and impatience.

Though you can’t prevent caller rudeness or frustrated outbursts, you can implement solutions that work toward meeting customers' expectations for instant gratification and increasing CSAT scores overall. AI voice assistants can help move us toward that goal by acting as an intelligent intermediary between customers and human agents, defusing tense situations, providing empathetic responses and redirecting callers before they reach their boiling point. Effective voice AI in the contact center facilitates respectful interactions and speeds up solutions, creating a better experience for both agents and customers. It’s a win-win.

Nikola Mrkšić is the CEO and co-founder of PolyAI, a leading provider of enterprise-ready voice assistants built for customer support.