Before diving in detail about how AI is affecting the future of the BPO service provider, let us understand AI Technology. Artificial Intelligence is the enhancement of human intelligence processes by machines such as computer systems. It involves learning (the possession of data and rules for utilizing the information), reasoning (utilizing rules to reach approximate or accurate conclusions) and self-correction. Some of the applications of AI involve expert systems, speech recognition and machine vision.
According to the World Economic Forum’s study, the modern updates in robotics is going to impact more than 5 million people by the end of the year 2020. Over 5 million jobs are expected to be affected by technology updates across verticals and around 2 million jobs in the AI sector will be generated by 2020, according to “The Future of Jobs”. These studies are indicators of how the wave of automation is expected to rise manifold in upcoming times. And the BPO industry is also under the impact of AI rise and machine learning led services.
Although the automation wave is at its initial stage, a few of the Indian BPO firms are already embracing it openly as a way to move forward by adopting modern technology and sharpening the skills of their employees
The Automation Wave
It is crucial to embrace artificial intelligence in BPO industry as it is a reality. Automated tools like customer assistant are becoming a new type of self-service. It is one of the largest cloud-based self-service networks, operating in the 5 countries with over 13,000 employees. Use of automated tools is going to become a crucial part and parcel of the BPO industry. BPOs require to strive and adopt modern technology and hence have to transform themselves into a digital company via omnichannel, which is a great deal in the BPO industry.
Improving Customer Experience
Combination voice, virtual chats, emails, social media, smartphones, and other news channels into omni-channel is actually the first step towards AI in BPO industry. Today all the companies want to be more ambitious with focus on user experience rather than just being sales-centric. In order to do so, Artificial Intelligence is the first step in the direction as it will enable businesses to optimize customer engagement in direct proportion to the number of agents.
Save on costs
BPOs get a majority of their business from outside India which makes AI data management compulsory. One of the main reasons behind this is that most of the BPOs are under pressure to lower their costs. Hence, using a virtual assistant and other similar tools can lower this stress and increase profits while maintaining the quality of services.
The number of human interactions with a company is going to get reduced by almost 85% at the end of the year 2020 with the introduction of AI. Chat-based non-voice communication is on the rise and is expected to grow manifold in the coming years. Therefore, AI technology is going to play a huge role in shaping the future of BPOs in India.