Using Artificial Intelligence in the Contact Center-A Practical Approach 

By Mike Plumer, Altigen VP of Sales 

AI is getting a lot of attention.  Capabilities are increasing exponentially, and announcements about breakthroughs and ways in which it could affect future daily life are constantly in the news.  It can all be a bit overwhelming.   

In discussions with our customers, we often hear questions such as:  “Is it secure?” “What if it gives wrong information?” “What practical use is there for our business?”  While it may seem like the “Wild Wild West” out there in AI land, there are secure, practical and cost-effective ways to begin using AI.   

At Altigen, we specialize in business communications and how to improve it.  In utilizing AI, our primary considerations are security, usability and business benefit.  Here are a few examples of the ways we’re using AI to benefit our customers: 

• Conversational AI– Altigen developed a bank by phone IVR application years ago that today is used by nearly 1,500 banks and credit unions.  The original IVR allowed callers to navigate a menu using touch tones or by saying a specific word.  By implementing Conversational AI based on Microsoft OpenAI,  callers can now ask questions without following a specific menu.  They can say, “Did I buy anything at Target last month?”  By providing convenient,  24×7 self-service, the financial institution makes it easier for customers while cutting down on the expense of calls to a live agent.  

• AI Language Translation– The world is shrinking, and many businesses have customers in which English is not their first language.   It may be a challenge to have someone on staff to help them.  With AI based language translation, we support more than 100 languages in Chat, SMS, and WhatsApp.   The visitor can communicate in their preferred language, and the request is translated real time to the agent’s preferred language.   

• AI Based Conversation Summary–  A big benefit of AI is that it can help contact center agents with repetitive tasks.  If an agent is required to enter notes after a call or interaction, it could tie the agent up for a few minutes.  The longer the transaction time, the less calls an agent is able to take.  By using AI to summarize customer interactions, the agent is able to review the summary vs. writing one. The summary can also be automatically pushed to the CRM record. 

• Sentiment Analysis– Ever wonder which calls didn’t go well?  If it takes a customer complaint to find out, the damage is already done.  For a contact center supervisor, it can be overwhelming to sift through recordings or to spot check agents by listening in live.   We utilize Microsoft AI to provide real time and historical sentiment information on interactions.  A supervisor can choose to listen in on a conversation that isn’t going well, or search through transcripts and recordings by sentiment.   As the saying goes, “Expect what you inspect.” 

While AI can provide significant benefits, it must be controlled and secure.  If the information source is the open internet, results can be unpredictable.   Altigen utilizes Microsoft Azure AI and Azure OpenAI  to provide secure, managed AI that limits the information source to trusted and approved data.   We also strive for usability.  An agent or caller doesn’t need to know that AI is being used, just that it’s easy and a good experience.