How GenAI chatbots’ integration reshapes Customer Service operating model

Traditional AI canned responses are not enough anymore: the combination with GenAI chatbots is key in redefining the entire operating model of customer support, for a truly seamless customer experience and to achieve new highs in automation. Here is what we did with our client Hype.

The landscape of customer care is undergoing a crucial transformation, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). With a rapidly growing global AI market - by 2030, it is expected that the size of the AI market will reach approximately $2 trillion (Statista) - and the swift adoption of GenAI solutions like ChatGPT, it's clear that we're entering a new era of interaction between customer care and users. Predefined experiences guided by traditional chatbots are not enough anymore: it's now imperative to embrace a new model of customer care.

In this current scenario, we implement a new customer care model capable of offering users the seamless experience they crave, achieving up to 80% automation. But how do we create this new model, and what are its defining characteristics? 

Considering only cutting-edge technology is a limiting factor: here is instead our end-to-end approach to redefining the customer care model with our client Hype, covering every aspect from design and contact strategy to implementation and continuous improvement.

First step: know your customer

We begin by carefully listening to the customer. Through detailed analysis of the reasons for contacting customer care and utilizing immersive methodologies, we understand how users wish to interact and uncover the current limitations of the customer experience. 

Towards the evolution of the chatbot's role

Chatbots powered by traditional AI offer predetermined responses and paths, but chatbots also implemented by GenAI are no longer merely automatic responders. In fact, they can become the key element for a seamless user experience by taking on the role of orchestrators.

They can serve as the single entry point for interaction while directing user requests to the most appropriate resources and channels within the company, using natural language and offering a personalized experience. 

Customer care transformation

Thanks to the introduction of the GenAI chatbot acting as an enabler, customer care management automatically becomes omnichannel and seamless. Moreover, every business case can be addressed using various channels, without predefined paths or specific user usage modalities.

This ensures a better experience in terms of response speed, convenience, and completeness of information.

Fluid informational territories for the customers

At this moment, the integration of traditional AI and GenAI chatbots is the basis of our new customer care model that differs from traditional ones more focused on resolving individual cases. The primary feature of this kind of blending model is their channel- and theme-agnostic nature, allowing them to address a wide array of business scenarios, by embracing the fluidity of experiences and the interconnection of various channels.

We're talking about the creation of a sort of fluid informational territory where users move freely, in particular under the guidance of the GenAI chatbot, and where interactions are more guided by user needs rather than predetermined outcomes. According to this new paradigm, projects are no longer defined only by finite solutions, and user interactions occur within broad perimeters of knowledge generated by GenAI. 

A new operating model in customer care: Hype

With our client Hype, the neo-digital bank, we've worked on creating a customer care infrastructure based on our new model powered by the combination of traditional AI and GenAI. The Hype's goal was to increase cross-channel first contact resolution, and they soon embraced our model, in line with their innovative approach.

After the initial customer discovery phase, we defined the infrastructure requirements and the roadmap to be realized, focused on two fronts:

  • quick-fix/quick-win: rapid interventions through sprints for continuous implementations and immediate results
  • continuous CX analysis: data collection from ongoing chatbot interactions useful for long-term strategic insights and infrastructure development

Constant interaction analysis with the chatbot provides valuable insights into:

  • how users wish to interact
  • how to design the GenAI technology of the new model

Continuous sprints and implementation have led to a model that resolves about 80% of cases and routes the rest to operators or other company channels (customer agent calls, e-mail, etc.).

An end-to-end approach is crucial to address future scenarios in customer service

This case demonstrates the effectiveness of a new support model, enabled by a central GenAI solution combined with traditional AI, which becomes capable of providing comprehensive assistance, connecting all available channels. 

It also reflects the importance of an end-to-end approach, from analysis of the as-is condition to strategy design and implementation to guarantee high performances and high customer satisfaction in a continuous improvement loop.