In 2018, Gartner predicted that 25% of Customer Service Operations would use VCA. Source: Gartner 2018.
Extract:
Analysts Present Top Predictions for Customer Experience Leaders at the Gartner Customer Experience Summit 2018 in Tokyo, February 19-20
Twenty-five percent of customer service and support operations will integrate virtual customer assistant (VCA) or chatbot technology across engagement channels by 2020, up from less than two percent in 2017, according to Gartner, Inc.
Speaking at the Gartner Customer Experience Summit in Tokyo today, Gene Alvarez, managing vice president at Gartner, said more than half of organizations have already invested in VCAs for customer service, as they realize the advantages of automated self-service, together with the ability to escalate to a human agent in complex situations.
“As more customers engage on digital channels, VCAs are being implemented for handling customer requests on websites, mobile apps, consumer messaging apps and social networks,” Mr. Alvarez said. “This is underpinned by improvements in natural-language processing, machine learning and intent-matching capabilities.”
Organizations report a reduction of up to 70 percent in call, chat and/or email inquiries after implementing a VCA, according to Gartner research. They also report increased customer satisfaction and a 33 percent saving per voice engagement.
The video in the following post shows an interaction between a VCA and a customer. The VCA’s natural way of behaving – in the video – is quite impressive. The company, Voca.ai, has since been bought by Snapchat.
As we see the surge of VCAs, we can wonder about the impact on sales people and how to best train them in this new configuration.