Artificial intelligence (AI) is having an impact in a wide variety of different fields at the moment. VoIP is no exception to this and there are a number of ways in which AI can be used to automate processes that will make a significant difference to the way voice communication operates.
Call centre systems
VoIP has transformed the operation of call centres, allowing lower call costs and greater flexibility to cope with spikes in traffic. AI has the potential to make further improvements by automating the routing of calls, ensuring that they reach the appropriate agent quickly. But more than that, as systems develop, they will be able to detect the mood of a caller and ensure that if they are complaining about something, they are passed to an agent who is alerted accordingly and is presented with all of the appropriate information about their account, thus empowering the agent to resolve the issue quickly.
Part of making this type of system work involves the use of automated voice response (AVR) based upon AI. This is a powerful tool for businesses that receive a large volume of calls. It saves time for staff who don’t have to spend time determining what a call is about. It also makes life easier for the customer who gets their call answered and routed more quickly to someone who can deal with it first time.
Once AI has identified a caller who is an existing customer, it can ensure that all of their relevant information, recent transactions and so forth, is made available to the agent as soon as the call is routed to them.
Chatbot systems
A further extension of this is the use of chatbots. These are AI-based systems that can accept instructions via voice or text and perform tasks as a result. But these are more than automated systems, they are designed to have their own identity and to mimic human interaction.
These can be used in the same fashion as AVR systems to pre-screen and route calls, but can also be designed to carry out far more complex tasks such as booking appointments or setting up meetings, inviting other attendees and more.
Conferencing with wholesale VoIP termination
One of the advantages of VoIP is that it allows for conference calls, either with or without video, to be made with participants anywhere in the world. AI has the potential to extend the usefulness of this further still, with the ability to simultaneously translate different languages in real time, or through the use of voice recognition to identify participants and display relevant information as they talk.
Although AI is becoming more common in many businesses, we’re still in the early stages of the revolution. We’ve looked at some of the things it can do now, or will be able to do in the near future, but there is likely to be much more to come. It may not be too long before AI has the ability to replace call centre agents completely.
