Elevate customer engagement with conversational AI technology

What is Conversational AI?

Conversational AI is a technology that facilitates natural language conversations between humans and artificial intelligence systems, enabling people to have human-like exchanges between applications, websites, devices and other tools.

How does conversational AI work?

Conversational AI examples

Conversational AI components

Benefits of Conversational AI

• Savings and efficiency from repetitive task automation 
• Better customer experience through personalization
• Always-on customer support
• Improved flexibility and scalability
• Consistency in message and tone in voice, text, email, web and other platforms
• Insights derived from data from interactions
• More convivial interactions through conversational interfaces
• Better accessibility to disabled customers
• No cultural or language gaps

Conversational AI challenges and solutions

Challenges

• Comprehending inquiries, nuances and context
• Clear and relevant responses
• Understanding tone, understatement, sarcasm and idioms
• Compatibility and integration with incumbent platforms
•  Ensuring security, privacy and compliance with data protection regulations
• Seamless multicultural and multilingual operations
• Dealing with different conversations and flows

Solutions

• Flow optimization and conversational design
• Deploy machine learning and natural language processing (NLP)
• Common sense reasoning and open domain question-answering (ODQA)
• Context-aware management systems
• APIs (Application programming interfaces) and robust integration frameworks
• Vigilant, proactive and ongoing data privacy measures and reports
• Multilingual language models and transfer learning

Conversational AI Use Cases

Conversational AI in Banking

Assist customers quickly and efficiently with 24/7/36 access to virtual assistants for transactions, inquiries, product sales, service purchases, upsells, credit applications and support.

Conversational AI in Healthcare

Help patients by providing consultations, referrals, triage, prescription refills, appointments, and preliminary diagnoses.

Conversational AI Insurance

Engage customers with policy inquiries, claims, quotes and general advice

Conversational Customer Service

Assist customers with always-on product questions, order tracking, support inquiries, product questions, technical issues, service requests and more.

Conversational AI in Retail

Guide customers to appropriate products, recommend additional purchases, handle exchanges, check inventory, place orders, provide product support and technical assistance.

Elevate your CX with Startek! Let's craft a winning conversational AI strategy together.

Conversational AI Strategy

Here are six strategies for putting the power of conversational AI to work for you:

1. Voice interfaces: eliminate the need for customers to key in requests and queries. Chose a culturally appropriate voice as the “face” of your business to interact with customers, handle requests, queries, escalation, upsells and more. Adding chatbots to apps, websites, smart speakers and messaging tools gives them a human-like interface for support, lead generation and self-service functions

2. Guides, tutorials and search: Conversational AI is perfect for narratives, interactive guides, lessons, virtual tours, onboarding and similar functions. Request catalog items, purchase suggestions, service recommendations, technical support, problem diagnosis and triage

3. Marketing: Interact and engage with prospects and customers. Conduct marketing campaigns, research, tests, comparisons and more for lead generation and data and insights

4. Recruitment: Use conversational AI tools to attract potential employees and contractors, identify appropriate skills and relevant experiences, prepare for human interviews and screening, verify references and fulfill subsequent onboarding functions, as appropriate

5. Employee experience: Training, coaching, FAQs, managing workflows, payroll, PTO and scheduling requests, transfers, development opportunities and other role-based support and assistance

6. Workplace automation: Front-end for communication with IoT-connected tools and platforms. Ideal for use with smart devices, internal networks and other venues

Future of conversational AI

Seven predictions for the future of conversational AI based on extrapolations of the current state

1. Natural Language processing improvements: The result will be better understanding of nuances, context and tone, with more human-like interactions

2. Increased use: Conversational AI will be used in more applications across diverse industries — and more frequently — than those that already employ it

3. Better integration: Use of multiple conversational AI modes will be more cohesive and seamless for improved user experience

4. More personalization: Better emulation of human interactions, displaying emotional intelligence, mood and nuanced conversations

5. Tighter security: Privacy of data, better compliance and closer ethical considerations will be improved and strengthened

6. Internet of Things (IoT) improvements: Conversational AI will be baked into (IoT-connected devices, enabling better communication and more human-like interactions hook

7. New configurations of conversational AI: Fresh applications, transportable body-based uses and more general-use open-domain conversational AI tools

How can Startek help your conversational AI requirements?

Twelve steps for implementing conversational Ai in your organization

1. Set goals. Determine business interactions that conversational AI will improve and add value to the customer and the business

2. Define success. Set measurable, quantifiable targets: numbers, revue, solved issues, sales increases, recruitment numbers, associate diversity, churn reduction et al

3. Analyze the competition. What are they doing, how are they doing it and with whom? Are they successful? Are there operational gaps and failures? Who is their technology partner? Is it in-house or third-party?

4. Identify your platform. Establish what platform, platforms or suite best addresses your needs and is best positioned to help you reach your goals. Devise use cases based on experiences (not wish lists) and determine how to successfully address them

5. Gather customer inputs. Collect information from customer interactions through all media; calls, email, chat et al

6. Design the experience. With your technology partner, script out the conversational flow, tone, options, outcomes and more, as required. Create personas that authentically convey brand voice and tone

7. Build your database. Ensure the platform has access to the best and latest technical information, sales tools, discounts, parts and services. Conversational AI tools should fully integrate with your sales and services databases and other data repositories

8. Integrate with incumbent tools and platforms. Decide the circumstances that require a phone call to be routed to conversational AI tools, for example, or escalated to another human agent

9. Promote and disseminate: Announce internally and train all affected managers and associates. Set up ongoing coaching and training programs and ensure they are kept current with technology, products, services et al

10. Test before launch. Set up trials in a safe environment to ensure everything works as intended. Revise and modify as needed

11. Publicize. Announce deployment and manage customer expectations. Work closely with marketers to hew closely to brand image, voice and tone

12. Examine, iterate and evolve. Look for gaps, flaws and room for improvement. Deploy new technology when needed and sunset ineffective or obsolete tools. Seek continuous improvement

Conversational AI FAQs

• What is the difference between chatbot and conversational AI?
  Chatbots are task-specific and rule-based. Conversational AI uses natural language processing and machine learning to simulate more human-like dialogues.

• What is basic conversational AI?
  Systems that comprehend and react to basic, limited questions and commands in a specific area or situation.

• What is the difference between conversational AI and generative AI?
  Conversational AI involves natural language exchanges and generative Al produces text, audio images and other new content. 

• How does conversational AI work?
  Using a combination of natural language processing and dialog management to understand human inputs and maintain context, conversational AI offers relevant and human-like responses.

• What is an example of conversational AI?
  Conversational AI examples include AI-powered chatbots and conversational interfaces and popular virtual assistants such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant.