The potential implications
By John Greenwood, Head of Technology & Payments
If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT, I suggest you read Dave’s article from January’s newsletter or do a quick google search – you won’t be able to miss it. The AI-powered language model is predicted to, and already is, revolutionising industries across the board. But what are its potential implications for the contact centre industry?
With its natural language processing capabilities, ChatGPT can understand and respond to customer queries in a way that closely mimics human interactions. This can lead to faster, more accurate and more efficient support for customers, while also helping businesses save costs by reducing the need for human customer service representatives.
According to a report by Grand View Research, the global contact centre market size was valued at USD 350.4 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4% from 2021 to 2028. With such a large market size, there is significant potential for ChatGPT to have a major impact on the industry.
One of the biggest advantages of ChatGPT is its ability to handle large volumes of customer queries simultaneously. Traditional contact centres often struggle to keep up with high volumes of requests, leading to long wait times and frustrated customers. With ChatGPT, however, customers can receive immediate support without having to wait in line for a human representative. This can lead to faster resolution times, higher customer satisfaction rates and increased loyalty to the brand.
ChatGPT can also provide 24/7 support to customers, which is especially important in today’s globalised economy where businesses operate across different time zones. This means that customers can receive assistance at any time of the day or night, regardless of their location. This can lead to improved customer experiences, as customers are able to get the support they need when they need it.
In addition to providing faster and more efficient customer support, ChatGPT can also help businesses save costs. According to a study by Accenture, the average cost of a customer service call is between £5 and £7. With ChatGPT, businesses can handle routine queries at a fraction of this cost, as the technology can handle multiple queries simultaneously without the need for human intervention. This can lead to significant cost savings for businesses, as they are able to handle a larger volume of queries with fewer resources.
Furthermore, ChatGPT can provide personalised support to customers by analysing their previous interactions with the business, their purchase history and their preferences. This level of personalisation can help businesses build stronger relationships with their customers, leading to increased customer loyalty and repeat business. A study by Gartner found that by 2025, 80% of customer service interactions will be handled by AI-powered technologies like ChatGPT, which highlights the growing importance of this technology in the industry.
While ChatGPT can handle routine queries, it’s important to note that it’s not a replacement for human customer service representatives. There will still be situations where a human representative is needed to provide more in-depth support or to handle sensitive issues. However, by using ChatGPT to handle routine queries, businesses can free up their human representatives to focus on more complex queries, leading to higher-quality customer support overall.
In conclusion, ChatGPT is a powerful tool that has the potential to transform the contact centre industry. With its ability to handle large volumes of customer queries simultaneously, provide 24/7 support, offer personalised support and save costs, businesses can significantly improve their customer support infrastructure. As ChatGPT continues to evolve and improve, it’s likely that we’ll see more businesses adopting this technology to enhance their customer support operations and improve their bottom line.
