Is AI-powered customer service better than humans?

It’s no secret that customer service jobs are known to be stressful, as they often deal with dissatisfied customers who take out their anger on the person providing this service; in this case, the implementation of AI can also help. Capterra’s study indicates that 55% of respondents indicated that thanks to the use of this technology, the stress level of employees decreased.

Man against machine

The two most common means of customer service in Mexico are live chat and phone calls, and both can be handled by AI or a human agent, but who performs better?

According to Ztz AI, a software company integrated with AI for managing legal areas of companies, the disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence in customer service may include a certain risk of user perception of a cold and impersonal service.

Capterra’s study reinforces this idea, as maintaining customer trust is the biggest challenge they identified. Other challenges include ensuring the accuracy of information and finding the right software for each company’s needs.

“As a first means of contact, I think it’s fine (using AI in customer service); it speeds things up by having contact with something that is already automated and has general answers. But for specific things, it’s the opposite; it gets in the way and can even give incorrect information,” Ezequiel García, who works for an industrial supplies company and is constantly exposed to AI-based customer service, told Expansión.

Bruno Peláez, senior content analyst at Capterra Mexico, points out that one strategy to address the challenges that AI poses to customer trust is to promote transparency regarding the use of this technology in customer service areas.

“For example, you can inform users that they are interacting with an AI or give them the option to choose between customer service with an AI or a human,” he says.

The Capterra study concluded that the performance of humans and AI is better depending on the type of attention required. Technology performs better than people in conversations in various languages, according to the considerations of its respondents. It also performs better in data analysis and knowledge generation and avoiding bias.

They also indicated that humans are better than AI at facilitating sales or upselling, solving problems, and personalizing interactions.

Peláez says that most customer service tasks cannot be performed in isolation.

“For this reason, when a company implements AI in customer service, it must do so in a way that integrates with human agents, or in other words, that it is a team effort, not a replacement for the worker. If applied correctly, this technology can significantly improve an organization’s customer service,” he concluded..