How artificial intelligence is revamping customer call centers

you dial the number navigate the recorded  instructions and if you're lucky there's a   person a real person on the other end of the  line if you're lucky but more often than not   you don't get the action you'd hoped for so is  your call important to them really David Pogue   looks at customer service its frustrations and  its future a call may be recorded or monitored   want to know how I spent my Tuesday trying  to report some fraudulent credit card charges   I'm calling global commercial card hi yes I'm  trying to report some fake charges on my credit   card I'll connect you with our fraud team I  see thanks much your business okay customer   service is a real problem in this country just  ask literally anyone so I've got a tale for your   customer service story that said we're sorry we  don't have anybody right now to answer your call   please call back AT&T had me on the phone for 6  hours Airline gave me the runaround via email it   kept saying it couldn't find our flights I said  lady the technician is standing 2 feet in front   of me and he has the unit in his hand so why  is customer service so bad first of all labor   shortage especially since the pandemic it's hard  to find people who want the call center jobs the   average call center worker quits after about 18  months second consolidation all those corporate   mergers of Airlines and Banks and telecom  companies and cable companies now there's   not as much competition so there's less incentive  to fix the problems so what happens you get a lot   of unhappy customers or Worse needless to say I  did not stay with Verizon Wireless so I filed a   complaint with the Public Service Commission now  I'm the proud owner of a new website where I plan   into detail the rotten customer service and so  to this day I have upstairs in my guest room a   4K Direct TV box that that drops out every four  minutes and it's hooked up to a TV that isn't 4K   this isn't about money it's about human decency  well if it's any consolation there is a group   of people who may be even more frustrated by the  customer service situation than you are and that   is the customer service agents when they call in  they see you as part of the organization that's   imposing the issue rather than a human being  believe it or not I've had somebody curse me   out completely they can't see you they're just  over the phone so they take advantage of that   of course they call with their frustrations uh  they don't understand the procedures they have   been told no multiple times and sometimes that  brushes off on me I'm frustrated too um I want   to help you out I stand up I'm like I feel like  I'm going to get in a state where I'm sweating   would you ever say to a caller I need to put you  on hold for a second when you really don't but you   just need a break of course of course Domonique  Raymond Kayla Zuniga Gineris Ortiz and Calvin   Echevarria type of purposes if you could just  please provide me with your data work in customer   support for health companies and patient advocacy  nonprofits in Orlando well right now I don't even   see that you're registered so there's nothing to  resubmit I've read that turnover in call center   work is more than double the average of other jobs  I think it's hard they're not necessarily looking   for a resolution they're looking to vent y so yeah  that can be kind of difficult and taxing okay give   me just a second let me customer service is not  easy it's not meant for everyone my pleasure bye   so if the job can be so hard why do they do it  there's also a lot of redeeming qualities it's   very very mentally stimulating because every day  is a new challenge or new experience beauty of it   is honestly to me is to help help out there it it  brings me joy Sometimes I Cry with the patient I'm   so excited to actually help someone out no cable  company customer call Center employee has ever   cried with me thank you for holding and so for  years that's how things have stood two frustrated   armies of people on opposite ends of the line  each frustrated by a dysfunctional underfunded   system and then this happened my name is Grace  I'm a virtual front desk agent what can I help   you with today um I I left a bag at the gate can  you describe the item it's a 9 foot Steinway grand   piano I have good news for you we were able  to locate an item matching that description   welcome to the new age of artificial customer  service artificial intelligence that is you can   adjust these personality sliders how much empathy  should the bot show how much should it respond to   your emotion Nico Benitez is a co-founder of  gridspace creators of an AI phone rep called   Grace my name is Grace at this moment more than  100 Hospital chains Airlines phone companies and   Banks use Grace to take customer calls it doesn't  sound like you're talking to a robot you hear the   ums and us and uh all the imperfections that uh  that indicate that someone is listening Anthony   Scodary is another gridspace co-founder and so if  you have a system that feels like it's listening   to you and doesn't make you restate yourself it's  much less frustrating as a user interface How does   Grace make life easier for the humans at the call  center well that's a really hard job and it's you   know it's just people yelling at you all day and  so one way Grace can help is by being kind of a   bit of a blast Shield by you know first someone  calls in they State their intent they complain   the bot tries their best to help them and then  the person can kind of come in as the hero I   mean that's in general how automation really helps  people which is it enables people to do the stuff   that people are best at but then for the other 90%  of calls where people are calling in with password   reset password reset password reset or whatever  uh Grace can just deal with that grid space set   up a fake Airline 800 number so I could witness  firsthand how Grace hands you off to a human   when the problem requires creativity thanks for  calling CBS Airlines um I have a service animal   can I bring my service animal yes you are allowed  um to bring your service animal on board okay it   is a tiger is that okay I'm sorry but I um don't  have any information about bringing a tiger as   a service animal I'd be happy to transfer you  to an agent so common sense is not her strong   suit if there's no policy about tigers she's not  going to invent one un-restrained AI acting as a   representative of your company can get you  in a lot of trouble and so we would rather   err on the side of being real by-the-book real  literal meanwhile Grace offers another benefit   to us puny humans much less sitting on hold she's  answering millions of phone calls simultaneously   yeah picks up right away even if it's a machine  a fascinating concept but not everyone is sure   that AI is the answer it seems like you lose that  connection that ability to make that good first   impression and to connect with the patient right  off the bat so it seems impersonal I I love the   fact that we can actually be we're they're live  agents you can't do that with a AI take that Grace   plenty of companies are working on AI customer  support systems like Grace but until they become   WI widespread and reliable most of the people  answering your calls will still be people we   get them at their worst but then also at times  when you can pivot and recover that situation   then get them at their best and they're most  grateful they'll write your name down and say   hey like I want to let your supervisor know  that you helped me and even though I started   yelling you from the beginning it was not your  fault you assisted me and you never hung up on   me so you forgive them their anger yeah so no  need to forgive there's no forgiving I don't   take that person oh you just needed somebody  to listen to you as well happy holidays byebye

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 79,420

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Sunday Morning, Technology, MoneyWatch

Id: cFK4f1t63Co

Length: 8min 43sec (523 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 07 2024