A few years ago, the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) posed a risk to the Philippine Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) going out of business as the said emerging technologies are capable to streamline tasks on customer service and technical troubleshooting in a piloted DIY environment. For BPO industry, the challenge was immediate: innovate and evolve or face going out of business as media stated.
In 2021 when the world is still grappling with the
pandemic, digital and technological adoption have accelerated for businesses as
more and more of them by the day are taking their services or goods online in
digital retail while opening up revenues through online payments. As e-
commerce soared and major web traffic spiked, customer service department was
again challenged to scale and adapt.
For BPOs, the harmonization of new technologies meshes
well with their trajectory when it comes to services / solutions offered to
businesses. As BPOs who embed themselves with technology are able to transform
into the next disruptive players in the industry --- alongside being able to
provide cutting-edge and disruptive solutions to their existing clients and
target market.
More than Just Phone Operators
New technology incorporated into the BPO industry is
pushing the envelope for the evolution of these platforms that were once
limited to phone operations. New ingrained technologies such as service
chat-bots, machine learning, self-service portals and omni-channel resource
management effectively allows contact centre to re-integrate themselves into
the evolving business landscape by utilization of the technologies that were
once posing a threat to their operations.
The evolved contact centre today are more than just
phone operators and back office work, they are now suppliers or vendors of
solutions that encompass customer service, customer experience and omni-channel
resourcing.
Some of the disruptive and emerging technology use
cases are:
Blockchain-centric Knowledgebases – That time-stamps
customer support instances and with this capability, the support structure can
quickly re-discover previous customer needs and their tickets for support. This
enables better customer relationships via response.
AI Chat Bots – We are seeing them more and more as
Artificial Intelligence is being embedded in the customer support structure.
These AI powered chat systems will only get smarter and more sophisticated as
they evolve with the customer behavior and as the technology further matures.
Machine Learning Systems – Machine learning is being
put to good use under an observation pedestal where they are in the center of
it all: always observing every response and resource and crunching them into
analytical and visual models where key observations are gained and interpreted
meaningfully for decision makers and departments to make informed decisions.
RPA Processes – RPA backed processes that link up
processes between human actions and software / information system actions are
essential in streamlining the core solutions delivery of BPO. RPA allows both
the enterprise and its BPO vendor to work more efficiently in their working
relationship.
Scaling with Omni-Channel
As processes are streamlined and multiple operational
fronts on customer service are funneled across a solutions line, contact
centres and businesses are looking at the versatile utilization of agents,
platforms and specialty functions across the omni-channel front in hopes to
scale with strategy instead of just pouring continuous resources where the
moment defines it. Agents on the roles of solutions specialists are now
multi-abled to handle phone, instant messaging, social and bilingual sessions
instead of the traditional one-off roles.
Strategic Outsourcing
Mass utilization of resources involving agents,
operators, roles and solutions are a thing of the pass as BPO entities today
are now more than just role providers. They are now solutions providers to
tackle business needs with the strategic approach of utilizing solutions and
resources to approach business needs. With a strategic framework of integration
these solutions, the BPO industry study and map business processes and using
statistical breakdown on key performance areas, they are able to re-assess and
design a solution for the business to scale with volume and long-term needs.
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