Genesys to Put IBM’s Watson to Work
Contact centers have long recorded customer telephone calls in an effort to improve agent performance and increase customer satisfaction. But this strategy has become less effective as a growing amount of information comes from emerging channels like Twitter and online customer forums.
The sheer volume of data is “staggering,” said Scott Kolman, VP of Products and Solutions Marketing at Genesys, and current systems are ill equipped to analyze it, meaning much of it goes unused.
That should change under a partnership with IBM that will see Genesys augment its Customer Experience Platform with the Watson Engagement Advisor, a solution that leverages the supercomputer's data processing and cognitive learning capabilities to help companies improve customer-oriented functions such as sales, marketing and support.
Bridging the Customer Service Gap
One of the biggest benefits Watson will provide, Kolman said, is the ability to better bridge the gap between self-service and agent-assisted customer interactions.
For example, he said, self-service applications typically allow a customer to close an account without analyzing the customer's reasons for doing so. Watson can determine the intent behind the request and guide the customer to an agent armed with all of the relevant information, who “can address the underlying need and bring the customer back.” Watson will weigh factors such as agent experience, channel used and training to determine the agent best equipped to handle an interaction.
Watson will work in tandem with existing capabilities of the Genesys platform, including intelligent routing, conversation management and the ability to define business rules, Kolman said. “Watson complements it very well by not only getting information to agents but also by learning along the way.”
Kolman said Genesys is working with IBM to identify joint customers that will be interested in the integrated offering, which will be available by the end of the year. The first clients will likely come from verticals with dynamic and complex customer service environments, like the financial services, insurance and pharmaceutical industries, he said.
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