This is a guest post by Brianna Van Zanten, Customer Success Manager at InCheq

In my experience, many business leaders are intimidated by the idea of incorporating AI-based systems, even though they shouldn’t be. AI can simplify a business’s operations, transforming both its employee and customer experiences for the better. Implementing next-generation task-management software is the secret to providing exceptional service as quickly and easily as possible.

Today’s AI explained

When many people think about AI, one of the first things that often comes to mind is the tone-deaf chatbots of the past. Due to the copy-and-paste character of the responses these AI chatbots provided, most people found them frustrating to engage with.

However, today’s AI-based systems are vastly different due to their ability to incorporate emotional intelligence and recognize cues such as tone of voice and even important words or phrases. Displaying “people skills,” they adjust to the individual they are communicating with in real time. As a result, customers and staff alike feel understood and appreciated.

Moreover, these systems can refine themselves over time, personalizing service to individual team members and customers.

How AI improves the employee experience

Next-generation AI-driven task management systems improve the employee experience in many ways. First and foremost, automations complete rote but necessary tasks in the blink of a proverbial eye, allowing teams to offload much of their otherwise monotonous tasks and prioritize higher-order activities that are more deserving of their time and attention.

State-of-the-art algorithms can also handle more information and take on more sophisticated tasks than their predecessors. For example, they can identify patterns in large volumes of information and generate insightful reports. Leadership can use these to formulate strategy and make decisions based on empirical data — in other words, decisions with the best chance of leading to the right outcomes.

Today’s AIs can even anticipate issues before they arise and flag potential problems that are in the process of forming, such as work that risks falling overdue. This capability allows managers to intervene proactively and ensure everything gets done in good time.

Modern AI models can also optimize employees’ schedules. Let’s use the example of a hotel where a guest decides to check out of their room early. An AI-based system can automatically take advantage of the time that has just opened up to reassign tasks and ensure efficient use of the housekeeping staff, which also reduces turnaround times for customers. The AI can also adapt cleaning schedules based on the preferences of returning guests who will be checking in.

Another critical way AI can improve the workplace is by increasing workers’ safety and security. When AI-based systems are coupled with Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, businesses can monitor conditions in real time, even at far-away outposts. These systems immediately alert the right people if conditions warrant attention or, worse yet, an emergency happens. For instance, if air quality starts to deteriorate, managers can be warned, and employees at the site can be given instructions or evacuated.

How AI improves customer service

The first way AI improves customer service is by offering instant, competent communication on demand. AI-based systems can also improve the quality of their communications over time. By retaining transcripts of their chats with customers and conducting feedback surveys, an AI model can learn to better address customers’ needs and emotions, resulting in higher customer satisfaction.

In addition, today’s AI can predict what customers want and what they will do in the future. In the industry, we refer to these capabilities as “predictive analytics.”

For example, let’s say a grocery store implements an AI-based task-management software that can track customers’ demographics and behavior to figure out which products a customer is likely to buy and under what conditions. Armed with this information, the business can send those customers messages specifically tailored to their individual browsing and purchase histories. Imagine being able to dangle a sale in front of someone at just the right moment or being able to recommend an additional product that would go well with their usual staples.

These systems can also predict when customers will need a service, such as getting their dog groomed or nails done. The AI will analyze the individual’s records to determine their usual time frame for making appointments and scheduling preferences and then suggest an appropriate future date and time for the client’s next visit.

Another way AI improves customer service that many business leaders tend to overlook is its ability to deal with sudden surges in demand more quickly and efficiently than human staff can.

For instance, if a service outage prompts a wave of calls to customer support, the AI-based system can immediately identify the need for support, step in, and start assigning tasks to additional customer service agents, moving less pressing work around as necessary. These systems can also reprioritize incoming requests to make sure the most urgent ones are dealt with first, meaning wait times drop — especially for the calls that matter most.

How will you put AI to work?

Recent studies demonstrate that AI-based systems increase productivity in multiple ways, from shortening the time to finish projects to enabling leadership to make informed decisions. For these reasons and more, AI-based task-management systems are revolutionizing both the customer and employee experiences, which is why businesses and organizations of all sizes should consider how to start putting AI to work.

This is a guest post by Brianna Van Zanten, Customer Success Manager at InCheq

About Brianna

Brianna Van Zanten is the Customer Success Manager at InCheq, a scalable workflow platform. She passionately combines her love for meaningful connections, her academic background in user experience and human behaviors, and her devotion to service. As a Black female in the tech world, she aspires to be recognized not only as an advocate for diversity and inclusion but also as a future mentor for young professionals like herself. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and pursued her studies in Cognitive Science and Psychology at Case Western Reserve University. During her college years, Van Zanten also seized the opportunity to play soccer, which ignited her passion for coaching. Currently, she coaches three youth travel soccer teams, a journey that has further fueled her love for mentoring and developing young players.

Credit: Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash