AI21 Study Claims Integrating AI Agents Boosts Offshore Customer Service Efficiency
In Brief
AI21 Labs study finds integrating AI Agents such as Wordtune into offshore customer service enhances efficiency.
70% of companies choose to offshore customer service teams to tier-3 or tier-4 countries where the proficiency level of spoken English is oftentimes poor. Although it is cheap for companies these teams are less efficient and consistently produce lower CSAT scores, as per a survey of Wordtune users.
Wordtune is a product from startup AI21 Labs that can rewrite whole sentences using natural language generation technology.
According to AI21, this results in growing customer dissatisfaction with offshore customer service. However, with technological solutions like LLM-powered chatbots and writing and translation assistants, businesses can bridge this gap and continue to offshore their CS teams while ensuring that communication is clear and effective.
This is where Wordtune can come to the rescue. The AI writing assistant helps offshore teams communicate coherently and professionally.
“Our research has shown that effective communication both internally, and with customers, can save up to 2 hours of work time per day and a 25% increase overall in efficiency for customer service agents,” Or Dagan, VP of Applications at AI21 told Metaverse Post.
AI21 researchers analyzed anonymous data points from more than 100,000 customer support writing sessions, identifying potential typos, grammatical errors, unclear wording, and anything else that can make their writing difficult to understand by the reader.
“We used this data to look at writing error rates, the amount of time agents utilized AI, what AI writing suggestions they used, and on which platforms this communication took place,” said Dagan. “Parallel to this, we looked at the average customer service salary in nine different countries to determine if there was a correlation between error rates and how much their services cost.”
AI21’s unique dataset not only shed light on the importance of language proficiency but also revealed a nuanced approach needed in outsourcing decisions. By ranking average salaries against language error rates for customer service representatives in different countries, the research emphasizes that error rates alone do not tell the whole story.
Or Dagan told Metaverse Post, “Surprisingly, more developed countries did not fare better in their error ratings yet had much higher average salaries. Our findings demonstrate that a company should not only consider salaries when looking to outsource their team but consider the language barriers of the location as well.”
The Future of AI in Customer Service
As customer service remains a critical touchpoint between businesses and consumers, the trajectory of AI21’s research points toward a future where AI adoption in customer service teams becomes the norm. The efficiency gains alone are propelling businesses to embrace AI tools, such as Wordtune, to not only meet but exceed customer expectations.
“Compared to the time it takes an agent to manually edit the email, Wordtune was found to save agents up to three minutes per email. With agents writing an average of 40 emails per day, that’s a saving of 2 hours just by using an AI writing tool,” said Dagan.
“By using AI, agents can respond faster, allowing them to respond to more requests while improving the quality of their responses. This shows that AI is an invaluable tool for agents, and is significantly increasing their productivity,” he added.
Despite all this, the AI21 survey suggests the most important thing is quality. If companies can improve the quality by providing the tools and implementing processes that are aligned with that, the location will make less of a difference.
Looking ahead, the trend suggests a higher AI adoption rate among customer service teams. The shift from multiple task-specific tools to single platforms with versatile uses for customer service representatives is on the horizon. The efficiency of AI is expected to be a decisive factor in offshore hiring decisions, as it has the potential to reduce the quality gaps traditionally associated with offshore teams.
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About The Author
Kumar is an experienced Tech Journalist with a specialization in the dynamic intersections of AI/ML, marketing technology, and emerging fields such as crypto, blockchain, and NFTs. With over 3 years of experience in the industry, Kumar has established a proven track record in crafting compelling narratives, conducting insightful interviews, and delivering comprehensive insights. Kumar's expertise lies in producing high-impact content, including articles, reports, and research publications for prominent industry platforms. With a unique skill set that combines technical knowledge and storytelling, Kumar excels at communicating complex technological concepts to diverse audiences in a clear and engaging manner.
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Kumar is an experienced Tech Journalist with a specialization in the dynamic intersections of AI/ML, marketing technology, and emerging fields such as crypto, blockchain, and NFTs. With over 3 years of experience in the industry, Kumar has established a proven track record in crafting compelling narratives, conducting insightful interviews, and delivering comprehensive insights. Kumar's expertise lies in producing high-impact content, including articles, reports, and research publications for prominent industry platforms. With a unique skill set that combines technical knowledge and storytelling, Kumar excels at communicating complex technological concepts to diverse audiences in a clear and engaging manner.
