Over the past several years, AI capabilities have grown significantly, introducing new applications and possibilities into the contact center environment. Now more than ever, business leaders are looking for ways to achieve their goals by integrating innovative AI-based technology that can reduce costs, improve team productivity, and delight customers.
Cyara’s award-winning conversational AI optimization platform helps leading businesses make the most of their AI investments.
While AI-based channels such as chatbots have garnered a lot of attention for their ability to provide seamless interactions, meet customer demands for faster and self-service options, and improve operational efficiency, they are not the only application that can elevate your CX strategy. Virtual agents are another AI-based software that interacts with your customers like a human agent.
At a glance, it may seem like virtual agents are the same as chatbots, taking over various and routine tasks so that your team can focus on high-level objectives. But when properly designed and maintained, virtual agents can completely transform your CX strategy, taking your offerings to the next level and boosting customer satisfaction with quality interactions.
What are Virtual Agents?
Simply, virtual agents are a type of AI-assisted bot that use natural learning processing or other machine learning models to hold conversations with users. Virtual agents can communicate across a range of channels, including phone and text-based chats. Because of their ability to handle customer queries, they can be used in a contact center environment to take over more routine tasks, allowing you to reallocate team resources to focus on more important or involved tasks that require human intervention.
Virtual agents can be used to handle many different types of queries, such as scheduling appointments, offering technical support, or helping a customer look up their account information. IVRs are a well-known example of a virtual agent, though recent technological advancements in AI have expanded the role of virtual agents to handle a wider range of more complex tasks.
Often, virtual agents can be confused with other systems such as chatbots and virtual assistants, though each tool has distinct features and capabilities.
Virtual Agents vs. Chatbots vs. Virtual Assistants
While there is some overlap between each tool, they can be set apart based on several key distinctions.
- Chatbots are typically categorized as a system that can simulate real-time human interactions. While not all chatbots are powered by AI, instead relying on pre-programmed decision trees and inputs to drive interactions, other chatbots may use LLM and NLP models to provide more sophisticated responses.
- Virtual assistants most commonly refer to human agents that provide remote or virtual assistance during customer interactions. In other cases, the term “virtual assistants” can be used for voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri.
- Virtual agents are often thought of as more complex chatbots, but they hold a wide range of features that make them stand from chatbots. Well-functioning virtual agents can understand customer intent and learn how to meet customer needs accordingly.
Typically speaking, virtual agents can be identified for their ability to automate actions for customers and employees, such as updating a customer’s account information, and communicate with customers with interactions that simulate a real conversation between two humans.
Improve Your CX with Virtual Agents
AI-based channels can significantly improve your CX offerings and help your business stand out from your competitors. From creating personalized experiences, offering 24/7 support, and improving team productivity, there are many benefits that you can leverage to support top-line business objectives and reduce costs. In fact, recent studies have found that over half of customers feel positively about a company that uses AI in their CX based on the potential benefits.
As technology continues to evolve, virtual agents have the features necessary to meet rising customer expectations and ensure that you’re always delivering efficient self-service CX that has a positive impact on your business’ finances, productivity, and reputation.
Virtual agents can improve your CX in several key areas, such as:
- Cost Savings: Delivering quality CX with human agents takes a lot of time and resources. Virtual agents can significantly reduce the cost of serving your customers.
- Productivity: Virtual agents can handle routine customer queries with ease, saving your team’s time and effort. In turn, you can reallocate team resources to focus on high-level tasks and improve overall contract center efficiency.
- Customer Satisfaction: As increasingly more customers seek seamless CX and self-service options, virtual agents can help you improve your customer satisfaction scores.
While virtual agents can provide many benefits to your contact center, it’s important to also make testing and monitoring a priority, just as with any other CX channel.
Easily Test, Train, and Monitor Virtual Agents
It’s impossible to predict when a CX error can occur and reverse all your hard work that goes into developing quality customer interactions. AI-powered systems that suffer from unintended errors can pose serious consequences to your brand’s reputation, create compliance risks, and put your customers at risk. That’s why you need to implement an automated CX assurance solution into your strategy.
With Cyara’s AI-Led CX Transformation Platform, you can regain control and visibility throughout the entire development lifecycle. Businesses that fail to adopt robust testing and monitoring practices face the risk of defects escaping into the live environment and impacting your customers. When you choose Cyara, you can ensure your CX channels are always performing as designed, so you can innovate with confidence.
As technology continues to evolve and makes systems like virtual agents possible, it’s critical that you make the most of your investments and support your business goals. Contact us to schedule a demo today or visit cyara.com to learn more about our comprehensive CX assurance solutions.
