>>> TRAINING
THE OXYMORON OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS MY MOM WOULD SAY, THINK BEFORE YOU DO BY STEFANO LIESSI
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e have come to the close of 2021, the Christmas season soon upon us, a time for humanity to put some extra effort forth to appreciate one another. The past two years have delt some definite challenges to many in the industry, regardless of segment, it has pushed some to implement new ideas and processes, one that stands out is the implementation of technology. Technology seems to be the saviour of all that is wrong in the world, just as COVID is currently blamed for all that is wrong in the world. Now I may come off a little jaded in this article, and I am sure it has nothing to do with the less than stellar experience in trying to up grade my phone as I am composing it. Why, you ask? Well, it stems from the fact I have been dealing with their AI process for over an hour, I’m on my third virtual assistant, and have not actually spoken to a living being. Now I am not an IT wizard, however, I can generally hold my own with using software and computer technology, so you can sense my frustration when I am asked the same question three times via a chat dialog. If I call and
I am greeted right off the bat with “your call is important to us” one more time, I cannot be held accountable for what may ensue. Clearly, my call is not important to you. If it were, a human would answer it. And no, I don’t want to choose the music I am being subjected to while I wait for Wall-E® to tell me, “Your call is important to us, we will be with you shortly,” for the 39th time. “We are currently experiencing a high call volume” Do you know why you are experiencing a high call volume? It is because your AI can only answer what is consistent and within the parameters you set out, I would even choke back leaving a message, but I can’t, because the AI wouldn’t know what to do with it. So, you don’t get that option. I am not the only one that has experienced it, I guarantee that every person reading this has, because this is what we have become. It is everywhere, it has become the go to answer for many segments of our industry, and others. This is the ‘customer service’ everyone has grown to love and accept; but I coin it more as “customer processing.”
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In the collision world we have been coerced into believing that the faster the better; that speed is what customer service is all about, get that claim settled ASAP. Watch the LOR, Cycle time is too long, not enough touch time. Faster, faster—the customer is waiting, get them a magazine! Stop. Just stop. Read the next paragraph very closely: empathy is the ability to sense and understand the emotions of others. It’s essentially putting yourself in the emotional shoes of the customer. Many will argue that empathy is the most important customer service skill out there. Client servicing involves creating a rapport with customers. Often referred to as customer care, it is about understanding the needs and desires of the customer and moving to meet those needs in a proactive manner. It involves human interaction, active listening, and thought processing, it involves time, and effort. AI exhibits none of this. For the simplest straight forward part of a process, it has its merits. Dealing with consistency and repetition it can perform rather well if
