The irresistible need for Customer Service Automation

The Automation and AI Revolution:
Humans with AI vs. Humans without AI

Harvard professor Karim Lakhani famously said, “AI is not going to replace humans, but humans with AI are going to replace humans without AI.” This statement rings especially true in the realm of customer service. It's like comparing Tony Stark with and without his Ironman suit – both are competent, but one is clearly supercharged and able to accomplish much more. Automation and AI are joined at the hip, as every automation solution in today’s market is incorporating AI into its DNA. Those who believe AI and its associated technologies are a bubble or a fad are burying their head in the sand and will face a significant challenge catching up.

Why Customer Service Automation is gaining popularity

Customer Service Automation is about making support services more efficient and effective. Think of it as giving your customer service agents virtual Ironman suits. It frees up human agents for complex tasks, typically issues requiring one-on-one attention from the CSR’s, while also providing customers with automated, quick responses and even enhanced self-service options.

Challenges facing today’s customer service representatives

In addition to the everyday activities customer service representatives (CSR’s) face, changes in recent years have resulted in mounting on-the-job pressures from various factors, including:

1. Elevated customer expectations: In an Amazon-dominated world, customers expect rapid responses, delivery options, real-time updates, and other order details that the B2B world is still catching up on.
2. Productivity crisis: Achieving better productivity is no longer a luxury; it's a necessity, but not all organizations are equipped for this shift and the “do more with less” philosophy ends up crushing many of those responsible for day-to-day operations and interaction with customers and suppliers. The average turnover rates in customer service are increasing about 3% per year, surpassing all other functional groups by a large margin.
3. Supply chain pressures: Post-pandemic, customers have lost faith in the ability of suppliers to meet their stated delivery times. As a result, they “check in” more often to ensure the product will arrive as promised, which results in increased touchpoints and workloads.
4. P2P portal overload: The emergence of popular Procure-To-Pay solutions such as Ariba and Coupa have also added the workload of distributor’s CSRs, as in most cases, the information required to complete transactions is much more extensive than their regular orders, sometimes doubling the effort needed to properly service an order.

Many of these new challenges can be lessened or even eliminated with the proper implementation of Automation and AI strategies.

Making the case for automation in a North American distributor

Consider a hypothetical distributor with 600 employees. A distributor typically dedicates between 15-25% of their total headcount to customer service roles, inside sales and counter sales. When you calculate the total hours for these positions each year, you will see that even if automation provides a 10% reduction in time to handle routine tasks like quote preparation, order entry or order status expediting (which is reasonably possible), the company can free up over 25,000 hours annually. That's a lot of extra time for customer engagement and upselling! The key, of course, is identifying which tasks to automate, and which need a more human touch.

As shown by this example from a large solution provider, Automation Anywhere, a customer greatly reduced order entry time from 1 minute to 20 seconds per order, simply by using a software bot to handle the multiple screen/system logins and entries.

Let’s start by looking at a day in the life of a typical Customer Service Representative

Although every distributor’s customer service team is different, the vast majority can break down their typical day into one of eight major activities. Identifying who performs these tasks in the organization, their average time to serve, and other key details is the key to an effective customer service automation strategy:

• Making product and service recommendations to customers
• Accepting RFQ (request for quotes) from customers
• Preparing and delivering quotations to customers
• Following up on quotations prepared for customers
• Accepting and entering customer purchase orders into ERP
• Confirming/changing customer PO’s with the correct price and expected delivery dates
• Inquiring on product availability/delivery (pre-order)
• Expediting order and product availability/delivery (post-order)

Much of the prep work prior to implementing automation will involve breaking down these tasks into automatable and non-automatable components.

Getting the team onboard with automation and AI

Anyone who has ever implemented a technology project knows acceptance, adoption and usage ultimately determine the success of your project. Since many customer service teams are multi-generational, it may be a test to get buy-in from everyone. While tech-savvy younger generations may welcome AI-based automation in their work lives, older team members may be reluctant to embrace it. Research data suggests that older workers are at a higher risk of AI-related job threats , but generation doesn’t have to be destiny when it comes to customer service automation. With proper implementation and onboarding of older workers, companies can reap the benefits of their experience combined with the tech benefits. It is possible to teach an old dog new tricks.

Conclusion

The need for customer service automation in B2B industrial distribution and wholesale is clear. This is not futuristic fantasy, but a practical step towards efficiency, much like strapping on an Ironman suit in the business world. In Part 2 of this article, we will offer some guidance on all the various solutions out there, which challenges they solve and a roadmap to begin your journey to Customer Service Automation.