Virtual Customer Assistant as a Critical Capability in CCaaS

Offering fast customer service in simple questions is a win-win situation for both customers and service providers. Thus, in today’s technology driven world, a customer service center must have a virtual customer assistant. A virtual customer assistant streamlines customer service, saves time, serves customers faster, and improves the overall efficiency of the customer service center. 

What is a virtual customer assistant? 

A virtual customer assistant is an automated software tool that provides self-service for customers by, e.g., using chatbots. VCAs support customer dialogues across channels for self-service and assisted-service interactions. This increases the efficiency of the customer service center, as up to 90% of customer enquiries can be answered automatically.  

For a VCA to work independently, it needs to be powered by AI. Custom AI makes the VCA understand the intent of the customer. Robotic process automation, on the other hand, ensures that the VCA does what the customer wants.  

Why does a customer service organisation need a virtual customer assistant? 

With the help of a virtual customer assistant, your customers can solve more straightforward problems by themselves. There’s no need to wait in line or pick up the phone, which saves time for the customers. The waiting time for live chat can be reduced up to 65% with the help of a VCA. 

A VCA also contributes to a more effective organization. Simple, tedious questions and repetitive interactions no longer consume your agents’ time. Instead, agents can focus their expertise and mental capacity on solving more complex cases.  

A virtual customer assistant saves plenty of time for the organisation, by saving up to 330 hours each month in customer service. Automation allows the customer service center to serve more customers at the same time as before – even triple the number of customer interactions.   

A virtual customer assistant will also enhance the agent experience. Menial and repetitive tasks can be delegated. An agent doing more meaningful work is a happier agent. 

LeadDesk’s Virtual Customer Assistant 

LeadDesk has strong expertise in AI-driven virtual customer assistants through its long history of using chatbots. The chatbot is LeadDesk’s own product. It is integrated into the solution, ensuring effortless transitions to the right agent when needed.  

Using the virtual customer assistant increases productivity, as your organisation can serve more customers per hour than before. Depending on your needs, you can choose between a standalone chatbot or a chatbot combined with live chat.  

With our chatbots, organisations save 330 hours per month, and 87% of their customer service is automated. The chatbots also help your organization achieve better KPIs, such as faster first response and resolution times. The customer experience will be better, as you can offer 24/7 customer support.  

The virtual customer assistant also automates menial processes, such as stock checking and delivery reporting. This gives more time for your agents to work on more complex tasks. 

The chatbot is a part of an omnichannel solution. This means that transfers from chatbots to agents happen smoothly in all channels. Agents can also immediately see the previous discussions with the customer in the agent view alongside all the other channels. 

LeadDesk’s chatbots are independently rated against other equivalent chatbots with the result of being 10 times easier to use. In case you still want to use another virtual customer assistant solution, it can be integrated into the LeadDesk CCaaS solution.   

How are other companies using LeadDesk? 

Finnish media conglomerate A-Lehdet wanted to give their customers 24/7 service and reduce the burden on their human customer service agents. They also wanted to offer self-service subscription cancellations through robotic process automation.  

A-Lehdet achieved this by getting a chatbot that integrates into their CRM system. Their chatbot, Aaro, has automated customer service to 86% and handles subscription cancellations independently. Customers get 24/7 assistance, and A-Lehdet is pleased with how everything works with Aaro. 

Finnish pension insurance company Varma wanted to automate frequently asked questions, free up human agents’ time and extend their service hours. With their chatbot, Helmi, they have been able to automate customer service to 85%, save 330 hours, and have customer service available 24/7.