Generative AI Case Study: Customer Services
Goldman Sachs recently announced that Generative AI could boost labour productivity and global GDP by as much as 7% over the next 10 years. Here at ACQUAINTED we believe the same (but of course we would say that) so where is the evidence?
The Study
One early study which seems to suggest that this is indeed the case was released in April by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The the study is one of the first studies of Generative AI in the workplace, and it examined the customer service sector because of the industry’s high AI adoption rate.
Researchers measured the number of customer issues resolved per hour among 5,000 agents working for a Fortune 500 software company, and found that novice and lower- skilled workers benefited greatly from the assistance of AI, but also that the company would be saving significant sums via its adoption.
The tool used in the study was built on a recent version of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) family of large language models developed by OpenAI (A.K.A. ChatGPT 4.0). The tool monitored customer chats and provided agents with real-time suggestions for how to respond. It was designed to augment agents, who remain responsible for the conversation and are free to ignore its suggestions.
The Findings
“This is, to our knowledge, the first study of the impact of Generative AI when deployed at scale in the workplace,” reads the paper, “we find that access to AI assistance increases the productivity of agents by 14 per cent, as measured by the number of customer issues they are able to resolve per hour.”
For lower-skilled employees, the results were even starker (35%). “In contrast to studies of prior waves of computerisation, we find that these gains accrue disproportionately to less-experienced and lower-skill workers.”
“Turnover is high,” in the customer service industry, the researchers said. An estimated 60% of agents in contact centres leave each year, leaving supervisors to spend an average of 20 hours each week training and coaching new employees and on average $10,000–$20,000 per agent to replace them, researchers noted.
Conclusion
As seen, Generative AI, can help new employees gain experience more quickly and free up costly time and save significant financial costs as a result. But this study presents only one side to this technological tale, and the opportunities presented by AI in the customer services space are both wide and deep.
From automated scheduling, quality assurance and training content production, all the way through to customer sentiment analysis and AI-assisted upselling & cross selling, Generative AI can help businesses reach new levels of efficiency and return greater profit.
While this is just one study, the evidence will continue to mount as more use cases are explored at scale by enterprises. Here at ACQUAINTED we want to help businesses capitalise on Generative AI today by introducing them to the possibilities that until recently many thought were for tomorrow.
By leveraging our expertise, your company will soon be able to position itself correctly in this new world of Generative AI, leading from the top and steering its portfolio in the right way to prepare for the future.
Get in touch today to learn more. Simply email our founder at elliot@acquainted.studio