How AI can make businesses look more caring? “YOUR CALL IS important to us,” a recorded voice tells resigned customers as they wait endlessly to speak to a human agent.人工智能如何能讓企業(yè)看起來更關(guān)心它們的客戶? “您的來電對(duì)我們很重要茂附。”電話那頭傳來一個(gè)預(yù)先錄制好的聲音 AI is starting to help companies improve the quality and consistency of their service in order to persuade customers that they do in fact care about them. 顧客們除了沒完沒了地等待人工客服接聽拌滋，別無他法。不過岸夯，人工智能已經(jīng)開始幫助企業(yè)提高服務(wù)的質(zhì)量和穩(wěn)定性，以讓客戶相信自己是真的關(guān)心他們Ocado, a British online grocer, receives around 10,000 e-mails from customers every day and uses AI to detect the prevailing sentiment in them.英國網(wǎng)上雜貨店Ocado每天收到約一萬封來自客戶的電子郵件们妥，它用AI探測(cè)這些郵件中的主導(dǎo)情緒 It now replies to the most urgent ones first, and is planning to route complaints to agents with expertise in the relevant field. 它現(xiàn)在會(huì)先回復(fù)最緊急的問題猜扮，并計(jì)劃把客戶投訴發(fā)送給具有相關(guān)領(lǐng)域?qū)I(yè)知識(shí)的客服人員“Like other applications of AI, it’s about trying to make humans more efficient, not take them out of the process entirely,” says Paul Clarke, Ocado’s chief technology officer. “和人工智能的其他應(yīng)用一樣，這是為了提高人的效率监婶，而不是把他們整個(gè)從業(yè)務(wù)流程中拿掉旅赢。”O(jiān)cado的首席技術(shù)官保羅·克拉克（Paul Clarke）說Between 2017 and 2021 the share of customer-service interactions worldwide handled entirely by AI will rise fivefold, to 15%, and by 2019 at least 40% of such interactions will involve an element of AI, according to Gartner, a research firm. 據(jù)調(diào)研公司高德納估計(jì)惑惶，2017年至2021年間煮盼，全球客服互動(dòng)中完全由AI處理的比例將增加五倍，達(dá)到15%带污；到2019年僵控，這類互動(dòng)中的至少40%將用到某種AI元素AI will change customer service as much as the telephone did in its day. Before the phone started to spread in the early 20th century, companies handled customer inquiries by post or by visiting in person. AI給客服部門帶來的變化將堪比電話在當(dāng)年產(chǎn)生的影響。上世紀(jì)初電話開始普及之前鱼冀，企業(yè)靠郵政系統(tǒng)或登門拜訪來處理客戶咨詢Phones helped agents to become more productive, and AI will boost productivity even more dramatically, because it can handle large numbers of customer inquiries more quickly than humans can. 電話提高了客服人員的效率报破，而AI將更大幅地提高他們的生產(chǎn)率，因?yàn)樗鼙热烁斓靥幚泶罅靠蛻粼儐朤his has become more important as communications channels have multiplied to take in e-mail, mobile messaging apps and social media. And consumers have got used to dealing with automated services. 如今交流的渠道更多了——電子郵件千绪、手機(jī)聊天應(yīng)用和社交媒體——這一點(diǎn)就愈發(fā)重要充易。而消費(fèi)者也已習(xí)慣了面對(duì)自動(dòng)化服務(wù)Surveys suggest that around 40% of American internet users would rather use digital customer services than speak to someone on the phone. Virtual agents are on the rise. 調(diào)查顯示，相比與真人通話翘紊，約40%的美國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶寧愿使用數(shù)字客服蔽氨。 虛擬客服正在快速發(fā)展Some 30% of companies now offer standalone “bots” that can answer questions and solve problems, although their range remains narrower than that of a human. Many of these use some AI. 目前有約30%的公司提供能獨(dú)立回答和解決問題的“機(jī)器人”，盡管它們處理問題的范圍一直比人工客服要窄They are trained on logs and transcripts of past customer interactions, and as they are fed more data they become better at solving more complex queries. 其中有許多用到了一些AI技術(shù)帆疟。企業(yè)用客服人員與顧客的互動(dòng)歷史記錄來訓(xùn)練這些機(jī)器人鹉究，隨著提供給它們的數(shù)據(jù)越來越多，它們也越來越能夠處理好更復(fù)雜的咨詢Such bots enable businesses to deal with many more inquiries without hiring extra people. China Merchants Bank, a commercial bank, uses a bot on the popular Chinese app WeChat to handle 1.5m-2m queries every day, a workload equivalent to around 7,000 human staff.這些機(jī)器人讓企業(yè)能夠處理的咨詢量大增卻無需多雇人手踪宠。招商銀行在流行的中文應(yīng)用微信上用一個(gè)機(jī)器人每天處理150萬至200萬條查詢自赔，相當(dāng)于約7000名員工的工作量 Caesars, the hotel and casino group, offers a virtual concierge, Ivy, at two of its hotels, which answers guests’ queries by text, many of them automatically if the inquiry is simple to answer. 賭場(chǎng)和酒店集團(tuán)凱撒娛樂（Caesars）在它的兩家酒店里提供了通過文本回答客人提問的虛擬禮賓員Ivy，如果問題簡(jiǎn)單的話它很多就自動(dòng)回答了This has reduced calls to the human-concierge desk by 30%. AI will also enhance customer-service agents’ knowledge, performance and speed. 這使得客人打給真人服務(wù)臺(tái)的電話減少了30%柳琢。 AI也將增強(qiáng)客服人員的知識(shí)绍妨、表現(xiàn)和速度Some companies are experimenting with “voice-printing” technology which recognises clients’ voices and alerts agents if a caller is impersonating someone else. This will be especially helpful in financial services. 一些公司正在嘗試使用“聲紋”技術(shù)識(shí)別客戶的聲音，在發(fā)現(xiàn)來電者假冒他人時(shí)發(fā)出警報(bào)柬脸。這對(duì)金融服務(wù)業(yè)尤有助益One Australian bank is experimenting with a standalone smart voice-controlled speaker to listen in on agents’ conversations about loans. 澳大利亞的一家銀行正在測(cè)試一種獨(dú)立使用的語音控制智能音箱他去，讓它聆聽客服和客戶有關(guān)貸款的對(duì)話If the agent forgets something or makes a mistake, it jumps in. Some companies are also using AI to suggest responses to customer queries which a human agent can approve or adapt before sending. 如果客服忘記了什么或說錯(cuò)了，它就會(huì)做出干預(yù)倒堕。一些公司也在使用AI為客服人員提供回答問題的建議灾测，他們可以選擇直接發(fā)送這些答案或者微調(diào)后再發(fā)送Over the past year this has allowed KLM, the Dutch flag carrier, to double the number of text-based customer inquiries it handles to 120,000 a week while increasing the number of agents by only 6%, says Dmitry Aksenov of Digital Genius, a firm that helps automate customer support. 專門幫助企業(yè)實(shí)現(xiàn)客服自動(dòng)化的數(shù)字天才公司（Digital Genius）的德米特里·阿克塞諾夫（Dmitry Aksenov）表示，過去一年里垦巴，荷蘭的國家航空公司荷蘭皇家航空（KLM）就用這種方法令它每周處理的客戶文本咨詢量增加了一倍媳搪，達(dá)到12萬人次铭段，與此同時(shí)客服人員僅增加了6%A few companies have started offering AI-enabled services that listen to calls to judge agents’ performance and send them suggestions for improvement in real time. 一些企業(yè)已開始提供一類由AI支持的服務(wù)，它們會(huì)聆聽客服電話以評(píng)判客服人員的表現(xiàn)秦爆，并實(shí)時(shí)向他們發(fā)送改進(jìn)建議One startup, Cogito, whose customers have included insurance firms such as Humana and MetLife, focuses on recognising “compassion fatigue” in agents創(chuàng)業(yè)公司Cogito的客戶包括哈門那（Humana）和大都會(huì)人壽（MetLife）等保險(xiǎn)公司序愚，其AI系統(tǒng)的工作重點(diǎn)是識(shí)別客服的“同情疲勞”. It takes in details such as how fast agents are talking and what words callers are using to detect emotion and gauge whether the interaction is going well. If there is a problem, it cues agents to act more empathetically. 它會(huì)考察客服的語速、顧客的用詞等細(xì)節(jié)來探測(cè)情緒等限，衡量互動(dòng)是否順利爸吮。一旦察覺問題，它會(huì)提示客服表現(xiàn)得更有同情心些A tool like this can help large companies monitor their agents’ performance, but the agents may also welcome the feedback.像這樣的工具可以幫助大企業(yè)監(jiān)控其客服人員的表現(xiàn)精刷，但客服人員自身可能也會(huì)歡迎這類反饋意見拗胜。 Call-centres have a turnover of 30-40% a year, partly because agents have had little help with improving their performance, says Joshua Feast, Cogito’s boss.Cogito的老板喬舒亞·費(fèi)斯特（Joshua Feast）說蔗候，客服中心每年的人員離職率為三到四成怒允，部分原因是客服在改善自身業(yè)務(wù)方面得不到什么幫助 Marty Lippert, head of technology for MetLife, reckons that in areas like customer service and human resources AI offers a return on investment of around 20%. 大都會(huì)人壽的技術(shù)主管馬蒂·利珀特（Marty Lippert）認(rèn)為，在客服和人力資源等領(lǐng)域锈遥，AI的投資回報(bào)率約為20%Most companies buy AI services from outside providers, but firms with technical know-how often prefer to create their own. 大多數(shù)公司都從外部供應(yīng)商那里購買AI服務(wù)纫事，但那些擁有技術(shù)知識(shí)的企業(yè)往往更愿意自行創(chuàng)建AI系統(tǒng)For example, a team at Uber, a ride-hailing firm, has built a system using AI to deal with e-mailed queries (there is no telephone option).例如，網(wǎng)約車公司優(yōu)步的一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)開發(fā)了一個(gè)使用AI處理電子郵件查詢的系統(tǒng)（這家公司沒有電話客服） It sends the agent ranked options for what to do next, which has cut the time it takes to resolve a complaint by around 10%.它會(huì)向客服人員發(fā)送下一步該做什么的優(yōu)選項(xiàng)排列所灸，從而將解決一則投訴所需的時(shí)間縮短了約10% One hope for AI is that it will free customer-service agents from routine tasks so they can sell customers other services and generate new revenue. AI帶來的希望之一是客服人員不用再處理常規(guī)問詢丽惶，因而能騰出時(shí)間來向客戶推銷其他服務(wù)，創(chuàng)造新的收入KLM has been able to generate millions of dollars of extra sales since it started using AI because agents now have more time to help customers book upgrades and new flights, says Mr Aksenov of Digital Genius. 數(shù)字天才公司的阿克塞諾夫說爬立，自開始使用AI以來钾唬，荷航的銷售額增加了數(shù)百萬美元，因?yàn)槠淇头藛T現(xiàn)在有更多時(shí)間來幫助客戶預(yù)訂升級(jí)和新航班But not all customers will appreciate more sales pitches. AI will certainly change the way selling is done. 不過侠驯，并非所有顧客都會(huì)喜歡更多推銷抡秆。 AI勢(shì)必會(huì)改變銷售方式Many firms are experimenting with developing AI-enhanced recommendation tools, like those used by Amazon and Netflix, to help salespeople with their jobs. 許多企業(yè)都在嘗試開發(fā)由AI增強(qiáng)的推薦工具，比如亞馬遜和網(wǎng)飛使用的那些吟策，以幫助銷售人員提升業(yè)績Google, Facebook and Amazon have been using AI to target consumers with ads and special offers online for years, with great success.多年來谷歌儒士、Facebook和亞馬遜已在使用AI提供針對(duì)特定消費(fèi)者的定向廣告和特殊優(yōu)惠，取得了巨大的成功 Similar practices could spread to other businesses. For example, when sales staff at Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, take orders for corporate bonds, they can now see instant suggestions of bonds with similar risk profiles to pitch to their clients. 類似的做法可能會(huì)傳播到其他企業(yè)檩坚。例如着撩，投資銀行高盛的銷售人員現(xiàn)在為客戶下公司債券訂單時(shí)，可以立即看到具有類似風(fēng)險(xiǎn)特征的債券而向客戶做出推薦Caesars uses AI to work out customers’ potential daily spending, choose the clients who will receive personal phone calls and in what order, and decide what specific promotions to offer them. 凱撒娛樂用AI估算客人的日常消費(fèi)水平匾委，選擇向哪些客人致電以及以何種順序致電拖叙，并決定向他們提供哪種針對(duì)性的促銷The company’s boss, Mark Frissora, says that refining marketing to a “message of one” boosts customer loyalty over time.公司老板馬克·弗里索拉（Mark Frissora）表示，久而久之赂乐，將營銷細(xì)化為“專人信息”的做法提升了客戶的忠誠度 Don’t call us Gartner, a research firm, expects the number of phone-based customer-service agents worldwide to decline by 10% by 2019. 別打電話來 調(diào)研公司高德納預(yù)計(jì)薯鳍，到2019年全球電話客服人員將減少10%That would increase the workload of those who are left. But companies need to be careful not to dilute their interactions with customers too much. 這將使得留在崗位上的人的工作量增加。但是沪猴，企業(yè)需要小心不要過多地稀釋了自己與客戶的互動(dòng)The rise of virtual communication has left them with fewer opportunities to establish deep relationships, so customer service will become ever more important. 虛擬溝通的興起減少了企業(yè)與客戶建立深厚關(guān)系的機(jī)會(huì)辐啄，因此客戶服務(wù)只會(huì)變得愈發(fā)重要Clever firms will use AI not just to improve existing services but to engineer new ones. 明智的企業(yè)將不僅僅利用AI改進(jìn)現(xiàn)有服務(wù)采章，還要打造出新服務(wù)Metro Group, a German retailer, is testing the use of computer vision at the checkout: the items in a basket are recorded by cameras and the shopper is charged accordingly. 德國零售商麥德龍集團(tuán)（Metro Group）正在收銀臺(tái)上測(cè)試計(jì)算機(jī)視覺技術(shù)：攝像頭會(huì)記錄下顧客籃子中的物品并相應(yīng)收費(fèi)Amazon uses similar technology in a convenience store in Seattle. 亞馬遜在西雅圖的一家便利店里使用了類似的技術(shù)Timo Salzsieder, chief information officer of Metro Group, reckons these new unmanned, vision-enhanced checkouts can handle 50 customers per hour, more than double the number for a manned checkout. 麥德龍的首席信息官蒂莫·薩爾茲澤達(dá)（Timo Salzsieder）估計(jì)，這些全新的視覺增強(qiáng)型無人結(jié)賬系統(tǒng)每小時(shí)可為50名顧客結(jié)賬壶辜，是人工收銀員的一倍多悯舟。Some insurers, including Ping An of China, use AI to let customers file a claim after a car accident. 包括平安保險(xiǎn)在內(nèi)的一些保險(xiǎn)公司利用AI技術(shù)來幫助客戶在車禍后提出索賠Instead of having to phone the insurance company and fill in lots of forms, customers take photos of the damage to their car and submit them through an app for a quick quote for repairs. 客戶不必再打電話給保險(xiǎn)公司并填寫大量表格，而只需拍攝車輛損壞的照片砸民，通過一款應(yīng)用提交后迅速獲得維修報(bào)價(jià)Building a tool like this is a technological challenge, but getting in early is a good idea. 創(chuàng)建這樣一款工具是一項(xiàng)技術(shù)挑戰(zhàn)抵怎，但盡早利用AI是明智的Services that make customers’ lives easier will generate more customers, who will provide more training data to make the AI systems smarter.能讓客戶的生活變得更輕松的服務(wù)將帶來更多客戶，而他們又將提供更多的數(shù)據(jù)來訓(xùn)練AI系統(tǒng)岭参，讓它變得更智能化 Ping An gets 15m claims a year and handles 30% of them on its app.平安每年收到1500萬個(gè)索賠申請(qǐng)反惕，在其應(yīng)用上處理其中的30% “It takes an enormous amount of cost out of the system and puts customers in control,” says Jonathan Larsen, Ping An’s chief innovation officer. “這節(jié)省了大量成本，并讓客戶自己掌控過程演侯∽巳荆”公司首席創(chuàng)新官喬納森·拉森（Jonathan Larsen）表示Such offerings also reinforce firms’ direct relationship with their customers. Conversely, voice-controlled smart speakers, as offered by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple, could come between the companies and their targets. 這類服務(wù)也加強(qiáng)了公司與客戶的直接聯(lián)系。 與之相反秒际，由亞馬遜悬赏、谷歌、微軟和蘋果提供的語音控制智能音箱卻可能會(huì)妨礙企業(yè)和其目標(biāo)客戶的關(guān)系Some of these speakers host other firms’ apps. For example, UPS has built a tool enabling customers to track their packages through Amazon’s Alexa, which they might previously have done online or by phone.一些音箱安裝了其他公司的應(yīng)用娄徊。例如闽颇，UPS已經(jīng)創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)工具，讓它的客戶能通過亞馬遜的Alexa來跟蹤包裹——他們以前可能要通過網(wǎng)絡(luò)或電話來做這件事 Companies worry they could be disintermediated, so that the firm that makes the speaker becomes the customer’s primary relationship, says Paul Daugherty of Accenture, a consulting firm, and co-author of a new book, “Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”. 新書《人機(jī)融合：人工智能時(shí)代的勞動(dòng)方式》（） 的合著者之一寄锐、咨詢公司埃森哲的保羅·多爾蒂（Paul Daugherty）說兵多，企業(yè)擔(dān)心自己遭遇“去中介化”，而音箱的制造商將和客戶建立起首要關(guān)系A(chǔ)nd, since voice-controlled speakers guide customers to a single answer rather than offering them multiple choices of firms to interact with, those that cannot or do not want to use these speakers may miss out on forming a relationship in the first place. 而且橄仆，由于語音控制音箱會(huì)給客戶提供單一的答案剩膘，而不是多個(gè)公司的選項(xiàng)，那些不能或不想使用這些音箱的企業(yè)可能在一開始就錯(cuò)過了建立關(guān)系的機(jī)會(huì)Much will depend on how quickly voice speakers spread. Currently only about one in six American adults owns one, but that is already more than double the figure a year ago.這在很大程度上要取決于這種音箱的推廣速度沿癞。目前只有六分之一的美國成年人擁有這種音箱援雇，但相比一年前已經(jīng)增長了一倍多 And as speech recognition improves further, the appeal of speakers will grow, especially among youngsters.而隨著語音識(shí)別技術(shù)進(jìn)一步完善，它們的吸引力會(huì)越來越大椎扬，對(duì)年輕人尤為如此惫搏。