Since the launch of ChatGPT, the entire world has been consumed by hype cycles around what AI can do to simplify business processes for different sectors of the economy. The CX space has not been immune to this trend, with various scenarios reminiscent of a bad Space: 1999 episode being bandied about at customer management events the world over.
However, the tolerance among CX buyers for forty-thousand-foot, pie-in-the-sky views of what AI can do in the context of customer management is waning; those pulling the levers on tech investment are rightly asking their partners for specific use-cases on where artificial intelligence can be applied in a contact center environment. To date, AI-powered real-time voice translation is among the best examples of this technology at work.
The concept of real-time automated voice translation is straightforward – a consumer speaking one language over the telephone is assisted by an agent speaking another. The AI-powered technology interface translates the language that the consumer is using to that of the agent, and vice-versa. Provided that this translation takes place with an infinitesimal lag and extremely high degree of accuracy, there is every reason to believe that this burgeoning technology will shift how CX is delivered moving forward.
Consider how this business model shakes up the traditional offshore / nearshore / multilingual hub dynamic. All of a sudden, this technology means that sourcing agents with specific language capabilities gets thrown open to new pools of labor. It would not be outrageous that German (one of the hardest major European tongues to source) could be supported not only in Central Europe, but out of a destination with large sources of available labor, such as India or the Philippines. The same could apply to Italian, a language that is exceptionally challenging to send into overseas locations.
Then there are those languages associated with notably expensive demand markets that are just plain hard to source anywhere. Examples would include those found in Scandinavia or even Dutch. Over the past two decades, many operators have tried finding talent overseas with limited success or have attempted to court virtual networks of home-workers situated across multiple geographies. For a variety of reasons, these efforts have generally proven only moderately successful, with both outsourcers and their partners exasperatedly exclaiming in the spirit of an infomercial – ‘there’s got to be a better way!’
Conversely, real-time automated voice translation affords consumers that are part of niche language groups the chance to be serviced from destinations with flexible talent pools that previously would not have been considered for this type of work. As Graham Brown, SVP for EMEA Growth and Transformation at Alorica points out in a recent CX Files interview, this means more labor availability for harder to source languages, which should ensure a more affordable cost base for consumer support thereby driving value and increased productivity.
A major aspect of real-time automated voice translation relates to quality. For many outsourcing executives and enterprise CX leaders, the focus around talent sourcing has traditionally been prioritizing finding those with the right language capabilities, then teaching new hires the customer service skills needed to support overseas consumers. However, with AI-powered real-time voice translation in the BPO’s toolbox, a CX service provider can focus the search efforts to those that have already the experience and motivation required to be on the voice front-lines – the AI-driven language interface takes care of the rest. The impact on consumer satisfaction and end-user retention will be worth its weight in gold.
This is not to say that enterprise contact center leaders and their BPO partners should be immediately panicking, wondering how they need to imminently rethink their linguistic delivery strategies. Real-time automated voice translation is still a relatively new technology, and developers from all corners of the CX ecosystem are working diligently to gain an edge.
It remains to be seen how these applications will evolve but let there be no mistake – AI-powered real-time automated voice translation is not going away, and it is a game-changer. The competition and energy to create a better solution will only enhance accuracy and effectiveness in a customer-facing environment. It also validates the role of AI in the CX arena with a compelling real-world use case, while reshuffling the decks of the existing offshoring model.
Image sourced under Creative Commons license from Dentably Magazine
Real-time Voice Translation Biggest BPO Disruptor in Years
By Ryan Strategic Advisory
Since the launch of ChatGPT, the entire world has been consumed by hype cycles around what AI can do to simplify business processes for different sectors of the economy. The CX space has not been immune to this trend, with various scenarios reminiscent of a bad Space: 1999 episode being bandied about at customer management events the world over.
However, the tolerance among CX buyers for forty-thousand-foot, pie-in-the-sky views of what AI can do in the context of customer management is waning; those pulling the levers on tech investment are rightly asking their partners for specific use-cases on where artificial intelligence can be applied in a contact center environment. To date, AI-powered real-time voice translation is among the best examples of this technology at work.
The concept of real-time automated voice translation is straightforward – a consumer speaking one language over the telephone is assisted by an agent speaking another. The AI-powered technology interface translates the language that the consumer is using to that of the agent, and vice-versa. Provided that this translation takes place with an infinitesimal lag and extremely high degree of accuracy, there is every reason to believe that this burgeoning technology will shift how CX is delivered moving forward.
Consider how this business model shakes up the traditional offshore / nearshore / multilingual hub dynamic. All of a sudden, this technology means that sourcing agents with specific language capabilities gets thrown open to new pools of labor. It would not be outrageous that German (one of the hardest major European tongues to source) could be supported not only in Central Europe, but out of a destination with large sources of available labor, such as India or the Philippines. The same could apply to Italian, a language that is exceptionally challenging to send into overseas locations.
Then there are those languages associated with notably expensive demand markets that are just plain hard to source anywhere. Examples would include those found in Scandinavia or even Dutch. Over the past two decades, many operators have tried finding talent overseas with limited success or have attempted to court virtual networks of home-workers situated across multiple geographies. For a variety of reasons, these efforts have generally proven only moderately successful, with both outsourcers and their partners exasperatedly exclaiming in the spirit of an infomercial – ‘there’s got to be a better way!’
Conversely, real-time automated voice translation affords consumers that are part of niche language groups the chance to be serviced from destinations with flexible talent pools that previously would not have been considered for this type of work. As Graham Brown, SVP for EMEA Growth and Transformation at Alorica points out in a recent CX Files interview, this means more labor availability for harder to source languages, which should ensure a more affordable cost base for consumer support thereby driving value and increased productivity.
A major aspect of real-time automated voice translation relates to quality. For many outsourcing executives and enterprise CX leaders, the focus around talent sourcing has traditionally been prioritizing finding those with the right language capabilities, then teaching new hires the customer service skills needed to support overseas consumers. However, with AI-powered real-time voice translation in the BPO’s toolbox, a CX service provider can focus the search efforts to those that have already the experience and motivation required to be on the voice front-lines – the AI-driven language interface takes care of the rest. The impact on consumer satisfaction and end-user retention will be worth its weight in gold.
This is not to say that enterprise contact center leaders and their BPO partners should be immediately panicking, wondering how they need to imminently rethink their linguistic delivery strategies. Real-time automated voice translation is still a relatively new technology, and developers from all corners of the CX ecosystem are working diligently to gain an edge.
It remains to be seen how these applications will evolve but let there be no mistake – AI-powered real-time automated voice translation is not going away, and it is a game-changer. The competition and energy to create a better solution will only enhance accuracy and effectiveness in a customer-facing environment. It also validates the role of AI in the CX arena with a compelling real-world use case, while reshuffling the decks of the existing offshoring model.
Image sourced under Creative Commons license from Dentably Magazine