Let’s reframe Mike’s statement as a ‘Moment of Truth interaction’—an experience we all encounter as we navigate the challenges of travel. During these moments, we seek immediate assistance to resolve issues, allowing us to return to enjoying our journey.
Whether it involves choosing the right destination, organizing an itinerary, booking a trip, arriving at the airport, dealing with baggage complications, safely reaching our destination, enjoying planned activities, returning home with our luggage, or sharing our adventures with others, every moment is significant.
For me, the concept of human-in-the-loop AI represents a drive toward efficiency. It begs the question: how can we utilize AI to handle most tasks, reserving human intervention only for exceptional cases? This approach envisions a model where AI manages 99% of the work, leaving just 1% for humans. This is often seen in business process outsourcing, where the focus is on minimizing human involvement to enhance productivity—an ambition we thought Robotic Process Automation (RPA) would fulfill during its early hype in 2016.
However, in the realms of Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality, our goal is not merely to expedite single, rule-based transactions. Our mission is to help customers realize their dreams, whether that means checking off a once-in-a-lifetime trip from their bucket list or simply embracing the essence of human experience.
Current research indicates that customers often want to be recognized, acknowledged, and assisted during these crucial moments. They require your full attention and support.
With that perspective, let’s consider the idea of AI as a supportive tool rather than a replacement for humans.
In this model, humans are Assisted, Augmented, and even Amplified by technology. We still leverage automation for routine tasks and provide an omnichannel experience that encourages customers to find answers independently when possible. By freeing up time, we empower humans to engage more meaningfully.
The goal is to foster customer success while enhancing agent satisfaction and loyalty. This transformation turns agents into experts with the support of AI in a more collaborative manner. Let’s explore the evolution of an agent’s role:
- The Enabled Agent: In this stage, agents are equipped with adequate training and access to essential applications and resources. They are thus ‘enabled’ with the right tools and technologies needed to perform their tasks. Consider this the new baseline for agent experience—it reduces stress and lowers turnover, laying the groundwork for a skilled workforce in the future.
- The Assisted Agent: Assistance in this phase is provided through readily available technologies like orchestration and automation, supported by proven AI such as machine vision and basic analytics. Assisted Agents can automate simple tasks, gather external information to aid in solving issues, and perform multi-application tasks seamlessly. For example, sentiment analysis may help agents make more informed decisions, while predictive analytics could suggest the next best actions based on historical data.
- The Augmented Agent: Here, agents are enhanced by the latest technologies, applying omnichannel strategies that include language support, making interactions smoother regardless of the channel used. The agent remains in control but can leverage AI to generate insightful responses and suggest appropriate next steps. This creates a cooperative relationship between humans and technology, aiming to achieve customer success effectively.
So, what comes next?
The Expert Agent. This represents agents who receive AI-enhanced training, using gamification and immersive experiences to expedite their learning process. This approach significantly addresses the common challenge of rapidly building competence among customer experience managers. Even as AI handles routine tasks discreetly, the human element remains central during pivotal customer interactions, enabling us to be more human in our responses.
As Agentics represents the latest evolution in AI, enhancing human reasoning and decision-making, I remain optimistic about the future landscape for agents. AI can amplify our humanity and provide us with more time to tackle complex challenges during those critical moments.
In conclusion, I believe that tomorrow’s human agents will be empowered by AI, rather than diminished by it. Customers will have all the necessary channels at their disposal for timely resolutions, fostering loyalty and advocacy and driving real value for suppliers as they adapt to the needs of tomorrow’s consumers.
