The future of customer experience is here, and it is powered by robots.

Once seen as a subject of science-fiction stories, robots have quickly evolved over time at an unprecedented pace. Where five years ago, the technology may have been limited to answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to customer questions, today’s advancements offer support ranging from:

• Complex task completion
• Conversational virtual assistants
• Smart digital transformation

While this may sound like something outside of your average business’s wheelhouse, this couldn’t be any further from the truth. In recent years where the future has been shaky for many industries, bot services like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and chatbots have given them an advantage to not just run a more efficient workplace, but give clients the experience they deserve in this increasingly digital world.

Supercharge your business processes with RPA

No matter the industry, back-office operations—think payroll, HR, and administration—are vital. However, with the push to work-from-home in recent years, these repetitive, high-volume manual tasks have increased exponentially, resulting in bottlenecks.

Enter RPA. Not to be confused with artificial intelligence, which seeks to simulate human intelligence, RPA usually comes in the form of a software robot that is designed to mimic human actions. RPA takes care of common busywork in three steps:

• Training: The RPA program begins by reviewing a task and its instructions.
• Operation: After training, the program either operates via a human giving a trigger to start/stop or on its own without any outside input.
• Orchestration: With multiple programs installed, you can “orchestrate” each of them through a control panel, allowing easy access to launch, stop, and monitor their performance.

What is robotic process automation?

Robotic process automation (RPA) consists of software-based robots that automate repetitive, rule-based tasks like data entry and ticket creation. Trained to mimic human actions, these chatbots are able to quickly reduce much of the monotonous work that employees are given each day—and at a higher level of accuracy—ensuring they can focus their attention on higher-level tasks.

The benefits of RPA have been seen extensively across banking and insurance for years, so why did it take so long for it to become mainstream? In short, RPA integration can come with a high price tag—a complex IT setup isn’t cheap. This created an adoption barrier for many, but that changed later in the 2010s when automation-as-a-service models and package solutions from specialized vendors increased accessibility.

In fact, Deloitte has reported that RPA use in organizations has skyrocketed to 74% in 2021, four times the amount than in 2015. And this higher investment has pushed advancements in the technology, such as a near-zero percent error rate and remarkable ease of use.

The benefits of RPA

• Increased operational efficiency
  Through the automation of repetitive, rule-based tasks such as data entry, invoice processing, and report generation, RPA can complete this work faster than humans, ensuring quicker turnaround times for data and projects.
• Scalability
  By minimizing the need for manual labor in routine processes, RPA saves organizations significant resources that they can reallocate to higher-value activities, all without increasing headcounts.
• Improved accuracy and compliance
  RPA bots follow predefined rules consistently, ensuring a higher level of data accuracy that helps organizations maintain compliance with the regulatory standards of their industry

The challenges of RPA

• Complex tasks
  While capable of handling more straightforward tasks, RPA struggles when it comes to more complex tasks and prompts that require the expertise and understanding of a human employee.
• Barrier of entry
  Although not as costly as it once was, investing in RPA software can still be expensive for smaller organizations. Additionally, other “hidden” expenses like employee upskilling and the updating of legacy systems to be compatible with RPA also contribute to the total amount required for these transformations to truly excel in the future.
• Employee concerns
  Much like with AI technology in the workplace, RPA software can contribute to employee stress when not accompanied with the appropriate training. This can cause decreased morale and possibly even lower productivity as they bump up against the RPA integrations.

Whether it be performing resume analysis, taking care of returns for eCommerce stores, or helping streamline the auditing process for an internet provider—much like eClerx’s own RPA solution, Roboworx—RPA offers flexibility and efficiency for companies large or small.

Power your customer experience with chatbots

Another technology that firms continue to invest in is chatbots. With rapidly changing customer landscapes due to the global pandemic and industry factors, streamlined digital experiences have become paramount. In fact, Insider Intelligence reported that almost 40% of individuals prefer communicating with chatbots to virtual agents—likely due to minimal wait time and quick resolutions they provide.

Evolving past the simple conversation support of their early predecessors, today’s chatbots are driven by machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), allowing them to handle more complex tasks than ever before.

Chatbots usually come in two main types:

• Rule-Based Chatbots: A simple, single-purpose bot focused on performing/automating one task, whether that be answering common questions (shipping fees, hours of operation) or helping with the checkout process.
• Self-Learning Chatbots: More commonly known as virtual assistants, these bots utilize NLP and access to databases to deliver more dynamic conversations and solutions, much like a human would, based on nuances in text and voice.

Think of bots as full-time employees that are on the clock 24/7, offering customers a personalized experience, help with purchases and order statuses, and more. Advanced chatbots, like the ones eClerx provides, can even help up-sell products and offer training to new hires.

When it comes to customer support experiences, the growth in bot solutions has delivered extensive value. In fact, around 67% of support-related conversations online in 2021 involve a chatbot in some capacity, with between 80 to 90% of those customers finding the answers provided to be satisfactory.

Tying it all together

As recent years have shown, the future is often unpredictable. The silver lining is that solutions like RPA and chatbots offer the chance to expand digital capabilities and prepare for incoming challenges. The future looks even brighter for these bot services too, as advances in AI, ML, NLP, and more will provide even better ways to provide even better service.

And with expertise and solutions built to your needs, eClerx is here to support you. Contact us today to discover how we can help guide your digital transformation with bots or AI and ML technology.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q) What’s the main difference between RPA and AI in customer service?

A) RPA and AI technology serve different, but complementary roles in customer service.

RPA focuses on automating repetitive, rule-based tasks, following predefined workflows and does not learn from its work. On the other hand, AI can understand, learn, and make more complex decisions based off of available data.

Together, RPA and chatbot integration can create a more efficient and intelligent customer service interactions, with RPA handling the majority of back-end processes to allow agents to dedicate more time to interactions, while AI enhancing front-end customer communications via chatbots and personalized experiences.

Q) Is RPA suitable for small businesses?

A) Yes, RPA can be highly beneficial for small businesses, especially those looking to improve efficiency without significantly increasing costs and headcounts.

Small businesses can use RPA to automate routine tasks such as invoice processing, customer data updates, and order management, freeing up staff to focus on higher-value activities. This also significantly reduces human error in data entry tasks and improves process consistency, which is critical for growing organizations.

Modern RPA solutions have also become increasingly accessible, often made available through scalable subscription models accessible that do not require large upfront investments.

Q) Will RPA replace human customer service agents?

A) RPA is unlikely to replace human customer service agents entirely, instead promising a more efficient support environment that leverages the best of both automation and human expertise.

Although RPA excels at handling repetitive, time-consuming tasks, it also lacks the emotional intelligence and complex problem-solving skills that is often required in customer service settings.

However, when both are combined together, RPA allows agents to focus on more meaningful customer engagement and issue resolution, leading to improved job satisfaction and better customer experiences.

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