It’s getting tougher for companies to secure customer loyalty. Online product reviews and easy-opt-out digital models let them research and switch brands in a few clicks. The business is on the line during the few minutes an agent spends talking to a customer. New enterprise-communication tech aims to end that all-important call on a happy note.

Many companies rate customer satisfaction higher than agent satisfaction, according to Lisa Martin (@LisaMartinTV), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio. The reality is that the agent’s experience will inevitably affect the customer’s. 

“If I’m an … agent and I’m on the phone or I’m in a chat or whatever channel dealing with what might be a disgruntled customer who probably has a really easy alternative to turn to, my experience needs to be good,” Martin said. “If that agent doesn’t have the information that they need, has to ask a consumer the same question that you’ve just repeated, the likelihood that that consumer will churn is very high,”

Martin and co-host Stu Miniman (@stu) spoke during the Enterprise Connect event in Kissimmee, Florida. They discussed the emerging category of tech designed to smooth customer-service transactions (see the full interview with transcript here).

AI is the boss

The insight that emerged from this year’s show is that agent experience, or AX, and customer experience, or CX, are blended, Martin pointed out. What’s good for agents is good for customers.

What could improve a customer-service agent’s experience? Intelligent contact centers with built-in automation, artificial intelligence, and easy-to-use interfaces. They provide the right content at the right time, empowering agents to make the best possible decisions.

Five9 Inc. is offering AI features in its contact-center product Genius. It uses “practical AI” to deliver rich insights to agents, the company said. “It’s helping their agents … ramp up much faster, get the data they need,” Miniman said.

Genius aims to make users “super agents,” able to resolve issues much quicker, Miniman added.

It is possible that AI could help agents to critique and train themselves — no angry boss necessary. “There’s some powerful stories to be heard about that as to … I can better myself and I’ll probably be more engaged, and that should translate also into a better customer experience,” Miniman concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Enterprise Connect event.

Photo: Enterprise Connect