Governments lag other sectors in adopting AI in contact centers, report says
VioletaStoimenova via Getty Images
The public sector is far behind the healthcare and retail sectors in using the technology to answer questions and provide users with next steps. But it can gain on its private peers.
When thinking about integrating artificial intelligence into their operations, state and local governments see a role for the technology in chatbots and contact centers to help handle customer questions.
Rather than have human beings on the other end of telephone call centers, 311 services or online chats to handle residents’ non-urgent questions, automated systems could handle them and allow employees to focus on more complex tasks. Government implementation AI-driven chatbots is a high technology priority for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers next year, in addition to adding more digital assistants.
But a recent survey showed there is a long way to go before government has adopted AI chatbots, especially when compared to the private sector. Global data released by market research company Frost & Sullivan and contact center analytics firm SuccessKPI showed that just 45% of government customer service centers are automated, while government also trails other sectors in areas like using AI to help determine the next course of action and using cloud for automation.
By contrast, the survey found that the healthcare industry was the most advanced in adopting various AI technologies for its contact centers, as was retail and ecommerce. Financial services also lagged alongside the government sector. The public sector may lag due to their high security requirements for new technologies and the difficulties in getting them approved for governmental use.
“The approach to many of these technologies hasn't created a safe haven for AI,” said Dave Rennyson, SuccessKPI’s CEO. “The natural safety, security and disposition of the government causes some lagging and the process is required to get there.”
Companies must work with programs like the State Risk and Authorization Management Program, known as StateRAMP, and its federal equivalent, FedRAMP. That way, they can create “safe, private versions of these technologies that are highly protected, governed and managed to offer them to the government so they can be found in the right places,” Rennyson added.
As with many aspects of state and local government, the COVID-19 pandemic showed the public sector the power of AI. NASCIO found in 2020 that nearly 75% of states deployed chatbots to help employees with service provision, while several were created to address specific needs within the pandemic.
Their use has grown since, albeit unevenly. New York City, for example, rolled out a chatbot known as MyCity as part of its sweeping AI action plan, which was supposed to give New Yorkers information on starting and operating a business. Instead, it told bosses that they could take workers’ tips and landlords that they could discriminate based on source of income, in some highly public hiccups that officials said have since been resolved.
“No surprise,” New York City Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser said earlier this year during the Google Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C. “When you do anything that's new, you will get some feedback.”
While it can be trickier for governments to embrace AI-driven chatbots and other automations within its customer centers, Rennyson said he is encouraged that agencies see that their mission is to serve customers as well as possible. While traditionally the public sector has lagged private industry in areas like customer satisfaction, they are determined to catch up.
“I don't think government agencies get enough credit,” Rennyson said. “When you get to the actual agency level, they really care about having a great experience. They don't always have the funding or the technology to do the things they want to do, but a lot of that came out in this report that they were very much in kindred spirits [with business].”
It can be tricky for leaders to embrace new technologies, especially amid tight budgets with which to buy them and with fewer staff than they would like to implement them. Meanwhile, data is sometimes housed in three or four different places, meaning it can be hard to unify a customer’s journey and ensure they are receiving the best experience possible based on their needs.
But having clear use cases can make the technology an easier sell from a budget standpoint, Rennyson said, especially if it can be proven to be “self-funding” in the longer term after an initial investment. Having AI be useful to contact center employees can help too, he said.
“A lot of these agents are becoming more and more precious resources, and if their job is easier or more effective, then they're not only going to be happier to provide better service, but they're also going to stick around longer, because agent retention is a major driver in contact center profitability and the ability to provide great service,” Rennyson said.
NEXT STORY: House AI Task Force recommends sector-specific regs in final report