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The Yomiuri Shimbun People demonstrate the use of NTT Group’s generative AI tsuzumi to deal with customers in Minato Ward, Tokyo, on Oct. 9.
By Hiromi Uechi and Takeru Kise / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
1:00 JST, October 21, 2024
More and more corporate call centers are using artificial intelligence in their customer inquiry services.
As customer harassment, in which customers use abusive language and make unreasonable demands of workers, is increasingly recognized as a problem, companies are using the support of AI to help reduce the burden on employees and prevent them from leaving their jobs.
“My internet is too slow. You have made me wait for a long time on the phone. Don’t mess with me!” a man angrily shouted over the phone. The woman receiving the call suggested that he change his internet plan.
On her computer screen, generative AI analyzed the man’s complaint and suggested that she respond by explaining the features of an alternative plan and the advantages he could get from it. After she explained the new plan in detail, his tone of voice became quiet.
That was a demonstration of call center operations using tsuzumi, a generative AI program developed by NTT Group. The demonstration was performed at an exhibition for companies held by NTT Communications Corp. from Oct. 9 to 11 in Tokyo. The generative AI instantly gives sample answers to fit the content of the conversation and analyzes the customer’s feelings and the language they use to help employees avoid serious trouble.
NTT Group aims to put tsuzumi on the market before the end of this fiscal year. NTT Communications President and Chief Executive Officer Katsushige Kojima said: “We have received a bigger response than expected. I guess that many companies are having difficulty dealing with the issue.”
Simulated experiences
The Tokyo-based software developer Interactive Solutions Corp. began offering an app last year in which generative AI plays the role of an overbearing customer. Users can create training programs that suit their business type by training the AI on voice data from their everyday business operations. The company said it has received inquiries from about 50 firms, including insurance and food companies.
Employees can practice responding to angry customers by talking to the app. The AI assesses their interactions on a five-point scale while giving them advice for improvement, such as “You should respond more calmly and carefully.”
Interactive Solutions Chief Executive Officer Kiyoshi Sekine said, “We hope workers will get a lot of practice using the app so that they can be confident in dealing with angry customers.”
Fujitsu Ltd. is also developing a service which will allow users to have simulated experiences of customer harassment in which the customer’s part is played by AI, so that they can learn how to deal with customers smoothly. The service uses a system which measures the pulses and breathing rates of employees dealing with customers to determine their levels of psychological stress. Fujitsu aims to launch the service within fiscal 2025.
Preventing resignations
Call center employees are especially vulnerable to customer harassment because they have to deal with complaints from customers. According to a survey conducted by Persol Research and Consulting Co. in February and March, 30.7% of respondent workers in the field of customer support and services, including call centers, had experienced customer harassment within the past three years, the second-largest proportion of any job, following that of workers in the field of welfare.
Many of them received verbal abuse and threats, with 42.8% saying “I felt depressed to go to work” and 36.6% saying “I wanted to quit my job.”
Call centers tend to have low employee retention rates, but the use of AI is expected to help prevent employees from quitting.
Masayuki Kiriu, a professor at Toyo University who is well-versed in the issue of customer harassment, said, “Companies can solve customer dissatisfaction by listening to them carefully and earnestly. Using prescribed AI responses will not help calm down angry customers. Ultimately, what you need is personal communication.”
Companies dealing with customers need to use AI in an appropriate manner.
