The Value of Chat Bots

Case studies

The Value of Chatbots, Voicebots and Biometrics in Customer Services

Deloitte Survey | Chat, Talk, Touch… A new era of (digital) customer service

Read here how companies interact with their customers.

With all the talk about Robotics & Cognitive and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in business circles today, we wanted to see if three concrete solutions – Chatbots, Voicebots and Biometrics – are having any measurable impact and valuable use cases. Do we enter a new era of (digital) customer service?! What is the level of acceptance, who are the target customers, and what are the IT solutions, where these technologies are applied? Access our survey results, to explore what the reality looks like.

Have you already thought about using Chatbots or Voicebots in servicing your clients? Do you see value in Biometrics? See what others are doing! 

In this Deloitte survey, we asked about 90 business leaders around the world to share their view on (digital) customer service with us. Together, we took a look at the level of acceptance, targeted customer groups as well as typical use cases for Chatbots, Voicebots and Biometrics in external and internal customer services.

Chatbots and Voicebots are both conversational interfaces. Chatbots are text-based messaging channels, whereas Voicebots are communicating via their voice in natural language. For both, intelligent Virtual Assistants, which are providing services / responses close to those of humans, have been in focus of this survey. Besides installing Virtual Assistants, Biometrics can enable new experiences in customer service processes. Biometric authentication is becoming more and more common – from a customer’s perspective it is “easy to use” and not requiring significant efforts. It is not needed anymore to search for the correct TAN, password etc. Combining biometric data with other technologies, like Chatbots or Voicebots, is a new way to decrease complexity for customers while still increasing security in data processing. Biometrics is a very wide-ranging area and also its potential differs from industry to industry, as also highlighted by our survey. 

Here are the key facts of “Chat, Talk, Touch…”:
 

1. Motivation – Why using these technologies? 

It has been noted, that providing a ”New User / Customer Experience” is the #1 most common benefit of all three AI solutions in our survey scope. “Cost Savings” are just ranked #2 or #3. “Getting Digital and Reputation” is also beyond the top3 drivers for applying Chatbots, Voicebots and Biometrics.

2. Drivers – Who is leading the journey? 

The survey showed that Chief Information Officers and Chief Technology Officers are equally leading the Chatbot, Voicebot and Biometrics initiatives (16% each). Followed by the Chief Executive Officer with 15% and the Chief Operating Officer with 13%. Overall, Business and Technology need to collaborate closely to make AI solutions a success story.

3. Target Groups – Who should be in focus of the “new” services?

It is not surprising that the mass market and Private Customers are the key user / customer group in focus of respondents. Furthermore, significant potential is seen for Corporate Customers in form of Small & Medium Enterprises. Interestingly, not only external but also Internal Customers are ranked in the Top 3.

4. Status Quo – Where are we today? 

Maturity of Chatbots, Voicebots and Biometrics is relatively low. Only 5% of survey respondents do have solutions live. But it can be observed that over ¾ of enterprises are getting to “Cool, we’ll try it”! Especially, Voicebots and Biometrics have uplift potential – over 50% have no experience so far, but are interested in these technologies and want to investigate further. 

5. Biometrics – Is there any value?! 

The value of Biometrics is seen controversially. It is either a clear “Yes” or a clear “No” – also depending on the industry. So, about 52% of our respondents assess or plan to use Biometrics solutions. With 61% the identification in Contact / Call Centers is the leading the Top3 channels to use these data, followed by App or Chatbots (each 59%) and Voicebots (56%). These results also illustrate that – although still just ranked #3 – Voice is on the raise and becoming more and more important. Fingerprint, followed by Face are still the most popular Biometrics information especially in App solutions.

6. Challenges – Are there any significant barriers?! 

Customer Acceptance is the top challenge seen for all three AI solutions. About 75% of survey respondents stated out that they do not really see technical and setup challenges, so they trust the technology. Regulatory restrictions are assessed to be at a moderate level for Chatbots and Voicebots but critical (55%) for Biometrics. Looking at e.g. GDPR this is no big surprise. Security aspects are also been considered when applying these AI solutions – over 52% of respondents explicitly search for certified and 41% for on-premise solutions.

7. Use Cases – Where to apply?! 

General information requests are the top cases for Chatbots (86%) and Voicebots (73%). For such requests, Biometrics is – as usually no authentication is needed – of minor importance (19%). Potential is also seen for the maintenance of basic master data, e.g. address information, for providing a service desk for corporate customers, and for giving customers advice on saving potential or cost reduction opportunities. In Financial Services, the use cases for Biometrics are ranked much higher compared to other industries - managing transactions (75%) and opening / closing of accounts (67%) are top cases – also for Chatbots and Voicebots. In addition, internal use cases should be considered too – especially, chat and voice solutions are seen for HR and IT service desks.

 

Do you want to experience more? Please enter and download our full survey. If you have any questions or want to discuss your potentials – Get in Touch with Us!

Your Contacts

          Nicole Tranker                                            Stephan Schüssler
          Director | Consulting                            Senior Manager | Consulting
          nitranker@deloitte.de                                 sschuessler@deloitte.de

tranker-schuessler