How Will Analytics, AI, Big Data, and Machine Learning Replace Human Interactions? Posted on : Jun 16 - 2017

Turns out that only two of these four actions merit human intelligence and human interactions (Simplify and Leverage), while the other two present opportunities to reduce demand for support (Eliminate, via root cause analysis to remove confusing or mistake-ridden processes or tools, and Automate, via self-service or proactive alerts.

Over 9 years since The Best Service is No Service debuted a lot has changed surrounding the need for and ability to provide human interactions, automated solutions, and shape experiences using predictive analytics. In some cases good old human intelligence in human interactions is still needed, and often the best path. However what I am seeing is the ability now to apply that human intelligence to deliver highly impactful automated solutions and predictive models.

One big reason for this is the rapid onset of analytics, robotics, AI (artificial intelligence), Big Data, and machine learning to augment, and in some places replace, human intervention. These new solutions have shown to me that the core Principles of Best Service is No Service were spot on, and it has reinforced the need to dig more deeply into data in order to confirm the problem and to determine how to address the problem.

Let me share three quick examples, some of them based on “omni-channel” interactions and broad knowledge sharing, both also representing breakthroughs.

Chat Bots or Virtual Agents

Chat bots or virtual agents are beginning to gain traction after some early failures that presented robotic or wooden responses vs. robotics and AI. Earlier chat bots and AI couldn’t recognize phrases or accents, and often got stumped with simple words or expressions, just like early speech recognition would play back “I’m sorry, did you say X?” when you said Y.

A good example of the new wave for chat bots is Amelia, developed by IPsoft, called a “cognitive agent” and “Your first digital employee” 2. Here’s how they present Amelia: “She understands everyday language. She learns quickly and gets smarter. She adapts to us.” Amelia is already deployed at the large Nordic bank SEB’s internal help desk, public sector agencies, and at the global bank UBS whose executive shared this experience: View More