Virtual customer assistants help firms reduce calls by up to 79%

Twenty-five per cent of customer service and support operations will integrate virtual customer assistant (VCA) or chatbot technology across engagement channels by 2020, up from less than two per cent in 2017. Speaking at the Gartner Customer Experience Summit in Tokyo this week, Gene Alvarez, managing VP at Gartner, said more than half of organisations have already invested in VCAs for customer service, as they realise the advantages of automated self-service, with the ability to escalate to a human agent in complex situations. Organisations report up to 70 per cent reduction in call, chat and/or email inquiries after implementing a VCA, according to Gartner. They also report increased customer satisfaction and a 33 per cent saving per voice engagement.

Digital divide

The number of Internet users in India was estimated to be 481 million in December 2017, a growth of 11.34 per cent over December 2016 estimated figures. The number of internet users is expected to reach 500 million by June 2018, according to a report “Internet in India 2017”, published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Kantar IMRB. According to the report, as on December 2017, the overall internet penetration is 35 per cent of the population. Urban India witnessed a growth of 9.66 per cent from December 2016 and is estimated to have around 295 million users (December 2017). On the other hand, rural India witnessed a growth of 14.11 per cent from December 2016 and is estimated to have around 186 million Internet users as of December 2017. Given that the urban population is much lower than the rural population, the digital divide is more acute than what the penetration numbers portray. The future growth policies, therefore, must focus on bridging the digital divide that exists between urban and rural India today.