AI’s Role in Creating a Better Customer Experience

 

By Brian Wolff

Artificial intelligence (AI) has existed for many years; however, technological advancements are now bringing its usefulness in a broad array of functions into focus. There is no question AI will enhance a parking customer’s experience, with speed and quality leading the way.

As the digital transformation of parking takes over, a rapidly increasing number of parking transactions are taking place without human intervention. The parking customer is free to reserve, enter, park, and pay without ever interacting with another human. Most parking customers prefer and are quite comfortable performing these tasks in an automated way.

However, the exact opposite is true when parking customers experience an issue. Their customer experience is shaped by how quickly and thoroughly they are helped by a human being. This is where AI can be extremely useful.

One obvious leap would be to allow “a machine” to answer the call and handle the issue. The truth is a machine, like its human counterpart, is only as smart as its training. Therefore, the first way AI will improve customer service will be by hearing, retrieving, and putting the right information in the hands of a human customer service representative (CSR) who can deliver the information, resolve the issue, secure payment, and get the motorist on their way.

Eventually, the AI will be able to answer basic and then increasingly difficult calls. However, like all automation, a human will be the ultimate safety net. For today, AI’s role in service delivery will be to enhance the human’s ability to access the right information to resolve a parking customer’s issue and get them on their way, avoiding back-ups and delays, while protecting the bottom line.

Brian Wolff is the President & CEO of Parker Technology and a member of IPMI’s Technology Committee. He can be reached at brian.wolff@parkertechnology.com.