The recent COVID pandemic has had a profound impact on telecom companies around the globe. Since employees could not come to the office, telecom operators faced issues in providing customer service to their consumers. As a result, telecom operators opted for remote customer support amidst the COVID pandemic. However, the increasing complexity of networks and the demands of consumers make it hard for telecom operators to provide customer service. If customer service isn’t up to the mark, the service reliability of a telecom operator will not be satisfying. In this age of digitization, telecom operators are shifting towards digital transformation services and solutions for enhancing customer support. Telecom operators choose virtual assistants as their first choice to deal with the ever-changing customer demands. Read on to know how virtual assistants improve customer support for telecom.

Understanding the concept of virtual assistants

Virtual assistants can be computer programs or devices that run with the help of AI/ML algorithms. Virtual assistants run on predictive analytics models and perform several tasks without human interference. A virtual assistant can offer services or perform tasks based on commands. For example, you must have come across a chatbot on any website. A chatbot is a type of virtual assistant that interacts with the customer without any human presence. Besides commands, virtual assistants also perform tasks based on questions. Virtual assistants can be used in several forms by us. Some examples of virtual assistants in 2022 are as follows:

• Smart speakers play the desired song based on the user’s commands.
• Built-in virtual assistants of operating systems like Apple and Android.
• Interactive voice response and instant messaging systems.
• Voice-based platform for service management.

When we talk about telecom operators, virtual assistants can be used to automate customer support activities. With the ever-changing needs of consumers, virtual assistants can help CSPs (Communication Service Providers) meet customer demands. IT automation with AI tools has helped the telecom industry meet the increasing level of customer demands.

Challenges for CSPs in customer support

Why do CSPs need virtual assistants for customer support in 2022? What happened to a large workforce that can handle customer queries and complaints? The customer support landscape of CSPs isn’t the same as before. The challenges for telecom operators in offering customer support at present are as follows:

• Due to the recent COVID pandemic, telecom employees were forced to work from home. Telecom operators already had a dedicated space for offering customer support services. However, the dedicated space is a part of the organization’s premises, and employees couldn’t come to the office. Not all telecom operators had reliable virtual desktop infrastructure solutions to offer remote customer support. As a result, telecom operators faced a hard time during the COVID pandemic.
• You will find cellular networks, wireless networks, and other communication services around the globe. The need for communication services is more than ever in 2022. New challenges arise with the increase in telecom consumers. Networks are overcrowded, and customer requests are arriving each second. A telecom operator cannot deal with incoming customer requests and queries at present. One cannot hire too many customer support professionals to deal with the increasing customer demands.
• Customer support in the telecom industry also includes fixing network issues and failures. At present, telecom operators follow a reactive approach to fixing network failures. A reactive approach is when you fix a network issue after it has occurred. Since telecom operators cannot follow a proactive approach, service availability takes a hit. When you don’t fix network issues proactively, downtime can occur anytime. Even a single minute of downtime can seriously impact the service reliability of the telecom operator.
• Another reason the telecom industry uses virtual assistants for customer support is the increasing network complexity. In 2022, people are no more interested in 4G networks. Telecom operators are also offering 5G services around the globe. Since the 5G network is more complex than its predecessors, there is a need for expert customer support professionals. However, due to the talent gap, it isn’t easy to find expert employees for offering customer support to 5G consumers.

As you can see, several challenges hinder CSPs in offering customer support. Virtual assistants can help CSPs to overcome these challenges and boost service availability. Let us see the use cases of virtual assistants for CSPs in improving customer support services.

How do virtual assistants assist telecom operators in customer support?

Virtual assistants help telecom operators in many ways. The biggest use case is offering valued customer support. For example, telecom customer support employees may face many incoming calls. A call centre virtual assistant can answer many simple and repetitive questions. Even if a customer support professional isn’t available, customers will still get their confusion cleared with a virtual assistant. Consumers will trust your customer support service, and the service reliability will increase. When virtual assistants assist your employees, their overall productivity increases.

Customer support in the telecom industry isn’t only related to answering customer queries. Customer support professionals in the telecom industry also have to monitor user behaviour over the network. It is done to identify abnormal behaviour and detect fraud situations. By doing so, a telecom operator can ensure that any unauthorized access does not affect the service’s reliability. However, the increasing complexity of networks in 2022 isn’t helping telecom operators. They cannot monitor user behaviour on such a large network. As a result, they ignore unauthorized access into the network and suffer a downfall in service availability and reliability.

Virtual assistants can monitor network activity and protect telecom operators from fraud. It is similar to application performance monitoring conducted by organizations to safeguard their IT infrastructure. Many front-end office tasks that are mundane can be automated with virtual assistants. As more and more telecom companies are moving towards digitization, virtual assistants are a must for enhancing service availability. An AI-led virtual assistant can offer human-like interaction and automate repetitive tasks. Use virtual assistants to boost your customer support now!