AI is changing how businesses work, and AI voice assistants are becoming an increasingly practical way to improve how organisations handle their telephone calls.
For many businesses, the phone remains an important customer touchpoint. However, a significant amount of call time can be spent answering the same straightforward questions.
What are your opening hours?
Can I change my appointment?
Has my order been dispatched?
Can someone call me back?
These questions may be simple, but answering them repeatedly can take valuable time away from your team. More importantly, it can stop your people from focusing on the conversations where their experience and judgement really matter.
That is where AI voice assistants could have a role to play.
What are AI voice assistants?
AI voice assistants go beyond traditional automated telephone systems.
Instead of asking callers to work through a rigid series of menu options, modern systems can understand spoken requests and respond conversationally.
For example, someone might call to rearrange an appointment. Rather than selecting several options before reaching the right department, an AI voice assistant could understand the request and, where the appropriate integration is available, help complete it.
Depending on the technology and how it has been configured, AI voice assistants could potentially:
- Answer frequently asked questions
- Book or rearrange appointments
- Check relevant customer information
- Create or update support tickets
- Send confirmations or follow up information
- Handle calls outside normal business hours
For businesses dealing with a high volume of routine enquiries, this could remove a considerable amount of repetitive work.
The goal should be better customer service, not less human contact
It can be tempting to view AI voice assistants as a way to reduce the number of people answering calls. However, that should not necessarily be the starting point.
The bigger opportunity is to give your team more time for work that genuinely requires human judgement.
A customer asking about your opening hours may be perfectly happy with an immediate answer from an AI voice assistant. Someone dealing with a complicated problem, a complaint or a sensitive situation is likely to need something different.
They need a person who can listen, understand the circumstances and make a considered decision.
That distinction is important.
The best use of AI is not always to automate as much as possible. Instead, businesses should look at where automation can improve the customer experience while allowing their people to focus on the interactions where they add the most value.
Start small and measure the results
If you are considering AI voice assistants, you do not need to transform your entire telephone system overnight.
In fact, starting with a narrow, low risk process can be a much more sensible approach.
Think about the calls your team receives most frequently. Are there questions that come up every day? Could appointment bookings be handled automatically? Would an AI voice assistant be useful for calls received outside your normal opening hours?
Choose one suitable process and test it.
You can then measure how well the system performs, how customers respond and whether your team is genuinely saving time.
This approach also gives you the opportunity to identify weaknesses before expanding the technology into more important areas of your business.
The National Cyber Security Centre similarly recommends starting small and using AI for lower risk tasks when organisations begin adopting more autonomous AI technology.
Security and integration need to come first
There is another important consideration when introducing AI into your telephone systems.
An AI voice assistant may need access to customer information, calendars, support systems or other business data. That means security, privacy and access controls need to be considered before implementation.
You should know what information the system can access, why it needs that access, where information is stored and who can access it.
This is particularly important if the system connects directly to your existing business applications.
The principle should be simple: give an AI system access to what it needs to perform its role, and nothing more.
The NCSC recommends limiting the scope and access of AI systems, applying least privilege and understanding the security risks associated with connected tools and integrations.
Data protection also needs consideration. If an AI voice assistant processes personal information, your organisation needs to understand what data is being collected, why it is being processed and whether the appropriate safeguards are in place. The ICO highlights data minimisation, clear purposes and appropriate security as important considerations when organisations use AI systems.
The technology is only as good as the setup
An AI voice assistant might sound impressive during a demonstration, but real business environments can be very different.
Background noise, accents, industry specific terminology and unexpected questions can all affect how well a system performs.
Integration can also make a significant difference.
If your AI voice assistant cannot work effectively with the systems your business already relies on, your team may end up doing more work rather than less.
That is why choosing the right technology is only part of the process. The surrounding systems, security controls, processes and people all need to work together.
Are AI voice assistants right for your business?
AI voice assistants have the potential to reduce repetitive work, improve response times and give your team more time to focus on customers who genuinely need their expertise.
However, introducing AI simply because it is receiving attention is unlikely to deliver the best result.
Start with the business problem.
Look at where your team is spending time, identify repetitive processes and consider whether AI can solve that problem without creating unnecessary risk.
For some businesses, AI voice assistants could become a valuable part of their customer service strategy. For others, improving existing systems or processes may deliver a better return.
The important question is not simply whether your business can use AI.
It is whether AI can make your business work better.
At Amshire, we believe technology should support your people, improve your business and help you work with greater confidence. If you are considering AI voice assistants and want to understand where they could fit within your existing technology, we can help you assess the opportunities, risks and next steps.