Brazilian Enterprises Want Contact Centers Offering Chat Bots, AI

ISG Provider Lens report sees automation growing in the Brazil contact center market, even as customers still want the human touch

SÃO PAULO, Brazil, Oct. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enterprises in Brazil are looking for contact center providers that can offer advanced services such as chat bots and artificial intelligence-powered systems, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens Contact Center – Customer Experience Services Report for Brazil finds local players dominating the Brazil contact center market, although they’re seeing competition from European providers. Outsourced operations at contact centers employ more than one million people in Brazil.

While Brazilian companies are looking for intelligent interactive voice response systems, chat bots, and AI-powered contact centers, the country has a shortage of trained and experienced workers in data science, statistics, and AI programming, the report says.

Nevertheless, “Brazil is witnessing an increase in the use of chat and email contact center services,” said Jan Erik Aase, director and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “Millennials lead the adoption of these digital channels, including social media.”

While voice is still the preferred customer service channel, due to a high number of mobile phones in Brazil, it is quickly losing ground to texting, the report says. WhatsApp is also gaining traction, with many users considering it a complete omnichannel solution.

The contact center market in Brazil covers a broad range of services, including customer service, sales, research, support, tracking, and collections, the report says. In some cases, these services are not well received by customers because of perceived misuse. Customers object to unsolicited sales contacts, often involving many contact attempts from auto-dialer systems.

At the same time, customers in Brazil expect consistent treatment from companies, irrespective of the channel or whether the contact service is outsourced, the report says. The millennial population does not hesitate to cancel service or report poor service on social media channels.

The report also notes that Brazil’s General Data Protection Law will soon go into effect, and it will have a huge impact on contact center operations by limiting several current practices.

Customers in Brazil are increasingly demanding better privacy laws, segmentation of data, and a more customer-centric approach to contact center services, the report adds. Contact centers must redesign their systems and train agents effectively to better resolve problems, it recommends.