AI could finish call centres in a year: TCS CEO K. Krithivasan

K. Krithivasan, CEO of the Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), feels artificial intelligence, or AI, could end the necessity of call centres in about a year’s time.

Although we have not seen job reductions owing to AI yet, utilising the technology could totally change the operational procedure of customer help centres that have helped generate largescale employment in several nations including India, Krithivasan said.

TCS recently reported its AI projects on the anvil had doubled quarter-on-quarter and was worth around $900 million in March. The company currently generates about $46 billion in revenues and employs over six lakh workers.

Krithivasan felt chatbots could analyse the transaction history of a particular customer and, in turn, perform most of the work that call centre agents do more seamlessly. “I don’t think we are there today —maybe a year or so down the line,” he added, while speaking to Financial Times.

AI technology has the power to predict incoming calls and accordingly address a customer’s problems. So, chatbots being able to predict the pain points of a customer would reduce the number of incoming calls at a call centre.

Speaking of whether AI could impact the procedure of fresh recruitment, the CEO of TCS felt if his company managed to reach out to around half of the total number of colleges, they would be able to offer more jobs and also address the demand for technology that the world is poised to witness.