Sharjah Contact Centres Forum Stresses Importance of Artificial Intelligence to Improve Customer Service

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THE KHORFAKKAN FORUM RECOMMENDS EMPLOYING ADVANCED TECHNIQUES TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOUR AND NEEDS

The Sharjah Contact Centre of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau successfully wrapped up today the third edition of Sharjah Contact Centres Forum in Khorfakkan themed "Interactive Services... Comprehensive Channels", under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of the Sharjah Media Council. 

The leading communication and behaviour experts, officials and consultants taking part in the forum held freewheeling discussions, offering cutting-edge solutions, future visions, recommendations and constructive ideas to improve the quality of call centre services in the country and the region. 

The experts shed light on the most important creative communication tools to build an innovative digital environment to serve customers by employing Artificial Intelligence and cloud computing, and moving towards data integration. 

Speakers from across the Arabian Gulf region and the Middle East also discussed future prospects for employing emotional Artificial Intelligence in call centres, in the presence of senior officials and heads of government institutions and a number of communication and customer service personnel.

HE Tariq Saeed Allay, Director General of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau, stressed that the first of its kind forum in the country is part of Sharjah's continuing march of development. “Through these discussions and continuous exchange of expertise and experiences and the communication strategies we aspire to achieve will have a positive impact on contact centres locally, regionally and globally,” he added. 

“The forum reinforces the path that we saw in providing instructions, facilitating coordination and interaction between government agencies and the public, and shortening time and distances by using interactive and comprehensive communication channels,” emphasised the SGMB Director General. 

Eng. Khaled Omar Al Naqbi, Manager of the Sharjah Contact Centre said: “Service quality standards have become dependent on the ability to keep pace with technology and innovation transformations in light of Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing and social media platforms, which help effective communication with customers by upgrading call centre services and working on enhancing strong and smart infrastructures.”

Digital communication and Artificial Intelligence

The first main session, "Digital Communication and the Principle of Correct Guidance", highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in communication mechanisms and the most efficient tools in guiding customers.  

Sheikha Dr Alia bint Humaid AlQassimi, a social development expert, Yousif Mohammed Albinkhalil, CEO of the National Communication Centre, Bahrain, and Osama Al-Gohary, Head of the Information and Decision Support Centre in the Egyptian Council of Ministers, stressed the need to adopt advanced technologies capable of understanding the public, their behaviour and needs.

Emotional Computing

The second session titled "Transformations of Contact Centres in the Era of Emotional Artificial Intelligence", discussed the concept of emotional cloud computing and its application areas and their impact on the quality of services and operations. 

Dr. Noura Al-Houti, Assistant Professor at the College of Communication at the University of Sharjah, Dr Abdullah Al-Maghlouth, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information, Saudi Arabia, and Dr Khaled Al Munif, a writer specialising in psychology and self-development, stressed the need to build public awareness and social understanding in dealing with Artificial Intelligence and provide academic programmes that keep pace with the requirements of the labour market in the era of emotional computing. 

Eaman Al Roudhan, CEO of Zain Telecom, Kuwait, in her keynote speech on the topic of “Innovation in the Digital Environments of Contact Centres,” referred to the role of digital innovation in facing challenges and supporting the efficiency of operations and services that enhance institutional reputation.

Interactive workshops

On the sidelines of the forum, two interactive workshops were also held. In the first workshop titled "Data Analysis Skills in Call Centres", Tamer Khader, Customer Success Manager of ZIWO Cloud Call Centre, Dubai stressed the importance of cloud systems to improve the quality of customer service quickly and effectively, and the role of data and its analysis in preparing accurate reports that enable the most successful decision-making in conducting the process of communicating with the public and meeting their needs.

The second workshop, "Mechanisms of Effective Communication in Customer Service Centres" was conducted by Dr. Ahmed Tahlak, President of Teleservice, who stressed that efficiency and high quality of service in dealing with customers reduces transaction time, which is vital in call centres.  “In order to achieve this, it is necessary to know how to deal with customers. Customers can be handled effectively with both verbal and non-verbal communication skills as well as personality management, knowledge management, skills management, behaviour and ethics management,” he argued. 

The Sharjah Contact Centres Forum concluded by felicitating the speakers and participating government institutions and their officials. The forum also adopted recommendations, including the call to arm communication staff with data analysis tools to improve the level of services, working to speed up the inclusion of academic programmes specialised in Artificial Intelligence in a more comprehensive way, and the need to invest in psychology studies to determine latest social and communication trends and Emotional Artificial Intelligence programmes.