Category: Uncategorized

Not all customer interactions are good AI candidates. 

The key is knowing which ones are.

In my experience, there are 2 areas where AI delivers the most value:

1) Replacing agents in simple, repeatable interactions

These are AI-enabled responses, usually voice or chat.

Example: A patient calls to schedule a doctor’s appointment.

AI can:

• Identify them from caller ID
• Verify their identity with a few questions
• Pull up their medical record
• Find their primary care physician
• Schedule the appointment

No human needed.

This works because the interaction is:

→ Repeatable
→ Low variation
→ High volume

2) Supporting agents in complex interactions

AI acts as a real-time assistant for your team.

Example: A nurse on a prescription refill call.

AI can:

• Listen to the conversation
• Pull up drug interaction data
• Prompt the nurse with relevant information
• Surface the exact details they need, when they need them

The nurse stays in control. AI just makes them faster and more accurate.

So if you’re evaluating AI for customer service:

Start with simple, high-volume interactions.
Then use it to augment your agents on complex ones.

Don’t try to replace human judgment on things that require it.
That’s where most AI implementations fail.

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I’m Mark Danielson, and I help healthcare leaders reduce support costs while improving patient satisfaction.

Follow me for practical insights on cutting contact center costs, improving service quality, and modernizing operations without the tradeoffs.

“Should we invest in AI for our contact center?”

Here’s how I answer that question:

AI for AI’s sake isn’t a strategy.
You need measurable results that impact your bottom line.

Here are the metrics that actually matter for the top 2 use cases:

1) For AI handling customer interactions:

Track two things:

1. Containment rate (Did AI resolve the issue without human escalation?)
2. Customer satisfaction (How did customers rate the AI interaction?)

Example:

You answer 1,000 calls per day.
AI starts handling 5% of them (50 calls).
If those 50 calls are resolved and customers rate them highly?
That’s 5% less labor cost with no quality drop.

Scale that, and the ROI becomes clear.

2) For AI supporting agents:

The goal here is efficiency, not replacement.

Track: Average handle time reduction.

Example:

Your agents average 6 minutes per call handling 1,000 calls daily.
AI assists them and drops handle time to 5 minutes (16.7% reduction).
That’s 16.7 hours of freed capacity per day.
Compare that labor savings against your AI cost.

If the savings exceed the cost? Scale it.

The framework I use:

Every AI investment should improve at least one of these:

→ Quantity (more interactions handled)
→ Quality (higher satisfaction scores)
→ Cost (lower cost per interaction)

Ideally, it improves two or all three.

The trap I see founders fall into is implementing AI because everyone else is.
That’s not strategy. That’s fear.

Start with the outcome you want. Then find the tool that gets you there.
Not the other way around.

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I’m Mark Danielson, and I help healthcare leaders reduce support costs while improving patient satisfaction.

Follow me for practical insights on cutting contact center costs, improving service quality, and modernizing operations without the tradeoffs.

Most support teams get this backwards.

They think longer calls mean better service.

“We want our agents to build relationships. Take their time. Don’t rush customers off the phone.”

Here’s what they’re missing:

9 times out of 10, your customer didn’t want to call you.
They called because something’s broken or confusing. They want it fixed. Fast.

So the best service you can give them?
Get their question answered knowledgeably, well, and as quickly as possible.

That’s the relationship builder.
Not keeping them on the phone longer because you think it shows you care.

The faster you solve their problem correctly, the faster they get back to their actual life.

That’s what great service looks like.

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I’m Mark Danielson, and I help healthcare leaders reduce support costs while improving patient satisfaction.

Follow me for practical insights on cutting contact center costs, improving service quality, and modernizing operations without the tradeoffs.