Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski shares how the buy now, pay later firm saves time and money by using customer service chatbots.
03/20/2024 1:00 P.M.
2.5 minute read
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into various industries, including the accounts receivable management industry, has sparked significant transformations among customer service approaches, workflows and more.
One of the companies driving this change is Klarna, a leading fintech platform providing global payments and e-shopping services. In a recent interview with CBS News, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski shed light on the company’s choice to replace many of its customer service agents with an AI chatbot, which now boasts the equivalent productivity of 700 human agents.
“We made the announcement to say the consequence of us launching the technology is we need the equivalent of 700 fewer full-time agents than what we usually use on an average basis,” Siemiatkowski said. “On average, we need 3,000 agents, now we need a little more than 2,000. We wanted to make policymakers aware that this isn’t something that’s happening in the future—it’s happening now. We think it is critical that society start thinking about this major change.”
Klarna’s advanced chatbot handles two-thirds of its customer service chat inquiries, expertly matching human interactions and resulting in a 25% reduction in repeat inquiries from customers.
“Before we took this live, we already had a co-pilot that helped customer service agents and other employees accelerate their work,” Siemiatkowski said. “This AI actually communicates and resolves customers’ issues on its own. We think it’s important that people are still given the option to speak to a human, but we’re also seeing that people who choose to interact with the AI chatbot are very happy and find it helpful, to the point and effective. It can communicate in 35 languages, so for many immigrant and expat groups, it means a huge improvement in their experience.”
While Siemiatkowksi notes that, like humans, chatbots aren’t always perfect, Klarna’s key metric for success is to ensure the chatbot makes fewer mistakes on average than humans do.
In addition to streamlining its customer service process, AI has reduced the size of Klarna’s workforce.
“Klarna tries to apply AI across all products and services and work we do. It’s having implications on how many people we need as a company,” Siemiatkowksi said. “This is one time that a single product improvement led to a massive reduction in need for customer service agents.”
Not only has Klarna been able to downsize its hiring efforts, but the company was also able to save $40 million due to the transition to AI.
“In large organizations, less time is spent on what really creates value for employees, customers and shareholders,” Siemiatkowski said. “With AI, it’s the less-productive work that can be taken away. In the best of worlds, everyone who comes into the company will be able to use their creative power to create real value for customers.”
Read the whole interview here.
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