![]() ![]() These voice bots have handled more than 4.8 million calls since they were deployed, and 40% were contained within the voice bot without the need to escalate to a live assistor. The voice bot answers taxpayer inquiries about making payments, Collection notices and general Collection issues. The benefit of the voice bot is that it acts a bit like a customer service first responder to quickly answer common questions and help free up phone assistors to concentrate on more complex inquiries. Voice bots are software powered by artificial intelligence that allow a caller to navigate an interactive voice response system. We always want to ensure taxpayers have that option.īuilding upon the success of the chat bot, the IRS deployed the first Collection voice bot in January 2022. I say in theory because a small percentage of callers may have chosen to disconnect from the self-assist process. In theory, that means that 42% of these visitors at IRS.gov got what they needed without needing help from a live chat assistor. ![]() Since that chat bot launched, it has handled more than 450,000 interactions, and 42% of those interactions were resolved without being escalated to an ACS phone assistor. Our first chat bot used by the Collection division began in December 2021 on the IRS.gov payments page to provide taxpayers with self-service assistance for common questions. ![]() In 2021, we received the necessary funding to implement taxpayer-facing voice and chat bot self-assist solutions in English and Spanish.Ĭhat bots simulate human conversation through web-based text interaction using artificial intelligence-powered software to respond to natural language prompts. The goal was to increase self-service capabilities for general taxpayer inquiries so that people with more complex issues could get through to live assistors on the phone. To help address this, in 2020, the Small Business/Self Employed Division’s Collection and Operations Support (in collaboration with IRS Information Technology) were tasked with building a proof of concept and business requirements needed to use voice and chat bots. The drop was due to resource challenges related to a series of necessary business realignments and significantly increased call volumes from inquiries about the Economic Impact Payments and the Advance Child Tax Credit payments. In 2014, Collection’s service level was about 70%, but it dropped to about 38% by 2021. Contact Representatives are our telephone assistors, the ones who answer taxpayer telephone calls. Many taxpayers interact with the IRS through our employees – called Contact Representatives – that work in our Automated Collection System. So today, I’d like to talk about how the IRS has improved the taxpayer experience and level of service through chat and voice bots. For example, in the case of the IRS, a taxpayer may have a question about a notice – or letter – they received or are looking to pay their taxes but can’t get through to anyone to assist them. Just like everyone else, if I call a business, I hate to be kept on hold when I need assistance or have a question. Taxpayer service remains a top IRS priority, and we recently put in place some new technology involving voice and chat bots to help make it easier for people to get the help they need. By Darren Guillot, IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Deputy Commissioner ![]()
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