Due to the widespread application of AI across sectors, the demand for the technology will gallop. Data from Indeed, a job site, indicates that global demand for AI talent has doubled in the past three years, and hiring in India alone is expected to see a 60% rise by the end of this year.
With the government’s push for Digital India, the country has a seen a widespread uptake of automation across a number of sectors, even those that that traditionally not technology-driven. A prime example of this is Purvankara’s integration of robotics in the field of real estate. In a recent initiative, the company made use of robots as the first customer touch point, as part of their larger business strategy of integrating technology into the Customer Relation Management process. EC’s Abhishek Raval speaks with Ashish Puravankara, MD, Puravankara Projects
How has the introduction of Mitra and Mitri helped Puravankara?
At Puravankara there has been a concerted effort to bring in technological know-how in every possible segment to give unparalleled customer service experience. The introduction of bots is a stepping stone towards bringing the integration of technology in the real estate space. It’s for the first time that any realty player has done so. A part of our larger scheme of work involves integrating proptech in all spheres of our functions.
The two humanoids – Mitra and Mitri – which we recently introduced at one of our flagship home exhibitions, Bengaluru Home Habba, were the first touch points for all visitors coming to the fest and handling visitor management system. The biggest advantage we had was seamless, accurate customer data accumulation in almost 10 times lesser time in comparison to any conventional method. In the regular format, the same thing would have taken close to 100 hours which is now reduced to just approximately seven to eight hours.
Please elaborate on how the bots will be the first touch points for customers and how they would help in handling visitor management system.
The bots will be the first customer touchpoint for data acquiring, storing and analytics, using voice and touch panel enabled data capturing. When a customer interacts with the robotic interface, data is moved into the Customer Relation Management (CRM) system, Sales Force, and thereby creating direct, correct and more importantly, insightful data. This in turn will translate into a more relevant and faster turnaround of customer enquiries and improved customer engagement with deeper customer insight.
The focus here was to give uniform experience to each of our visitors with accumulation of correct data along with real time integration to our central (customer) database. Introduction of bots has helped us in achieving this objective to a great extent. In our three-day expo, we received close to 1,500 unique visitors (walk-ins) and closed more than 100 sales booking.
With the help of AI, what is Puravankara able to do now, that wasn’t possible before?
Artificial intelligence has paved the way for scientific data accumulation and eliminating the chances of duplication because of human error. This has led to a greater degree of efficiency in our processes, both internally and externally. The manner in which data is collected and stored has made it easier for us to identify leads which we believe have high potential for final sale conversion. Moreover, it is not about what we were not able to do earlier; the core objective lies in how efficiently we are doing it.
In addition to these, the robots’ ability to interact with customers has garnered appreciation from all quarters and has made data procurement easier. The wait time for a customer to be assigned a sales executive was brought down to an average of two minutes compared to 10-15 minutes in the past. This has helped us in efficient customer management and has resulted in happy customers.
Please share statistics, in terms of the CSAT score; how has it helped in faster turnaround of customer enquiries and improved customer engagement with deeper customer insight?
This is an ongoing process. Ascertaining the exact impact of AI integration to our core business will take some time. Though our initial experience suggests the induction of AI has drastically brought down the time taken for data accumulation and real time integration to our central customer database. Essentially, it leaves us with faster, accurate and precise information about our customers. This will help us towards faster turnaround time to the queries of customers and with more facts and data at our disposal, we can now give them more customised service as per their requirements.
With regards to our CSAT scores, on an average it is somewhere between 75-85 per cent. We hope with the implementation of AI there will be a 5-10 point increase in our overall customer satisfaction index.
How has this initiative helped in business proficiency?
With the introduction of the AI element through humanoid robots, we have been able to scale up the overall efficiency of our customer interfaces, and the standardisation of customer experience, improving the overall business proficiency.
How has the introduction of AI created a new-age home buying experience?
Being early adopters of technology has always been at the forefront of Puravankara. Whether it is technology adoption at construction line or customer touch-point, we like to be at the cutting edge of all things – ‘Proptech’. So AI integration in our business practices is the next judicious step, maintaining the evolving needs of the home buyers.
Data accumulation and real time integration through AI is just the starting point, it still has immense potential which is yet to be explored. In this dynamic age, assimilation of AI, machine learning and big data is going to be the norm in the near future for realty business. Adoption of these technologies will ensure that home buyers have a great start to their journey of buying a home.
Moreover, it will help to address the issue pertaining to percolation of information to the end-user. With usage of AI and the likes, this will standardise dissemination of information to the customer, empowering them with more facts and data to make the final decision. Meanwhile, it will help the developers in widening their customer base and customise their services for each of our customers, based on their needs.