AI Case Study

"At MetLife, where Cogito has been rolled out to 10 U.S. call centers over the past year, managers say that the program improved first call resolution metrics by 3.5% and customer satisfaction by 13%, and helped agents (who take an average of 700 calls a week) to have more “human” conversations. One employee says that Cogito helped her cut her average call time nearly in half, while another said that it helped her slow down when she was speaking.

“There are always people that are hesitant to change,” says Carrie-Ann Liquore, a former preschool teacher who’s now using Cogito in her role as a MetLife short-term disability case manager. “But the way that is was rolled out to us from our management was constantly reminded that it was a tool … to help us improve.”

Of course, in addition to helping workers have more successful calls, Cogito also gives managers vastly expanded insight into — and control over — their employees. Working at a call center has long been about meeting performance goals, and the agents who spoke with TIME seemed unbothered by that enhanced oversight. But the idea may prove more controversial in fields where workers aren’t used to being so closely tracked. For their part, executives using Cogito try to frame it as a helpful tool rather than a surveillance technology. “People don’t see it as big brother,” says Chris Smith, MetLife’s head of global operations. “They see it as another way we can help them do their jobs better"."