Lessons in Leadership

Delta Dental Launches Premium Relief Program

Due to members being unable to fully utilize their dental benefits during COVID-19, Delta Dental of New Jersey, Inc. (DDNJ) and Delta Dental of Connecticut, Inc. announced the launch of its Premium Relief Program — a 30 percent credit to all individual and fully-insured group customers who had active plans in April, May and June 2020.

“Protecting smiles is our top priority,” said Jeff Furbish, Chief Sales Officer of Delta Dental of New Jersey. “Our clients deserve peace of mind during this challenging and uncertain time, and we hope this relief on premiums will help provide that. We want our customers to know that we are all in this together.”

Invoices for July through September will reflect the corresponding 30 percent credit fully-insured clients will receive based on premiums paid April through June. This premium credit is not available to those with self-insured, DeltaCare Flagship, or DeltaCare USA plans in New Jersey or those with self-insured or DeltaCare USA plans in Connecticut.

This program joins Delta Dental of New Jersey’s and Delta Dental of Connecticut’s other COVID-19 relief efforts, including: • The offering of grace periods for small and large groups, freezing renewal rates for groups with <500 employees, relaxing eligibility for laid-off or furloughed employees; Launch of the Dentist Support Program (DSP), offering participating dentists a no-interest advance payment on 2020 claims and a payment of $10 per patient visit to help cover the increased costs of office sanitization and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE); Establishing a consumer directory of New Jersey and Connecticut dentists who are open for emergency visits; And donations of more than 20,000 toothbrushes and oral health kits to hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics for patients and healthcare workers.

Additional information on the Premium Relief Program can be found on Delta Dental’s website: deltadentalnj.com.

Delta Dental of New Jersey, Inc. is New Jersey’s leading dental benefits company, providing or administering coverage to more than 1.7 million people through contracts with groups in New Jersey and Connecticut. In Connecticut, Delta Dental of Connecticut, Inc. is a licensed insurer that writes dental coverage on an insured basis, and Delta Dental of New Jersey administers self-funded dental benefit programs. For more information, visit deltadentalnj.com.

How Is Customer Service AI Improving Work for Employees?

Customer service is an area that always needs attention and often needs improvement. No matter how strong your systems and your personnel, smart organizations are looking for a competitive edge in this field. Therefore, the work your employees perform in the customer service department is a critical focus for any successful business.

With that in mind, we wanted to take a closer look at how customer service AI is making some significant improvements in this area. By heeding the advice and explanations we give you here, your employees will be able to provide a more thorough and effective service to your customers. In turn, the number of satisfied customers will increase significantly – and you won’t have to emphasize the search for new customers anymore.

What’s more, the overall loyalty to your brand will increase, as well as the reputation your brand has among consumers and competitors.

Ways AI is improving customer service work

First of all, it’s important to understand that AI is not about replacing your employees in any way. When you deploy customer service AI solutions to your customer service sector smartly and efficiently, your employees gain the support they need to perform their jobs much better than they ever could before. That’s precisely where the main benefit of AI lies: in human-AI collaboration.

The most obvious example of this is the use of chatbots in customer service. AI-powered chatbots are now capable of performing many tasks when it comes to the relationship between your company and your customers. They can handle specific repetitive tasks and even resolve simpler issues your customers have. By doing that, your employees are left to work on more complex issues, without having to waste time giving the same answers and dealing with the same problems that tend to repeat

themselves within most companies.

What’s more, AI-powered chatbots are available 24/7, so you don’t have to worry about overstretching your employees through several shifts or hiring more people to handle more demands. AI chatbots become the frontline of your customer service, providing the answers to the questions your employees don’t have to worry about anymore. Beyond chatbots, AI can also ensure the organization within the customer service department is at its most efficient and that no unnecessary errors occur.

Chatbots will know when complex issues arise and will seamlessly transfer those requests to human employees who will handle the problem more effectively. This becomes a symbiosis when quality solutions are implemented, and the customer never notices the transition.

As you can already assume, all of this improves the overall satisfaction of your customers, as they no longer have to wait hours for a dedicated agent to give them a response.

The bottom line

In essence, AI is not just improving the customer service industry and the work employees do there – it’s revolutionizing it. If you want to be part of that revolution, your organization needs to seriously consider implementing a quality AI-driven service desk that will completely alter the work your employees perform and the service your customers receive.

Kim del Fierro is Vice President of Marketing at Aisera, which provides AI Service Management (AISM) solutions for enterprises to automate IT tasks and workflows to deliver exceptional AI Service Experience. To test out how this works, visit aisera.com for a personalized demo.