For certain kinds of businesses, such as hairdressers and restaurants, scheduling appointments is relatively simple. You find an open slot on the website and fill out your personal details. Alternatively, you call reception and whoever answers the phone will do the same thing for you.
But for many other businesses, scheduling is an enormous headache, writes Ryan Falkenberg, CEO of Clevva.
Here’s an example: A white goods repair business which sells extended warranties and needs to schedule repairs for large appliances like fridges, washing machines, and dishwashers. It sounds simple enough, but scheduling on-site repairs or collections and deliveries can take a small army to get right. In fact, some companies have entire call centres dedicated to taking appointments, and scheduling repairs.
This doesn’t come cheaply- in fact scheduling can cost up to R27 per call. That cost is a drain on the company’s ability to grow and employ more people. Thankfully, as AI agents have improved to the point where they can hold conversations at the level of a human, this won’t be the case for much longer. They can effectively handle scheduling at a much lower cost while making for a much more pleasant customer and employee experience.
In the medical sector, general doctor and dentist appointments may be simple enough but things get a lot more complicated as the level of care and diagnosis becomes more specialised. Handling appointments and bookings for things like scans and x-rays, for instance, can take up significant time because of the amount of information required. Time that patients and medical workers could spend a lot more constructively.
An AI agent could give back that time. Using WhatsApp or a voice call, it could gather necessary details such as health history and medical aid plans, send information that the patient needs (like how long their last meal should be before their procedure), answer basic questions, and schedule follow-ups. It could also deal with the logistics for specific needs and requirements such as scheduling a time that works for the patient, at a practice closest to them, or finding one that has a female practitioner if needed.
Those might feel like small changes but the ripple effects can be enormous. How many patients put off making appointments because it just feels like too much admin? And how serious is the delay for many of those patients? On the other side of that coin, what could administrative staff do if they were freed from at least some of the headache that comes with scheduling? What improvements could they make to the overall patient experience that improves health outcomes?
And that’s just the medical sector. Using AI agents, the white goods repair business we mentioned earlier could give its customers and technicians more certainty, encouraging loyalty. That, in turn, results in further business growth. Now imagine the impact in other sectors such as law, automotive, tourism, and even real estate.
When scheduling isn’t a drain on resources, businesses are much better positioned to thrive. Companies that embrace AI-driven scheduling now won’t just gain efficiency, they’ll gain a competitive edge too. The question is no longer if AI agents can help, but rather how soon businesses will put them to work.