Key takeaways from the CallMiner’s ListenUK 2023
Last week, our partners at CallMiner, a leading conversational analytics firm, invited us to their ListenUK 2023 event. It was an insightful few days of meetings and networking with like-minded industry experts eager to learn more about the CallMiner ecosystem. As CallMiner’s premier conversational AI partner, we loved nothing more than shedding light on the synergies of our two platforms and how they help to deliver customer experiences that stand head and shoulders above other solutions.
Thanks to our partnership with CallMiner, we were lucky enough to participate in not one, but two panel sessions over the two-day event. The first, a panel on ‘Self-Service and Human Assistance: Getting the Balance Right’, attended by boost.ai CEO Jerry Haywood, Sean Keane, Director of Consulting Service at Davies Group, Helge Bruflot, Nordic Project Manager – Customer Service at Allente, and moderated by Jeff Gallino, CTO and founder at CallMiner. The second, a panel on ‘Understanding the Value of AI Beyond the Hype’, attended by our CCO and Co-Founder, Henry Iversen, Craig John, Innovation Director at Davies Group, Panos Periorellis, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft, Jeff Gallino, CTO at CallMiner, and moderated by Eric Williamson, CMO at CallMiner.
Here are our key takeaways from both fascinating discussions:
A hybrid approach to generative AI gives you the best of both worlds
When a technology like generative AI comes along, it can be tempting to start again, with the latest shiny tech as the foundation, but in the enterprise space, this isn’t necessarily the right call as, on its own, it is untested and could pose a variety of risks. A hybrid NLU (Natural Language Understanding) solution, whereby generative AI works in tandem with proprietary NLU/NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology, provides the processing power and creativity of generative AI without sacrificing on the accuracy that is so important for businesses. It’s important too, to not just be hybrid in your approach to the foundational technology of conversational AI but also in the relationship between virtual and human agents. Human agents oversee responses and refine them to be increasingly accurate over time. It’s about putting guard rails up in the right places to create the most efficient and accurate system possible.
Don’t hesitate with conversational AI
As with any new technology, some businesses have been hesitant to adopt conversational AI and prefer to sit back, watch it develop, and jump in when they feel the technology is ‘mature’. With conversational AI, however, this can be counterintuitive. Bringing conversational AI into your organization means you’re able to try and test things and overcome barriers to progress. As with any new project, effort up front can help ensure your conversational AI journey is a smooth one with minimal speed bumps. With the right expertise and testing process, you’ll find that the path to a better customer experience is less bumpy than you might imagine.
Conversational AI is the first step on the AI journey
In many ways, virtual agents were the precursor to the generative AI craze we’re currently seeing. Talking with virtual agents is something many customers have already gotten used to, but what’s changed is the accuracy and reliability of the technology. Now that Large Language Models (LLMs) are part of the mainstream, the question is how to utilize AI across the whole contact center to augment the customer experience. The beauty of AI is that once you get it up and running, it learns on the job – with important intervention from human agents – and will only become more effective at creating high quality customer experiences over time.
Generative AI is changing the game
The recent generative AI boom has had one key effect for customers, which is to raise expectations of what the customer experience should be. Customers want to sample this technology and understand how it can optimize daily processes. Now that AI is firmly in the public consciousness, watertight and expert-led regulation must be drafted to provide a guide for safe use. This regulation must be put in place to ensure that generative AI serves the public interest without restricting innovation.
AI isn’t replacing people, it’s augmenting them
One of the strongest use cases for conversational AI is in ‘agent assist’, where a virtual agent listens in to a human-to-human conversation and provides guidance and responses for the human agent, decreasing wait times and increasing the efficiency of responses. TV distribution company Allente has automated 70% of human chat with agent assist in just six months by focusing on the customer journey first and foremost. Allente has rolled out a highly successful virtual agent implementation. Audience traffic is growing every year, and humans are always going to play a critical role in the smooth running of the contact center. Conversational AI redirects human agents’ efforts to more productive revenue-driven activities for which humans are most effective. AI will inform improved contact center effectiveness and efficiency, leading to not only an improved customer experience but an improved employee experience as well.
Want to improve how to create a memorable customer journey with AI?
Boost.ai is a leader in conversational AI platforms for enterprise organizations. We help businesses transform their customer and employee experience through the use of AI-powered virtual agents. If you’re interested in maximizing the potential of your conversational AI tools and want to start your conversational AI journey, connect with one of our experts today!