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This year we returned with the only voice AI conference to focus on customer stories.
VOX 2024: Horizons featured a lineup of industry experts from NVIDIA, Simplyhealth, Zendesk, Twilio, Hopper, and more.
Speakers provided a realistic perspective on AI’s impact on contact centers, sharing real stories and practical advice to help attendees address the increasingly popular question ‘What are you doing with AI?'”
Welcome to PolyAI VOX Horizons
PolyAI’s CEO and Co-founder, Nikola Mrkšić, kicked off the day by addressing the buzz—and skepticism—about generative AI.
The opening keynote highlighted that to succeed, companies need to refine the whole generative AI stack—customizing speech recognition, choosing adaptable LLMs, and optimizing synthesized voices to match their brand. This takes work, but when done right, voice AI becomes a valuable asset that creates more flexible and impactful voice assistants that handle a broader range of customer queries to create natural, humanlike conversations.
Revolutionizing healthcare service with voice AI
Lauren Sullivan, Howard Brown Health’s Chief Information Officer, followed with insights into how Howard Brown Health uses voice AI to revolutionize healthcare services. Lauren emphasized the positive outcomes of implementing voice AI, including improved patient satisfaction scores and reduced turnover in the contact center.
The integration of AI has also allowed Howard Brown Health’s teams to provide more meaningful work for agents, shifting their focus from routine tasks to more impactful patient interactions, and a powerful example of how AI is not just automating tasks but driving real transformation in healthcare delivery.
Innovator spotlight: Caesars Entertainment
Mary Ann Dennis, Senior Vice President of Teleservices, and Jon Arnold, Director of Property Support at Caesars Entertainment, joined us to share how voice AI transforms the guest experience.
As a business built around providing exceptional experiences, Caesars Entertainment knows that technology is key to delivering the best service possible. By streamlining call handling and providing agents with real-time insights from the voice assistant, they’ve significantly improved customer service efficiency.
For Caesars, reducing friction in the customer journey is a top priority—ensuring that every guest has a seamless and hassle-free experience. The conversation highlighted the power of collaboration and how innovative tools like voice AI are playing a crucial role in elevating customer support in the hospitality industry.
How to implement voice AI like a tech company (with Hopper)
Jo Lai heads up customer experience at Hopper, leading Product, operations, workforce, vendor management, and talent teams to deliver operational strategy, product innovation, and talent management
Hopper wanted to provide customers with instant, consistent access to phone support with a solution that focused on resolution over containment to ensure that customers were fully satisfied with the answers they received.
Jo joined PolyAI’s Nathan Liu to discuss Hopper’s journey to voice AI implementation, building trust with a partner for customer experience, mastering conversation design, and offering insights for those considering voice AI solutions.
Lessons learned from an 18-month-old voice assistant
Simplyhealth’s goal was to transition from legacy systems to a digital-first, automated approach that enables effortless customer journeys. To achieve it, they partnered with PolyAI to build a voice assistant to serve customers efficiently and treat vulnerable customers with extra care.
18 months have passed since deployment, and Dan Eddie, Director of Customer Service at Simplyhealth, shared his key learnings with PolyAI’s Kylie Whitehead. Dan explained how the project began, its impact on customer and agent experiences, and how AI implementation has allowed Simplyhealth to upskill and redeploy agents for more complex tasks. He also highlighted upcoming AI-driven initiatives to enhance Simplyhealth’s customer experience further.
How to build an enterprise voice assistant
The technology and expertise required to deploy an effective voice assistant explain why only 11% of enterprise applications make it to production.
PolyAI’s Vice President of Solutions Engineering, Oisin Glynn, and VP of Deployments, Nathan Liu, shared with attendees what it really takes to build an enterprise voice assistant. From designing for engagement to the importance of giving your brand a voice and what happens when your voice assistant goes live, this session had it all.
Implementing a voice assistant in customer service
In the first panel session of the day, Juan Ocharan, Chief Information Officer at Pet Paradise, and Moni Panchavadi, Worldwide Partner Solution Technology Lead at AWS, focused on what it takes to implement a voice assistant successfully.
The panelists advised attendees that implementation isn’t just about applying AI everywhere but figuring out where it can make the most impact. The session also covered how AI can improve operational efficiency, the importance of managing expectations, and emphasized the point that AI is an ongoing journey—not a one-time project.
How PolyAI and NVIDIA are creating lifelike voice experiences
Kicking off the afternoon sessions, PolyAI’s CTO, Shawn Wen was joined by Pascal Cheverau, AI Software segment sales EMEA at NVIDIA.
To create lifelike voice experiences and automate customer service interactions over the phone, companies must solve the unique challenge of gaining a caller’s trust through qualities such as understanding, empathy, and clarity.
The session covered the challenges and advancements in speech recognition technology, particularly in contact centers. Shawn and Pascal focused on the challenges of accent recognition, the importance of high-quality, diverse datasets, and the ongoing need for continuous model improvement.
How to use AI to drive next-level personalization
For the next panel of the day, Samantha Richardson, Executive Engagement Director, APAC & EMEA at Twilio, and Kevin Boyer Senior Director of Product Marketing at Zendesk, joined us. Both panelists emphasized the importance of gathering data from various touchpoints to build trust through personalized interactions.
Both experts agreed on the growing need for cross-department collaboration, noting that AI initiatives are uniting teams like marketing, customer service, and data management. As AI evolves, businesses are better positioned to offer personalized, efficient, and trusted experiences for their customers.
The future is voice: How OpenTable and Lettuce Entertain You are using voice AI for phone bookings
In this session, PolyAI’s Michael Chen was joined by Adam Biolchin, General Manager, Lettuce Entertain You and Scott Hudson VP, Global Sales & Services at OpenTable. Our hospitality innovators came together to discuss the evolution of dining and highlight the ways AI and technology are transforming the industry.
Scott emphasized that technology should be used to elevate what already works well in traditional dining environments. The goal is to create a seamless experience for both the guest and the staff, improving the overall service. Adam Biolchin also highlighted that AI and technology can significantly improve both the customer and staff experience without replacing the essential human touch that makes hospitality special.
That’s a wrap on VOX 2024: Horizons. Watch all of the sessions from the day on demand here. See you next year!
