The AI in Business Podcast from Emerj has just released their latest episode: The CX Impact of AI for Voice – with PolyAI CEO Nikola Mrkšić.
Nikola speaks with podcast host Daniel Faggella about why voice is critical for customer service, and the challenges presented by conversational AI design, such as creating a speech-to-text model that is able to understand despite background noise, interruptions, slang and heavy accents. Nikola says, “a lot of this technology works really well in ideal conditions, but it’s really far from working in all the conditions you need it to.” People are also less direct and more likely to ramble when talking than when they’re writing, so a great voice assistant needs to understand the callers’ intent and identify the important information, all while moving the conversation forward towards a resolution.
How does AI add value to the voice channel in business?
When it comes to how AI can add value to the voice channel in business, Nikola gives two main examples:
1. Processing data at superhuman speed
An AI assistant is able to process huge amounts of data in milliseconds. This is great when it comes to applications such as recommendations for hotels, lending or insurance products, or simply finding the best solution to a customer’s problem. The voice assistant is able to input given data – as well as customer data they have from previous interactions and their history with the company – and combine it with market data to find the best possible option for each individual customer. Where a human agent might miss some information, forget something that’s been discussed, or take a while sorting through information, an AI assistant can process this incredibly quickly, delivering correct information the first time around.
2. Understanding human behaviour to deliver a superhuman customer experience
Secondly, AI can understand complex human speech patterns, by collecting data on thousands of other calls and similar interactions. This allows it to deliver incredibly efficient customer service, as it understands intent early on in an interaction, and collects data on-the-go, so the customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves later in the conversation.
Listen Now
Listen to the podcast here to learn more about Nikola’s insights into how PolyAI is revolutionising the voice experience for customer service.
