Public awareness of what we now all call AI likely grew in late 2022, when OpenAI gave the online community access to a free implementation of its technology, then based on ChatGPT-3.5.
But the technology’s roots go much deeper: early pioneers like TalkIQ began exploring large language models in commercial contexts and created a robust platform that was acquired by Dialpad in 2018.
A focus on language recognition, particularly in business contexts, is one of the key features of Dialpad’s current communications platform, making it stand out in this crowded industry. Since the acquisition, Dialpad has expanded further, bringing more powerful AI capabilities to the contact center, sales floors and everywhere else voice communications play a central role in operations.
We spoke to Jeremy SlaterVice President of Sales EMEA at Keyboardabout the platform’s use of a winning combination of voice, transcription and language processing, and how, unlike many of its competitors, AI is a mature, long-integrated element in the company’s portfolio.
Joining the company after working at then-fledgling BlueJeans and Zoom, he has extensive experience not only in digital communications, but has also seen the emergence of AI from a startup and business perspective. a recognized industry leader.
We first discussed how integrating AI capabilities into unified communications platforms will never be as effective as an intelligent engine trained on over six billion minutes of conversation in business contexts. .
The first consideration should be how any platform integrates with the rest of the IT stack used in the business every day. “One of the benefits of having software with built-in AI versus using third-party AI is that it will always know who is speaking. It’s not just listening to the call and trying to find out what’s going on. It retrieves from the end point (like a CRM, ticketing system, etc.) all the history, customer details, and displays them directly on the agent’s screen.
In terms of call center operations, Dialpad’s goal is to improve the overall customer experience with a brand or business, not to replace skilled agents with chatbots that simply cause frustration in all interactions, except the simplest ones.
Dialpad’s AI-based platform helps and even improves agent skills: “The generative AI in Dialpad’s Ai Agent Assist is similar to a chatbot, except it’s internal. So if (an agent is) on a call and they get a tricky question, how can they get a solid answer? Ai Agent Assist leverages the company’s knowledge base and helps the agent in real time, just like that! » said Slater.
The same AI technology paves the way for live agent coaching: tips and answers, prompt cards and scripts, all presented in the context of ongoing communication, produced by an AI that knows what the agent is talking about. ‘call. This helps narrow the gap between new and experienced employees, upskilling new hires more quickly and reducing the dreaded staff churn rate. Employees get up and running faster, improving their job satisfaction and career progression.
“We just want to make sure that the person you (as a customer) speak to is as competent as possible, so that we can reach a resolution as quickly as possible and leave you satisfied. It’s a really important thing for us,” Slater said.
Once live conversations flow through Dialpad, the underlying AI trains on these conversations to deliver the best outcome to agents.
Sentiment analysis, for example, provides real-time understanding of how a customer call is going and can also flag calls to a supervisor if things go off the rails. The manager can join the call to support the agent and help them reach a resolution faster.
“Additionally, from a customer satisfaction perspective, we can provide an AI-based CSAT score for each call. Instead of getting about a 5% response to your customer satisfaction survey, which will tend to (include) really angry or very happy customers (because they’re the ones who will take the time), you’ll have a lot more answers. a deep understanding of what customer satisfaction means. So we add a lot of additional value.
The Dialpad platform is constantly evolving, with multilingualism coming, and, thanks to the self-learning model, regional accents and vernacular are adapted with continued use.
Dialpad users can add additional features as needed. For example, outbound sales teams can also be assisted by AI using real-time support cards for smarter objection handling, tracking compliance with sales playbooks, or adding call notes and action items directly in the CRM, all on one platform.
From simple yet intelligent bots capable of responding to initial incoming queries, to intelligent call routing or advanced call center operations for two-way call operations, the communications platform based on AI Dialpad is designed to support and develop people in the field. Results can (literally) be measured, and the end results are increased customer satisfaction, better brand loyalty, and more sales and loyalty.
To learn more about Dialpad, you can meet the team in person at the next TechEx event in the Unified Comms track in Amsterdam, October 1 and 2. Or head to the Keyboard website to start.
