Public awareness of what we now all call AI probably developed 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 roots of the technology go much deeper: early pioneers like TalkIQ had begun exploring large language models in business contexts and created a robust platform that was acquired by Dialpad in 2018.
The focus on language recognition, specifically in business contexts, is one of the key features of Dialpad’s current communications platform, therefore, that makes it stand out in this crowded sector. Since the acquisition, Dialpad has developed further, bringing more powerful AI features into the contact centre, onto the sales floor, and anywhere else voice communications play a central role in operations.
We spoke to Jeremy Slater, the Vice President of EMEA Sales at Dialpad, about the platform’s use of a winning combination of voice, transcription and language processing, and how – unlike in many of its competitors – AI is a long-embedded and mature element of the company’s portfolio.
Joining the company from stints at BlueJeans and a then-nascent Zoom, he has long experience not just in the digital communications space but has also seen the emergence of AI from the points of view of a startup and an established industry leader.
We spoke first about how ‘bolting on’ AI capability into unified communications platforms can never be as effective as a smart engine that’s trained on over six billion minutes of conversation in business contexts.
The first consideration has to be the way any platform integrates with the rest of the IT stack in daily use across the enterprise. “One of the benefits of having software with built-in AI versus using a third-party AI is that it will always knows who’s speaking. It’s not just listening to the call and trying to find out what’s happening. It picks up from the endpoint [like a CRM, ticketing system, etc.] all the history, the customer’s details, and shows it right on the agent’s screen.”
In terms of call centre operations, Dialpad’s goal is to improve the overall customer experience with a brand or company, not replace skilled agents with chatbots that simply cause frustration in all but the simplest interactions.
The Dialpad AI-powered platform aids and even upskills the agent: “Generative AI in Dialpad’s Ai Agent Assist is similar to a chatbot, only it’s internal facing. So if [an agent is] on a call and they get a tricky question, how do they get a robust answer? The Ai Agent Assist draws from the company’s knowledge base and helps the agent in real-time, just like that!” Slater said.
The same AI technology opens the way for live agent coaching: guidance and answers, prompt cards and scripts, all presented in the context of ongoing communication, produced by an AI that knows what the call is about. That helps shorten the gap between new and experienced employees, upskilling new hires faster and reducing the dreaded staff churn. 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 they can possibly be, to reach resolution in the shortest amount of time possible, and ensure that you leave satisfied. That’s really one thing that’s very key for us,” Slater said.
Once live conversations flow through Dialpad, the underlying AI trains on these conversations to deliver the best output for agents..
Sentiment analysis, for example, provides a real-time understanding of how well a customer call is going and can also flag calls to a supervisor if things are derailing. The manager can join the call to support the agent and help reach resolution faster.
“Plus, from a customer satisfaction point of view, we can deliver an AI-powered CSAT score based on every call. Instead of getting a maybe 5% response on your customer satisfaction survey, which will tend to [comprise of] the really angry or very happy customers (because they’re the ones that will take the time), you’ll have a much more rounded understanding of what your customer satisfaction is. So there’s a lot of additional value we add.”
The Dialpad platform is constantly evolving, with multilingualism coming soon, and, thanks to the self-learning model, regional accents and vernacular are adapted to with continued use.
Dialpad users can add additional functionality as and when required. For instance, outbound sales teams can also be AI-assisted by using real-time assist cards for smarter objection handling, tracking adherence to sales playbooks or adding call notes and action items directly into the CRM – all in a single platform.
Whether it’s simple yet smart bots that can field initial queries inbound, intelligent call routing, or advanced call centre operations for bidirectional call operations, the Dialpad AI-powered communication platform is designed to support and develop the people at the coal face. The outcomes can (literally) be measured, and the end results are increased customer satisfaction, better brand loyalty, and more sales and repeat business.
To find out more about Dialpad, you can meet the team in person at the upcoming TechEx event in the Unified Comms track in Amsterdam, October 1-2. Or head to the Dialpad website to get started.
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