DigitalTransformationTalk: How the customer experience is being reshaped by AI-powered voice assistance

On 5 March 2024, Digital Transformation host Kevin Crane was joined by
James Poulter, CEO & Co-Founder, Vixen Labs; and Steven Giuffre, Senior Voice Manager, Vonage.

Views on news

The integration of ChatGPT enhances the DS Automobiles driving experience and French art of travel with a high-tech dimension offering unlimited potential. With Chat GPT, drivers are able not only to have interactions with a robot but a proper chat. According to stats, over half of voice searches occur during driving, while asking for directions is one of the top use cases and 20 per cent of drivers in the UK already use conversational AI in their cars. Chat GPT can answer multiple questions in a single statement. Ambient voice assistance is being implemented on a couple of other device such as ear pods and headsets.

New GenAi enabled voice assistant applications

Voice will get increasingly embedded in all kinds of applications. Not only will voice assistants support self-service and automation but they’ll also enhance the live agent experience – driving next best actions, understanding sentiment, getting transcriptions and translations between different languages. Another benefit of voice assistants is the data that can be captured during their use by consumers in order to personalise experiences. The utmost gamechanger with Gen AI is when the business’s own data is brought to the “AI party.” But to make the most of that, all the questions that a customer may want to ask must be anticipated. The GenAI-enabled chatbot will be able to retrieve the most relevant answer from all the ones it has been taught – and they will use much more natural language than they did before. The technology has also been democratised, which makes it available for businesses of different shapes and sizes. Just like customers need to be offered to communicate via their channel of choice, the same goes for GenAI applications too. 

The question is whether GenAI can become anticipatory.  By itself, it reacts to questions, but when combined with predictive models, it can anticipate users’ needs too. In the case of mobile service providers, anticipating increasing data usage can lead to AI generating a new, personalised data plan automatically. There is some consumer hesitation regarding the use of anticipatory AI as its data gathering is seen by some as too intrusive. That said, in a supportive context consumers mind that less provided their needs, intentions and preferences are being met. With the increasing use of Gen AI, the redeployment and upskilling of human resources are becoming instrumental. The main trend prior to GenAI entering the scene was to centralise interactions with consumers – think of fast food restaurants with ordering screens and human service coming at a premium. The best way to teach AI is having conversations with customers and then teach the algorithm leveraging them.

At this point, it may be hard to tell whether customers will be more loyal to companies that deploy Gen AI or will seek out those that don’t. If brands can employ AI that gets things done for them, as well as delighting them with a personalised experience, that will certainly generate loyalty. 

The panel’s advice

• The greatest efficiency can be reached when employing AI and humans together. In healthcare, for example, combined machine-human solutions are already being implemented. 
• GenAI enables fast self-service on the front end while supporting the agent by helping them reference data and pull from that data in real time, while the data source is being updated in real time as well. 
• What is revolutionary about GenAI is that it can use unstructured learning to produce answers.
• The various disciplines of AI and their capabilities are very much complementary. 
• Customer engagement goals must come first and only after that should it be considered what role AI can play in achieving them. 
• The first step for businesses considering implementing AI should be a subscription and building their own model to customise customer experiences. 

For Vonage’s customer engagement report, click here or here.