Experiential Usage of Generative AI for Business

Your customers don’t have to be (or have) a Contact Center to use and benefit from Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). What they do need to recognize is that they, their business, and their customers will benefit by improving the way they operate and make decisions with AI. Advanced algorithms and Machine Learning can help businesses streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive innovation. Utilizing data analysis, AI can process vast amounts of information to identify patterns, trends, and insights that would be nearly impossible for humans to uncover manually. This enables businesses to make data-driven decisions, optimize processes, and predict customer trends with greater accuracy.

“AI technologies predicted to increase global economic output by $13 trillion by 2029.” – Pepperdine University

AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants (on both sides of the conversation) have revolutionized customer service, providing round-the-clock support and personalized interactions, improving customer satisfaction. Organizations are even using AI to analyze consumer behavior and preferences to tailor marketing campaigns for maximum effectiveness. Supply chain management also benefits from AI’s predictive capabilities, minimizing disruptions and optimizing inventory levels.

Customer Experience (CX) gets most of the focus, but there is also an incredible opportunity to improve Employee Experience (EX) and foster a more productive, engaged, and supportive work environment. AI-driven tools can automate routine tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic and creative endeavors. AI-powered analytics can provide insights into employee performance, learning patterns, and career trajectories, enabling personalized development plans that align with individual strengths and aspirations. Chatbots and virtual assistants powered by AI can offer instant HR support, addressing queries related to benefits, policies, and procedures, improving communication, and reducing administrative burdens.

Sandler Partners AI

Have your customers focus on 1-2 of the use cases above, and they’ll realize results. Take a measured approach, making sure your actions/goals are doable and measurable with a defined timeline. Going too big too soon can be a way to set yourself, and your customers, up to fail.

Defining the AI Playing Field: What Is AI, and What Is It Not?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions are here to stay. Don’t expect a magical off-the-shelf, out-of-the-box solution. Integration and adoption of these solutions can take time to deploy, configure, and realize the learning set necessary for the AI to produce the results you want. Results that are consistent, replicable, cost-efficient, and impactful for business operations. Results that build off your best performers, are influenced by data and make your customers feel like they are having a real one-to-one meaningful relationship with your brand.

AI You Can Offer Your Customers as a Sandler Partner

Conversational AI | Can be used without a Contact Center or CCaaS and is a fit for small to large customers. These stand on their own.

  • Virtual Agents and Chatbots – Usually for self-service or to help scale. It uses NLP for voice, plus Chatbots. A Chatbot is essentially a Digital Bot and can be used in almost any real-time digital medium like Webchat, SMS, WhatsApp, etc.

AI-powered Features and Capabilities | ChatGPT is where Generative really comes into play and can be utilized for both Contact Center and Non-Contact Center uses.

Contact Center

  • Speech Analytics – Quality Management; calls are recorded, transcribed, and scored; Sentiment Analysis can be utilized to provide a new level of customer insight!
  • Agent Assist – coaching agents in real-time; script adherence, overcoming objections, etc.

CX Standalone Solutions

  • Generative AI – Chat GPT integration, small/large language models, knowledge base crawls, surfaces answers, call summaries, meeting summaries, etc.
  • Predictive Analytics– Predicting the customers CSAT, WFM scheduling, Recommendations, Customer Journey

Taking a Step Back, What Is Generative AI?

Chat GPT (Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) has become a common buzzword, and while it’s the largest and most recognized generative AI (Alphabet and Microsoft excluded), it’s not the only option. Others offer different strengths and uses. Here are some notes about them:

  • OpenAI (GPT4 & DALL-E)
  • Hugging Face (Bloom, Private Hub – community-driven AI development)
  • Alphabet-Google (Gemini – scalability)
  • Microsoft (CoPilot, AI-Enhanced Bing/Edge – business operations and productivity)
  • Cohere (Embed, Classify, Generate – natural language processing)
  • Anthropic (Claude – customizable content generation, customer support)
  • Jasper (Jasper – marketing)
  • Glean (Glean – employee user experience)
  • Synthesis AI (Synthetic data, image, video generation, 3D human modeling, automotive/pedestrian monitoring, Cybersecurity)
  • Stability AI (Plugin; Dreamstudio, Photoshop, Blender – content generation/editing)
  • Lightricks (Facetune, videoleap, filtertune – personal, creative use)

Generative AI systems fall into a broad category of Machine Learning and describes algorithms that can create new content (audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos), after having sampled a large data set (the learning/training part of Machine Learning). Before this can happen large amounts of relevant data are collected (numbers, photos, transactions, records, sensor data, reports, etc.) and used to train the machine. The more data, the better the program. Programmers, the human trainers, can tweak the model, to push for more accurate results.

To learn more about AI, selling into any vertical, expanding what you offer across the IT stack, and the support you can receive, the Sandler Partners Sales Engineering team hosted the “AI & the Impact to Your Customers’ Tech Approach” Tech Panel Webinar on September 10th and 11th! Over the two days we explored key areas including best approaches, benefits, and how to guide the conversation from start to conclusion. We also took a look at recent industry changes and how they’re impacting organizations you currently support and those you want to work with. On day 2 Dialpad, DYOPATH, For2Fi, and Pax8 presented their their solutions and where they work best! Missed it? Watch the recording today!

WATCH ON DEMAND

Engaging in a conversation about the capabilities and opportunities of AI can be daunting. You don’t need to be a complete expert. Now that you know a few of the highlights you can easily connect with your Sandler Partners Sales Engineering Team. You have an SE specifically dedicated to assisting you no matter what part of the country you may be in. You can also reach out to your Channel Manager who can support you. Your entire dedicated team is listed on your Sandler Portal homepage dashboard. For more information on the comprehensive support offered by your Sales Engineering team, feel free to email me directly at [email protected] or visit the Sandler Partners’ Sales Engineering webpage. Thank you for dedicating your time to reading this post, and I hope you found the topic as exciting as I do!

Author:

Ben Edwards

Ben Edwards is the Director, Sales Engineer - West. With a wealth of experience working with senior executives and leaders, Ben is a recognized expert in Customer Experience and CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) who excels at discussing, proposing, and addressing the technical needs of businesses. His unique skillset combination of customer-facing and technology provider experience enables him to effectively partner with clients to deliver tailored solutions that meet their specific requirements. He is highly experienced in providing CCaaS solutions to a diverse range of businesses and has a proven track record of delivering results.