VOICE22 - Talking About Contact Center Operations

Customer service is a natural candidate for AI-powered voice tech. So it just makes sense that it's one of the industries in which voice tech has made the most inward strides. Given the costs of having live agents answer low-value inquiries, turning to voice tech was a no-brainer. And it's yielded its rewards - from lower wait times to higher customer and employee engagement and significant cost savings.

While the benefits do jump out, voice tech needs to be implemented diligently. And that's going to mean different things for different organizations. Very few things in life are actually "one size fits all," and voice tech is no exception.

That's why, as part of VOICE22, we're not only taking a deep dive into how to integrate voice tech into your business model. We're also looking at the why and when to implement the tech. It's critical for each organization looking to embrace AI-powered voice tech to understand the key parts of their business that are best suited for voice integration and start their journey there. 

But that's easier said than done.

VOICE22

VOICE22 is taking place in Arlington, VA, from October 10th to the 12th. The event will feature keynotes, workshops, and panels presented by voice tech leaders from around the world. They'll be discussing, among other things, how AI-powered voice tech can help overcome workforce management challenges that have unfortunately become the norm. You'll learn how voice tech can facilitate hiring, training, and retaining call center agents while keeping typically unpredictable call volumes under control.

You'll also understand how to test, tune and leverage new technologies, like AI-powered voice tech, and transform your call center and digital service channels globally. Learn how providing your users with immersive and personalized voice experiences translates to engaging user journeys that create a more intimate relationship with your brand(s) and drive growth.

VOICE22 is talking about voice in customer service.

Speaker Highlights

Making the Choice for Voice

On October 12th, at 2:30 PM, Kathleen Gavenman, Principal Voice Designer at Amazon, will be giving a talk that attempts to answer the following question: when is voice the right choice? Kathleen will specifically address the fact that voice integration is not "one size fits all." Understanding when voice is warranted and when it is not is critical to a successful implementation. Successful voice experiences require careful consideration and a deep understanding of your customers' experiences.

AI-powered voice tech has massively expanded since its inception, and we're seeing a sort of gold rush towards its implementation in almost every context. As businesses across industries continue to introduce voice experiences to serve their users and employees, they need to be sensitive to the subtleties of creating truly meaningful voice experiences. Because while speech may be an elementary form of communication, only genuinely useful voice experiences will provide a return on investment.

Kathleen breaks all this down and will share eight ways to identify whether your business is ready for a voice experience.

Trust-Led Conversation Design

On October 11th, at 5:15 PM, Nikola Mrkšić, Co-Founder and CEO of PolyAI, will discuss spoken language understanding (SLU) and user trust. SLU is a correction layer that, when integrated into voice interfaces, vastly improves AI understanding of human speech and enables more capable, human-like voice assistants to be built.

But while that's all well and good, Nikola reminds us that a voice assistant is only helpful if people are willing to speak to it. And so the question becomes, how can dialogue designers compel humans to trust the AI? In other words, how does one design conversation flows that inherently and transparently foster user trust?

The answer he provides is multi-pronged. Throughout his talk, Nikola will go over how transparency, clever design, high-quality and well-produced voice recordings, along with intelligent use of linguistics can help bridge the AI-trust gap. And this is fundamental in a customer service setting.

Panel: Digital Transformation Was Always About Voice

On October 11th, at 3:00 PM, Frank Schneider, CEO at Speakeasy AI, will be joined by Dominique Essig, VP and General Manager of Conversational Commerce at Walmart, Brian Rider, Senior Product Manager at Intuit, and Carter Calle, Messaging and AI Strategy at IHG Hotels & Resorts. Together, they will host a panel discussion on how digital transformation and voice AI are linked.

Their starting point is the observation that businesses spend a massive amount of time, money, and effort on rebuilding websites, launching apps, and managing social media, all to try and prevent customers from calling their contact center and incurring costs. And yet, despite all that, the customers keep calling.

And while our speakers could provide reasons as to why customers keep calling despite so much effort being put into preventing "avoidable contact," they maintain that the real question to answer is "why don't you want to talk to your customers?" Talking with your customers doesn't necessarily equate to conversations with live agents. There's actually a better way to foster deep and engaging relationships with customers - you guessed it: AI-powered voice tech.

The panel will share their insights into why that is, supported by real-world examples of today's most preeminent brands using voice tech to do just that.

Wrap Up

The highlights above are just the tip of the iceberg. VOICE22 is packed with practical and enlightening keynotes, workshops, and panels. Customer service is one of the industries with the most ties to AI-powered voice tech, so there's a lot to talk about! Join us for VOICE22, October 10th to the 12th, and help shape the future of voice in customer service.

You can view the agenda to see the complete list of speakers and get your ticket here.

The future is vocal.

About Modev

Modev was founded in 2008 on the simple belief that human connection is vital in the era of digital transformation. Today, Modev produces market-leading events such as VOICE Global, presented by Google Assistant, VOICE Summit, and the award-winning VOICE Talks internet talk show. Modev staff, better known as "Modevators," include community building and transformation experts worldwide. To learn more about Modev, and the breadth of events offered live and virtually, visit modev.com.