Jamie Marshall, co-founder of Everon, has explained his view that the biggest challenge with AI is understanding its true capabilities and how it can be used to add value to your business.
Marshall was on a panel alongside Chris Angus, vice president, contact centre engagement, at 8x8 and Alex Black, chief technology officer at Enghouse Interactive, discussing the impact of AI on the Channel at this year's Channel Live at Birmingham's NEC.
"One of the main problem with AI is simply the unknown," said Marshall. "As a technology, it moves so quickly that it’s hard to keep up to date with all the new developments.
"That's why we need to learn more about it and understand the benefits it can deliver, beyond purely ChatGPT. Then it's about harnessing that technology to enable your business to grow and complement your team rather than replace it."
Angus said that the main risk with using AI is jumping into the technology too quickly and deeply without having a clear operational understanding of how it needs to be applied in order to derive the most benefit. Rather, first you need to identify and understand the issue that has to be addressed, he said.
"Be clear and definitive about the problem you want to solve," said Angus. "That will determine whether you even need AI in the first place."
Poor implementation
Even where AI is required, Angus said that often its implementation is let down by poor understand and deployment of the technology, resulting in poor staff and customer outcomes and experiences. To ensure it's successfully applied, he recommended taking a step back and looking at your key processes and workflows, bringing in small changes at first and then building on those.
Black agreed that once several companies have started to use AI, others feel obliged to follow suit just in order to keep up. Instead, you need to focus on what you want to achieve, he said.
"Just because your competitor is doing it, it doesn’t mean you should be to," said Black. "It may not be suitable for your needs, which means it's critical to decide first what you are aiming to achieve and then choose the right technology for it afterwards, rather than the other way round."
Black added that it was best to experiment with the technology first to see what it's capable of before rolling it out fully. He has already used this to good effect in his own business, with positive results.
New opportunities
In terms of opportunities, Black said that there were two key areas: internally and externally. By equipping employees with the right tools to do their job, he said that AI can enable them to be more efficient. Also, it can be used to add value to your customers and establish yourself as a trusted partner, he said.
As far as use cases are concerned, Black said that one of the most common applications of AI is in contact centres to improve customer service. With the ability to look at all of the calls received, the technology can tell you how the staff interacted with the customer, what the customer felt about the experience, and where and how they can improve as a service.
Marshall said that AI has opened up a host of potential new revenue streams. He added that it's also keeping staff engaged and motivated, and, thus, they’re performing better. And because they are more satisfied, he said that they are likely to stay with the business longer, as well as helping to attract new employees.
"Many tasks that have to be carried out are mundane and costly, both in terms of time and money," said Marshall. "But AI can completely transform all that – instead of being a cost base, it can now be viewed as a benefit."
Angus warned, however, that despite AI's undoubted strengths and capabilities, it isn't the complete solution yet. Human interaction is still key for it to work effectively, he said, giving the example where chatbots have to pass on more complex calls or queries to human operators.
"Human interaction is still paramount, particularly within a chat-based environment," said Angus. "Working alongside each other, it ensures that you deliver a better, quicker and more efficient level of service."
With AI's adoption, Marshall said that you need to get everyone in the organisation to buy into the technology for it to work effectively. Failure to do so, he said, means that you are starting on the back foot and it will take longer to implement, if at all, he said.
"Without getting everyone on board and fully embracing the technology, it's not going work," Marshall said. "You can't just assume it's going to be brought it and change everything overnight – it needs the people and processes to support it and go on that journey."