Talla Company Blog

For as long as there are businesses with customers, there will be a need for customer service teams -- but what your customer support organization will look like in the future will be heavily influenced by artificial intelligence and software automation.

Case deflection will be far more proactive in the future, as automation software will monitor customer usage of your products and services and detect problems as the happen -- perhaps even before the customer notices a downgrade in service or performance. This automation system will reach out to the customer itself -- via chat, email, autmated voice calling, or contacting their smart-speaker -- to advise on how to solve the problem without needing to search for advice in your FAQs or contact your support team.

Wayfair is an e-commerce company specializing in home goods. A quick glance at their sleek website shows that the shopping experience here is definitely different from that of Amazon or Walmart. Pinterest-esque panels showcase attractive furniture arrangements, allowing you to pick items out visually instead of just searching by a specific item.

Ever since Gmail shook up the free online storage game in 2004 by giving away a then-shocking gigabyte of space, individuals and businesses alike have become "digital hoarders" -- keeping all their old data around in case it becomes useful later -- regardless of the unacknowledged drawbacks of the practice. And while storage has become exponentially cheaper over the last 15 years, the hidden costs of digital hoarding may finally outweigh their benefits.

To take a closer look at how AI is remodeling the landscape of B2B sales, we hear from Stephen Messer, co-founder of Collective[i] on episode 35 of AI at Work. Collective[i] was born out of a trend that Stephen observed in his previous company - LinkShare - a pioneer in the field of performance-based marketing and affiliate links.

Information is critical to the success of any modern business, so it's no surprise that many companies are enticed by enterprise support tools. These tools, however, are often a band-aid to a larger information organization and curation problem -- one that modern automation tools are better disposed to solve than old-fashioned search software.

Support case deflection is the art of empowering your customers to troubleshoot their own support issues without having to actually engage with your customer support teams. While case deflection is inarguably a cost-saving practice, it isn't an optimal experience for your customers. The real goal should be case prevention -- solving your customers' problems before they even need to contact you.

One of the best ways to keep yourself up-to-date on the latest developments in the world of AI and machine learning is a great podcast. Just like the field itself, AI-centric podcasts are continuously developing and diversifying - they’re a great way to learn while commuting, working out, and living your life. We’ve put together a roundup of five podcasts that explore the latest advances through different lenses. We’ll tell you a little bit of background about each one so that you can start to get a sense of which of these highly rated podcasts appeals most to you. 

Let’s start with a moment we’ve all experienced. You’re having an issue with a company’s product. Whether it’s your cell phone, your bank account, or Starbucks mobile account. It’s safe to say you’re not happy, and you’re definitely not over-the-moon-excited to call or chat customer support. You probably don’t have much time, and you’re picturing yourself being shuffled from automated recording to automated recording, eventually screaming into your phone, “Speak to a rep-re-sen-ta-tive!”. Long story short, you want your problem solved as quickly and painlessly as possible.

While AI technologies continue to grow bi-directionally both in the breadth and depth of applications, many companies are at a loss when it comes to figuring out how to get started and how to leverage these advances for their business processes.

It's the difference between a map and directions, between a recipe and a meal, between sheet music and a song. That's the difference between search results and a real answer to a question, and that difference matters a great deal to customer support teams.