The theme of Verint’s Engage 2024 conference, “The Magic of CX Automation,” was more than just a catchy slogan. It was a promise to attendees – a gathering of Verint leaders, customers, partners, and industry analysts in Orlando, FL – that the event would showcase the transformative potential of automation in customer experience. The conference’s socializing event at Universal Studios, which culminated in a visit to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, was a fitting accompaniment to this theme. 

The rapid takeoff of neural networks and large language models over the past few years has indeed seemed like magic to many observers. However, at Engage 24, Verint’s focus was on demonstrating to contact center leaders that this “magic” is not only real but also accessible and actionable. The company aimed to show that GenAI can be harnessed today to drive tangible business benefits, rather than being a futuristic concept or a distant promise. 

Verint’s Modular Approach to Bringing AI Benefits to Contact Centers 

Verint’s commitment to making AI accessible to contact centers is evident in its modular framework for GenAI services, which I’ve previously referred to as “Pick, Plug, and Play.” This open architecture allows businesses to select the specific AI-powered “bots” that will drive the most value for their operations and seamlessly integrate them with their existing systems. By doing so, Verint is empowering contact centers to harness the power of AI without requiring extensive technical overhauls or investments. 

One notable example of this approach in action is the Wrap Up bot, which leverages GenAI to automate the process of summarizing customer calls. For many Verint clients, the Wrap Up bot serves as a strategic entry point for AI adoption, allowing them to dip their toes into the technology and quickly demonstrate a tangible return on investment. By achieving rapid success with the Wrap Up bot, clients gain confidence in the potential of AI to drive meaningful business outcomes, and are more likely to continue exploring additional AI-powered capabilities. This incremental approach enables clients to build momentum and expand their use of GenAI over time, ultimately unlocking greater efficiencies and improvements in customer experience. 

Verint Genie: Unlocking Insights for Business Analysts 

At the event, Verint unveiled two new capabilities that caught our attention in the context of Conversational Intelligence. One of these innovations is the Genie bot, a tool designed to save business analysts time and boost their productivity. Building on Verint’s existing Speech Analytics product, the Genie bot empowers analysts to dive deeper into customer call data and uncover valuable insights. 

With Speech Analytics, analysts can already access a dashboard view of the top trending reasons for customer calls, categorized according to pre-defined customer configurations. The Genie bot takes this a step further by providing an “AI Insights” feature, which allows analysts to select a specific area of interest and receive a concise overview of the key issues at play. In Verint’s demonstration, they chose the “Churn” category, but the possibilities are endless. 

Drilling Deeper into Customer Insights with the Genie Bot 

Behind the scenes, the Genie bot uses a combination of specialized AI services and a large language model (LLM) to analyze 100 call transcripts from the selected category. It then returns a set of concise insights, including: 

• Sentiment Distribution: a snapshot of sentiment across all calls 
• Purpose Classification: dynamically generated categories based on call content, such as “Cancel account” or “Looking for better price” 
• Resolution Status: determines whether the issue was resolved, and how 
• Resolution Classification: automatically generated categories, such as “Cancel account” or “Offered better price” 

In the demo, the Genie bot revealed that 65% of churn calls were being resolved by the agent cancelling the customer’s account. The business analyst can take the analysis further by asking follow-up questions, such as whether agents are doing enough to prevent churn. The Genie product reformulates the prompt to make it more precise and effective, and returns output that is structured to make it more readable and useful. 

In a final bit of magic, the Genie bot can automatically generate a presentation that includes all the key findings in a polished package, ready for consumption by business leaders across the company. 

Knowledge Automation Bot: Accurate Answers at Your Fingertips 

Verint’s newly released Knowledge Automation Bot is designed to save time and provide key information to employees when they need it most. This bot excels at sifting through large, distributed repositories of corporate information to quickly provide accurate answers. 

The bot works in both a push and pull fashion. From a pull perspective, agents can simply ask a question, and the Knowledge Automation Bot will leverage AI-powered search algorithms to locate the correct response from various source systems, such as SharePoint or other Knowledge Management systems. APIs connect the bot to these data sources, enabling seamless search and retrieval of answers. Large Language Models (LLMs) then summarize the answers into easily digestible information. 

In push mode, the Knowledge Automation bot acts as a smart assistant, monitoring ongoing calls and proactively searching for answers to questions as they arise. The bot supplies the answers to the agent in real-time, ensuring they have the information they need to provide excellent customer service. 

The true value of the Knowledge Automation bot lies in its ability to combine significant time savings with improved customer experience. When agents have access to accurate answers with minimal effort, everyone benefits. The Knowledge Automation bot is another example of Verint’s commitment to harnessing the power of AI to drive business success. 

Verint Brings the Magic of GenAI to Its Customers 

Throughout Engage 2024, Verint demonstrated its commitment to making it easy for customers to harness the power of GenAI. By meeting clients where they are, Verint is removing the barriers to adoption, allowing customers to transition from legacy systems to newer, AI-infused products without disrupting their operations. This approach is key to delivering incremental cost savings and business improvements through the various Verint bots. 

Furthermore, Verint is making its new AI-powered features accessible to existing clients as part of their current license, eliminating the need for costly upgrades. The only additional cost is the service fee for integrating the selected bots into the client’s existing systems. 

During the Q&A session following my colleague Derek Top’s panel on “Generative AI: The Practical and the Possible in CX Automation,” attendees expressed concerns about the rapid pace of LLM updates and the potential disruption to their businesses. They also worried about the privacy of customer and corporate data shared with LLMs. Verint’s approach addresses these concerns by insulating customers from the complexities of LLM updates. Their in-house team of AI experts continually evaluates new models and updates Verint bots seamlessly, without disrupting customer operations. Additionally, Verint prioritizes data privacy by opting out of sharing data with LLM providers and adhering to stringent data security requirements. 

In an era where many companies are still grappling with their AI business strategy, it was inspiring to see Verint clients already reaping the benefits of AI-powered bots to drive real business outcomes. As a final inspiration to business leaders, Verint welcomed Kal Penn, actor, author, and former White House staff member, who shared his personal story of transformation, highlighting the power of embracing change and taking calculated risks.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Assistants, Articles

Tags: AI