Humans and machines finding trusted, sustainable ways of working together will create a bright future. Perspective from XSELL CEO & Founder, Matt Coughlin "With the right leadership there will be a time where every job is augmented by AI and the human and the machine workforce will be undoubtedly capable of creating a better life for all people on the planet. " #agentassist #realtimecoach #cai #cx
When I started XSELL it was based on an intimate understanding of how complex and convoluted the sales and service position had become for my clients representatives of which I had many thousands of teammates. People were being asked to do more while trying to navigate many often times confusing system interfaces and process/ protocols. You need only look at the turnover rate in the roles to see it was not sustainable. People were eagerly joining a company in anticipation of a new chapter in their life and quickly becoming so demoralized they quit or even worse stayed disenfranchised til the company asked them to leave. At the time Robert Downey Jr. had just made the Iron Man movies and I had two sons now 19 and 21 (ouch) so we watched it a few times to say the least. I became consumed with the thought of building a “suit” like Tony Stark had but for the contact center representative in the form of a real time coach on their desktop. My partner Mark and I were first to patent the real-time coach and have been blessed to work with many of the world’s most respected and admired brands to help their Reps become better at their job faster so that they stay longer and build capability. ln the fullness of time the market has realized what I saw 10 years ago and now there is a frenzy of people with “the right academic credentials”who literally have never stepped into a CX center looking to turn over every rock to eliminate the workforce with AI and at the pace they are moving at ….they remind me of a skunk chasing dog running flat out (be careful what you catch). Simply go to the movies this Labor Day weekend and watch Oppenheimer and tell me that the arms race doesn’t remind you of the arms race the supers are having around AI. Make no mistake they have not thought through unintended consequences and when something happens it will be covered under the guise of “we were innovating”. As our team has been using transformers since 2018 and I have front row seat I see a really bright future! With the right leadership there will be a time where every job is augmented by AI and the human and the machine workforce will be undoubtedly capable of creating a better life for all people on the planet. To get there we will have to forge TRUST not only in the thoughtful migration of the work but in the confidence and security of our personal data. In the accountability of transparent and traceable AI. In the Sustainability of not burning through massive amounts of computing power and electricity so that you can say a human is not involved. If you develop something you are personally responsible for the consequences even the unintended ones! Without TRUST developers whose job and livelihood are in the center of the bullseye will corrupt and challenge the applications vs support and innovate with them. Now is the Time for leadership!! I have always viewed innovation as a way to improve the human condition. LEAD DON’T FOLLOW.
