AI and virtual assistants are extremely effective at mining UCaaS data and uncovering insights that can be used to drive better business outcomes.
— Rob Scudiere, president and COO, Fuze
In 2019, when the industry was at an inflection point, Rob Scudiere, president and COO joined Fuze, a unified enterprise collaboration software and cloud communications company. The workforce was becoming more distributed, and enterprises needed to embrace the unified communications as a service technology, which is required to enable flexibility and keep employees connected. Nobody could have predicted what would come only about a year after as the COVID-19 pandemic began. In March 2020, distributed work became the norm, and the demand for UCaaS technology and products skyrocketed.
In this edition of Toolbox’s Tech Talk with Neha Pradhan, Scudiere shares the UCaaS technology story and the industries that will see the highest growth in the use of unified communications after the pandemic. He also talks about how effective AI is, especially virtual assistants, when applied to data mining in unified communications as a service. To provide a richer unified communications as a service experience, Scudiere hints at why strong 5G connectivity is increasingly necessary.
Key Takeaways on Unified Communications as a Service Technology and Market:
- Healthcare, retail, logistics will soon adopt UCaaS to connect their distributed workforce.
- Enterprises can leverage AI in unified communications as a service to solve customer problems in real-time.
- Mobile technologies paired with AI will mend customer relationships for retailers in the store or from home.
1. Studies suggest that AI and other technologies such as machine learning, predictive analytics, and natural language processing are already in use where contact centers and customer service agents are essential. Which industries will see the highest growth in the use of unified communications after the pandemic?
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, contact centers and customer service teams across industries have leveraged AI, machine learning and other emerging technologies to digitally transform. These industries have also relied heavily on UCaaS to stay connected and continue to drive customer success. The manufacturing industry is another space that has seen tremendous change over the past 14-15 months with rapid digital transformation.
Manufacturing is increasingly relying on unified communications as a service not just for operations but for connecting distributed workers who may be in corporate offices, on the factory floor or across the country making deliveries. I anticipate that other frontline industries, such as healthcare, retail, logistics and transportation, will adopt UCaaS in greater force to keep distributed workers connected.
— Rob Scudiere, president and COO, Fuze
These frontline industries have traditionally been left out of the flexible work conversation, but they have gradually become more involved in the movement as many of them have been forced to embrace distributed work over the last year.
2. How effective is AI, especially virtual assistants, when applied to data mining in unified communications as a service? Could you explain with a use case?
AI and virtual assistants are extremely effective at mining unified communications as a service data and uncovering insights that can be used to drive better business outcomes. AI is also effective at helping organizations drive down the cost of interfacing with customers — an increasingly important goal for businesses over the past year.
As in-person interactions have diminished in recent months, businesses have struggled to maintain customer connection, with most touchpoints occurring virtually. Rather than hire more staff to meet this demand in virtual customer support, enterprises can leverage AI and virtual assistants to help optimize their existing workforce and solve customer problems in real-time.
3. Gartner predicts that service leaders are expected to increase investments in support technologies in the next two years. After being deployed, how soon can AI help deliver better ROI for customer service and support leaders? What is wise to expect, and what caution must they exercise when setting expectations?
We have seen our customers experience positive results with these emerging technologies generally within 2-3 months of deployment. To see maximum returns, however, customers must focus on first deploying AI in places where it can provide the most immediate value. Customers run into roadblocks when they try to use AI to solve all their business problems at once. This is not effective as it puts too much pressure on the technology, and it is not able to be implemented carefully across each use case.
When deploying AI, it’s important to first focus on specific use cases for the technology, measure results carefully, and then focus on expanding use cases based on these results over time.
— Rob Scudiere, president and COO, Fuze
Enterprises must ensure operational cadence while maintaining the efficacy of AI. AI is not a “set it and forget it†technology — it must be carefully monitored while engineers train the algorithms to see the maximum benefit. This requires hard work at the onset of deployment, but when deployed carefully and correctly, it can deliver optimal business value.
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4. In what ways can AI’s predictive capabilities power operational efficiency through unified communications for the retail industry? Which biggest challenges will retailers overcome thanks to voice assistants and chatbots to sustain their businesses in the next 5 years?
Many businesses across industries are struggling to maintain connections with customers due to a lack of face-to-face interaction. In the retail space, businesses have adopted in-store and curbside pick-up, faster delivery, and other options that weren’t as common prior to the pandemic. Meanwhile, customer expectations for real-time engagement with retail employees have largely remained the same. Retail employees are tasked with interfacing with customers within the store while still being required to fulfill and complete pick-up orders and provide the same level of service to these customers.
Today, retailers are deploying AI to help in-store employees attend to the needs of pick-up and delivery customers.
Chatbots can interface with customers who have arrived to pick up orders, inform customers of changes to their order during the fulfillment process, and answer other questions along the way. Similarly, employees can leverage unified communications as a service technology to connect with customers on mobile devices from the store floor while assisting in-person customers.
— Rob Scudiere, president and COO, Fuze
Flexible shopping experiences are expected to continue even after the pandemic ends, so it’s important for retailers to embrace these technologies now to better connect with customers moving forward.
5. How can retailers create a reopening experience by leveraging unified communication as a service to pivot toward a more flexible business model?
It’s highly unlikely that the flexible shopping experiences we’ve embraced over the last year will revert back to pre-COVID norms. Curbside and in-store pick-up are here to stay, customers expect 1–2-day shipping as the norm, and customer service expectations are increasing even as fewer customers spend time in the store.
To maintain relationships with customers, retailers must embrace new ways to form connections and solve customer needs. This is where a mobile-first strategy is imperative. Retailers must embrace contact centers that are designed specifically with a mobile workforce in mind. Agents need the ability to multitask while assisting customers in person on the retail floor while simultaneously connecting with customers through mobile contact centers anywhere in the store or from home. These mobile technologies, paired with AI chatbots, ensure that customer problems are solved anytime, anywhere. It’s these tactics that will mend customer relationships and provide meaningful connections to increase brand loyalty.
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6. Last year, Fuze was named a visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant 2020 Report for UCaaS. From a tech buyer’s market perspective, which emerging technologies will continue to accelerate strategic planning of enterprise cloud services post-pandemic?
While AI and AR are going to help accelerate strategic planning, I believe that a fundamental driver is unified communications as a service and its critical function in powering business continuity. As a result of the rise in distributed work, deploying a successful unified communications a service platform is just as important as maintaining security practices. As distributed work continues to expand, businesses must provide employees with the tools they need to stay connected while physically separated.
UCaaS technology must work seamlessly to avoid costly productivity issues and maintain work culture. Employees will have an expectation for consumer-grade technology to enable them to do their job from anywhere. Another important emerging technology is 5G.
Unified communications as a service technologies are increasingly mobile, but they cannot work optimally without strong 5G connectivity. Widespread 5G access has a long way to go, but it will undoubtedly become a pillar of workforce productivity as it provides a richer UCaaS experience.
About Rob ScudiereOpens a new window :
As president and COO, Rob oversees the post-sales functions at Fuze globally including product, engineering, technical operations, services, and customer success, to ensure an exceptional experience for our customers. Rob brings more than 20 years of experience leading product development, information technology, operations, and professional services organizations in high-growth public and private high-tech companies.
Prior to Fuze, Rob was senior vice president of engineering and chief information officer at Secureworks (NASDAQ: SCWX), a provider of software-driven security solutions that protect organizations in a digitally connected world, where he was responsible for product development of their cyber security solutions and leading their digital transformation.
About FuzeOpens a new window :
Fuze is a global cloud communications provider for the enterprise. Our intuitive unified communications and contact center platform enables seamless transition between calling, meeting, chatting, and sharing powered by the industry-leading intelligent cloud architecture. Fuze empowers the digital and distributed workforce to communicate anywhere, anytime, and across any device. Founded in 2006, Fuze is headquartered in Boston, MA with offices around the world.
About Tech Talk
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