technologyreseller.co.uk 19 AI to non-voice, text-based applications in process and task automation. With so much potential, Calum says the greatest challenge is maintaining focus on the present. “The way AI is constantly changing is amazing. Sometimes I have to calm myself and say ‘hold on, let’s finish what we’re doing now before we jump on the next big opportunity’.” What started as an in-house efficiency project to capture the knowledge of a small, experienced team and make it available 24/7 has rapidly proved itself to be an effective way to defend margins, win tenders and offer better service to customers that has applications far beyond its roots in the MPS industry. reactions – particularly those of BITS, provider of a device management portal for MPS providers – helped inspire the setting up of AI Voice Solutions. “We use Vantage Online for our internal system and the BITS OneStop MPS portal for our toner monitoring. If a customer has a paper jam, it’s very simple to book a call. But if a customer rings in and says they want toner, the first reaction internally is to check when they last had one, because we find that when a customer runs out of toner they often ring us before checking whether they have a replacement in a cupboard somewhere. “To stop the bot from sending toners out whenever one is requested, we realised we would need to interrogate OneStop to see when we last sent a toner to the client and the last time they fitted one. If we see we’ve sent one, but they haven’t fitted it yet, we can ask them to go and find it. We started talking to BITS and asked if we could have their API. When we explained why, they expressed an interest in offering what we’ve done to MFP dealers in other parts of the country. Since then, another software company has made the same request, which got us to think about what other sectors might want it.” For commercial clarity, Calum concluded it would be better to break the association with Lanier South West and set up a separate company and website focused purely on AI Voice. Evolving opportunities AI Voice Solutions already has about a dozen customers from diverse industry sectors, including a fish and chip shop wanting the ability to take orders and payments when staff are busy on other calls, a service provider wanting to automate service requests and warranty extensions, and a toilet hire business looking to streamline septic tank appointments. “Whether you are serving an MPS provider or a fish and chip shop, the idea is the same,” says Calum. “You map the repetitive calls, you integrate with systems that hold the truth (the service portal, the consumables portal, the booking calendar) and you let the agent do the repetitive transactions or at least triage them so a human only takes the calls that need attention.” Conversations with customers and the speed of change in the AI landscape are presenting further possibilities, including a transition from purely voice-based solutions (24/7 AI phone answering, intelligent appointment booking, smart call routing) whether it’s from the engine or whether you need to clean the glass. If you ring and ask for guidance on setting up scan to folder, it will email you a Scan to Folder guide or a video link. Soon, it will do this by text or WhatsApp as well. So, we started looking at AI voice from a service point of view, at how it could help our clients.” Assistance, not replacement Calum was clear from the outset that the AI was to assist existing staff, not replace them. Incoming service calls are still answered by Jane on the service desk. The AI Voice agent will only kick in if Jane is away from her desk or on another call. “If you ring our service desk and Jane doesn’t answer it, it will announce that it’s an AI service and is there to support Jane, so people are completely aware of what they’re talking to. It will then ask how it can help and once the call has been logged send an email to Jane and to the customer confirming what’s been logged. If the caller doesn’t want to talk to AI or if they decide they want to talk to a human at any time during the call, they can go back to the internal phone system. If Jane’s free, she’ll answer and if she isn’t the call will go through to her voicemail.” Calum is collecting and analysing feedback to gauge customers’ feelings about AI Voice, but from his perspective it has already proved its value by freeing up staff to deal with more complex tasks and by enabling Lanier South West to compete for tenders that require 24-hour service. “If I had to employ somebody to provide a 24-hour service or use an outside agency, how much is that going to cost me, and will they have all the knowledge we can put into the system? No, they won’t. You’re just going to get someone answering the phone and if you do want a professional it will cost a lot of money.” Calum is currently developing additional functionality for the AI Voice agent, such as integration with the internal email system so that it can interrogate information contained there, and extending its capabilities to outbound applications so that Lanier South West can call existing customers to check if they’re happy or need anything. “After that, it’s going to be prospecting, calling new people and asking them whether we can help them from a copy point of view, from a phone point of view and now from an AI Voice point of view as well,” he says. From in-house project to new business Associates in the print industry noticed what Calum was doing with AI, and their Benefits for service providers Better customer experience: faster confirmations, self-help guidance and immediate triage. Operational savings: fewer unnecessary consumable shipments and reduced time on low-value calls. Tender competitiveness: credible, auditable 24/7 triage and logging to meet procurement requirements. Staff productivity: engineers and account managers spend more time on high-value tasks. New revenue streams: outbound prospecting, order-taking and white-label offerings for non‑print customers. To find out more about AI Voice Solutions and how it can help improve your processes, visit www.aivoicesolutions.co.uk or contact Lanier South West for a demo. Tel: 01934 742184
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=