Could AI change how contact centres do multilingual support?

Here’s a challenge: phone the contact centre for your bank or insurance provider and see how many language options you get. By Ryan Falkenberg, co-CEO of Clevva In South Africa, besides English, you’ll probably get one or two at most. And while those...

Talking to chatbots sucks – but it doesn’t have to

Most chatbots suck. For years, industry mavens promised that they would fundamentally transform customer service, writes By Ryan Falkenberg, co-CEO of Clevva. Unlike human agents, the thinking went, chatbots are available 24/7 and, because companies pre-populate their...

CCI SA opens a new contact centre in Umlazi

CCI South Africa has opened its new Umlazi contact centre at Umlazi Mega City, marking the first contact centre opened in a township for the company. Umlazi is the biggest township in KwaZulu-Natal, with nearly half a million residents. Because of the high costs of...

These things should be standard in your VoIP system

Very little is certain in the world of business. That quickly becomes apparent to anyone who’s ever started a business or even reached the executive level in a company. There are, however, things that all businesses should be able to take for granted. That...

Why business should care about how virtual agents are used

Businesses everywhere are under pressure to deliver better service at less cost. Most have looked at some form of digital solution, but do they really work? Ryan Falkenberg, co-CEO of Clevva, comments: “Virtual agents are constantly evolving and becoming more...

Virtual agents could free BPOs to cash in on local EQ

Advanced intelligent automation (IA) virtual agents shift the burden of repetitive, rules-based queries and work away from human agents. This should not be seen as a threat to South Africa’s call centres and business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, but rather...