Sarah Rojewski is the Manager of AI and Automation for Telefonica Germany. On a recent webinar, she discussed how her team has built highly sophisticated voice-based solutions. These have transformed the business’ contact center operations.
The technology used by Telefónica is OpenQuestion from Teneo.ai. The solution is harnessed by a number of global enterprises. It is used to radically improve the experience of customers calling for support over the phone.
Sarah is currently leading the project at Telefonica Germany. She has utilized OpenQuestion to create highly complex and innovative customer experiences.
“We took a set of static FAQ´s and built them as a more complex and dynamic chatbot solution. So, when users asked the bot a question, it could respond with the right answer. It was very simple, but it was the start of my journey into CAI. It led me to being offered the position I have now.”
“In 2018, Telefonica decided to roll out a global initiative to develop and build CAI in key regions. After completing the first implementation, Telefónica asked me to lead the project for Germany. Since I had handled the FAQ project, they viewed me as the most experienced person!
Sarah was given the project and the opportunity to embrace the technology. This meant learning about its full potential. “Technology never rests,” she said.
Four years later, Sarah finds herself leading a team of six and working to create an industry-leading solution.
“We have a strong vision for where we want to go. Customer interactions will completely change over the next few years. We’re looking at creating holistic customer journeys where we can engage at every touch point. In short, we want to keep a conversation going, no matter where and when a customer interacts with us.”
“We also have a very strong set of ethical guidelines. That means we look very closely at the technology perspective, the customer perspective and human perspective. We always question… whose lives are we making better? That includes our customer service agents, who are at the front line of our business. We’re not trying to digitize every single call and remove humans. We’re trying to create the perfect balance between technology and people.”
As many leaders in the technology field are proving, a thoughtful process is required in order to maximize the impact of the technology.
“We study the psychology of customers and apply it to our solution. Its not about just creating conversation flows. It’s about how you create them and your methodology or approach to building customer journeys. Having CAI in place is way more powerful than simple intent linguistic training.”
“That’s why I think OpenQuestion was the best choice for us. We knew that with it we could achieve our vision of an omnichannel experience. We were able to look at the customer from a 360-degree angle and design really complex conversational solutions.”