PV Kannan is the Co-Founder and CEO of [24]7.ai. Since 2000, he has been leading the revolution to make customer service easy and enjoyable for consumers. In 1995, PV's first company, Business Evolution Inc., developed the first generation of email and chat solutions. The company was acquired by Kana in 1999 and PV became part of the management team. At [24]7.ai, PV was a pioneer in integrating customer service technology with business process operations to improve all aspects of the customer experience. PV has been at the forefront of customer experience from creating contact center agent services, developing a big data predictive analytics platform, creating omnichannel solutions for the web, mobile, chat, social, and speech IVR, to innovating mobile-centric applications. Over the years PV has been a thought leader in global customer service and has been featured in the books, The World is Flat and That Used to Be Us by Thomas L. Friedman, India Inside by Nirmalya Kumar and Phanish Puranam, and Reinventing Management: Smarter Choices for Getting Work Done by Julian Birkinshaw. PV is on the Board of Directors for Achievers. He has over 20 patents (issued and pending). PV has degrees in accounting and finance from the Institute of Chartered Accountants and The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India.
For thousands of years, consumers and businesses only interacted in person, and it was easy to understand the emotions of customers. If you lived in the Old West, and you went to the general store, the owner knew you and your preferences, and very likely why you were there. Depending on the time of year, he would have already stocked up on grain, seed or whatever you needed before you even asked for it. These types of interactions created positive emotional responses that over time established loyalty.
The tech industry is abuzz over the announcement that IBM (Watson) and Salesforce (Einstein) will integrate their artificial intelligence platforms. While some may see this alliance between two giants as a bit concerning, I see this as a positive sign, and a sign of big things to come in terms of AI for business.
I’ve been asked many times recently to comment on how the rise of AI will impact the jobs and the economy, particularly in customer service and contact centers. I’ve seen wildly differing forecasts, from the dire predictions of Elon Musk to the optimistic predictions of Accenture. According to Forrester’s recently released ‘The Future of Jobs’ report, robots will take 24.7 million jobs by 2027, but create 14.9 million new jobs in the same period. There is no doubt that AI will impact jobs globally more than any other technology in our lifetime. The key question is “what should we do about it?”
The announcement of Apple Business Chat, which will connect businesses with customers on iMessage, has major implications for both consumers and businesses. Using Business Chat, consumers will be able to get answers to questions, resolve issues and conduct transactions on their iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Apple is joining the ranks of virtually every major tech company in recognizing the value of interactive chat as a vital way of improving customer experience.
The Symbiotic Future of Customer Service I began 2018 with a few predictions about the ways I expected AI to shake out this year. One of the trends that I discussed was companies embracing the concept that humans would work hand-in-hand with artificial intelligence to improve customer experience. I am happy to say that’s beginning to happen.
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