VUX World

In this episode of VUX World, we chat with Kellin Sjoerds and Ricky Wekker, Conversational AI Engineers at Essent - the Netherlands’ largest utility provider and part of the E.ON Group to uncover the story behind their groundbreaking agent assist tool, Bolt.Bolt is an AI-powered agent copilot that has transformed Essent’s call centre operations, shaving an average of 60 seconds off every call and delivering over €1.8 million in savings, not through layoffs, but by reducing dependence on BPOs.We unpack the full journey behind Essent’s AI copilot, Bolt, starting with a simple observation during a team shadowing session that sparked its creation. What began as a hackathon MVP quickly turned heads, prompting leadership to ask, “How fast can we launch this?” From there, we uncover how the team tackled complex challenges like cleaning and restructuring their knowledge base, implementing a smart chunking system, and fine-tuning prompts to ensure accurate, reliable outputs. And through a carefully staged rollout, they struck the right balance between innovation and safety, navigating compliance hurdles while delivering impressive business value.Shownotes:Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

As generative AI redefines the contact centre, ensuring consistent performance across complex telephony networks becomes mission-critical. In this episode, we speak with Satish Barot, CTO at Klearcom, about the evolution of contact centre technology and the critical role of quality assurance in AI voice systems. We explore how organisations gradually transition from traditional DTMF-based IVR systems to more sophisticated conversational AI and generative AI solutions. Satish shares insights on why this shift is happening incrementally, with many companies adopting hybrid approaches that run traditional and AI-powered systems side by side while they evaluate performance.Discover how Klearcom is pushing the boundaries of voice QA with global in-country testing, real-world noise simulation, and accuracy scoring, offering a unique lens into what production-ready means in the age of AI.We also discuss privacy considerations and why organisations should start small and scale smart when implementing these technologies. Satish emphasises that businesses should focus on great customer experience rather than chasing fancy technology for its own sake.Shownotes:Check out Klearcom: https://klearcom.comSubscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

74% of CEOs think their jobs are on the line because of AI. Not because AI might replace them, but because failing to implement it successfully could cost them everything.Merlin Bise, CTO of Inbenta and former Head of Technology at a firm acquired by the London Stock Exchange, joins us to share how Inbenta is helping enterprises modernise their customer experience. Merlin explains that so many AI deployments fail, not because the technology is lacking, but because companies often bet on the wrong frameworks, overlook data foundations, or underestimate the importance of testing. We explore how traditional rules-based systems give way to agentic frameworks that can reason, triage ambiguous queries, and even correct automation gaps in real time. Merlin walks us through the journey many enterprises take: beginning with deterministic rules, evolving to AI-powered agents, and ultimately orchestrating complex automation through agentic manager systems that oversee and improve themselves.Security and customer experience are front and centre in this episode. Merlin breaks down the cybersecurity concerns that make enterprises hesitate and why, in most cases, those fears are rooted more in perception than reality.Finally, we reflect on the broader trajectory of AI. While the race toward AGI dominates headlines, Merlin argues that the tools enterprises need to radically improve productivity are already here. The challenge is implementing what exists with purpose and precision.Shownotes:Check out Inbenta: https://www.inbenta.com/Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms/

In this special episode, recorded live at Boost Camp, we have three industry leaders who are shaping the future of conversational AI: Ben Maxim, CTO at Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU), Åse Marthinsen, who leads generative AI at Norway’s largest bank, DNB and Nick Mitchell, Chief Revenue Officer at boost.ai.We cover the ever-changing landscape of conversational AI, including aligning teams, integrating data across channels and designing experiences that are on brand and human-centric.We look at how organisations are managing thousands of conversational intents with lean teams, thanks to hybrid AI models and smarter content workflows. There’s a growing focus on data governance and trust, especially in highly regulated industries like banking. But DNB and MSUFCU show that you can scale responsibly, with MSUFCU’s chatbot Fran now handling 79% of customer chats without escalation.As AI gets faster, so do the expectations from customers and leadership. We talk about the shifting role of contact centres from answering FAQs to driving strategic initiatives and the importance of staying ahead through continuous testing, experimentation and AI-driven insights.Shownotes: Check out boost.ai: https://boost.ai/Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

In this episode, we explore how True Classic, a men's apparel brand, is leveraging AI to transform its customer support with Jordan Gesky, Senior Customer Experience Manager.We look at True Classic’s journey from rule-based automation to generative AI across multiple channels. Jordan talks about how their AI assistant, Crue, now handles customer service inquiries through chat, email and phone channels and how that’s reduced costs and time to resolve.We get into the practicalities of AI in customer service, including continuous auditing, clear guidelines and giving AI a brand voice. Jordan explains how True Classic trains their AI using agent conversations and FAQs and how they integrate it with their Shopify account, returns portal and product catalogue to create a self-service solution.We also talk about the challenges of AI implementation, from hallucinations to customer data security and how True Classic approaches AI governance through transcript reviews and CSAT monitoring.Shownotes: Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

In this episode, we talk to Guillaume Laporte, Chief AI Officer at Foundever - a $4 billion BPO giant with 150,000 employees worldwide. Guillaume explains the massive impact of generative AI on the BPO industry, why it’s the biggest threat and the biggest opportunity for contact centres today.From deciding whether to buy, build or partner on AI solutions to navigating multiple client systems and languages, Guillaume shares how Foundever is transforming its workforce with AI-powered tools like EverAssist. Guillaume also explains why Foundever built its own internal version of ChatGPT rather than licensing OpenAI’s solution, saving millions of dollars a year while retaining control over features, latency and performance.Find out how Foundever has been tackling challenges like the AI adoption gap, balancing cost, speed and accuracy in AI models and using talent to scale solutions globally.If you want to know how generative AI is being used in a complex, multilingual, multi-client environment, this episode has the answers. Whether you’re in BPO or exploring enterprise AI, Guillaume’s honest insights are valuable for any organisation looking to stay ahead in the AI age.Shownotes: Find out more about Foundever: https://foundever.comThe voice dictation tool recommended by Guillaume: https://wisprflow.aiSubscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms

Generative AI has changed everything - from how we build to how we design. In this episode, we’re joined by Alex Shin, Senior Product Designer at Prudential Financial, to talk about how UX is evolving in the age of LLMs.Alex shares his journey from studying Social Policy to UX and conversation design, including how he helped launch Prudential’s first customer-facing chatbot in 2022.We talk about how Prudential’s NLU-based chatbot is consistently getting customer satisfaction scores above industry standards and how the company is exploring generative AI solutions for both internal and customer-facing services.We also dive into the collaboration between design and tech teams at Prudential, and how this partnership ensures solutions are technically feasible while prioritising user needs. This episode is for designers navigating the transition to generative AI, tech leaders trying to balance innovation with user experience and anyone interested in how big financial institutions are using AI to improve customer service.This episode is brought to you by NLX.NLX is a conversational AI platform enabling brands to build and manage chat, voice and multimodal applications. NLX’s patented Voice+ technology synchronizes voice with digital channels, making it possible to automate complex use cases typically handled by a human agent. When a customer calls, the voice AI guides them to resolve their inquiry through self-service using the brand’s digital asset, resulting in automation and CSAT scores well above industry average. Just ask United Airlines.Shownotes: Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms/

What if the most exciting AI agent innovation isn’t happening in the enterprise, but in the mid-market?In this episode, we unpack Voiceflow’s explosive growth, the shift from flowcharts to frameworks, and why success today isn’t about having the smartest model, but about how you deploy it.We explore how to build reliable, production-grade agents, the rise of self-improving systems, and the emergence of agent-to-agent orchestration.And while mid-market companies are moving fast, Braden explains why enterprise adoption is inevitable, and what it’ll take to reach that tipping point.Congratulations to Braden on making his fourth appearance on the VUX World podcast!This episode is brought to you by NLX.NLX is a conversational AI platform enabling brands to build and manage chat, voice and multimodal applications. NLX’s patented Voice+ technology synchronizes voice with digital channels, making it possible to automate complex use cases typically handled by a human agent. When a customer calls, the voice AI guides them to resolve their inquiry through self-service using the brand’s digital asset, resulting in automation and CSAT scores well above industry average. Just ask United Airlines.Shownotes: Discover Voiceflow: https://www.voiceflow.com/Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms/

In this episode, Kane Simms is joined by Katherine Munro, Conversational AI Engineer at Swisscom, for a deep dive into what might sound like an odd pairing: using LLMs to classify customer intents.Large Language Models (LLMs) are powerful, multi-purpose tools. But would you trust one to handle the precision of a classification task?It’s an unlikely fit for an LLM. Classifiers typically need to be fast, accurate, and interpretable. LLMs are slow, random black-boxes. Classifiers need to output a single label. LLMs never stop talking.And yet, there are good reasons to use LLMs for such tasks, and emerging architectures and techniques. Many real-world use cases need a classifier, and many data and product development teams will soon find themselves wondering: could GPT handle that?If that sounds like you, then check out this extended episode to explore how Switzerland’s largest telecommunications provider tackles this issue while building a next-generation AI assistant. This episode is brought to you by NLX.NLX is a conversational AI platform enabling brands to build and manage chat, voice and multimodal applications. NLX’s patented Voice+ technology synchronizes voice with digital channels, making it possible to automate complex use cases typically handled by a human agent. When a customer calls, the voice AI guides them to resolve their inquiry through self-service using the brand’s digital asset, resulting in automation and CSAT scores well above industry average. Just ask United Airlines.Shownotes:"The Handbook of Data Science and AI: Generate Value from Data with Machine Learning and Data Analytics" - Available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/3wNN9cvKatherine's website: http://katherine-munro.com/Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms/