Call centers are under intense pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many agents are packed tight into small work areas. Social distancing is NOT an option.

In addition, many companies are not set up to allow contact center agents to work from home.

This creates real problems if one person reports positive for the virus. At that point, others could become fearful of going to work.

The company, however, needs to function. Many contact centers, in fact, provide critical services the world needs at this time of crisis.

Enter AI Voice Responder from Replicant.ai, a leading-edge provider of artificial intelligence-enabled voice technologies.

Last July the company got funded with $7 million. At that time, in addition to the new funding, Gadi Shamia, former Chief Operating Officer of cloud contact center leader, Talkdesk, joined Replicant as CEO. This after a four-year run helping to build Talkdesk from a seed-stage company to the first and only call center software “unicorn.” We recently covered the ambitious plans Talkdesk has for 2020.

Replicant.ai‘s autonomous AI solution can be deployed within days to answer customer calls, prioritize them based on urgency, and respond to pressing questions so all customer calls are answered, making live agents free to address more complex issues. The AI Voice Responder provides a quick and cost-effective way for businesses to better manage fluctuating call center demand and maintain high levels of customer service even during a crisis.

“Now more than ever, customers need fast responses and AI and automation can help,” said Gadi Shamia, CEO of Replicant. “With the launch of Voice Responder, we’ve provided the best of AI technology that can be deployed in days, demonstrating that voice AI provides significant cost savings and volume elasticity to call centers today that will benefit businesses long-term.”

Voice Responder triages high call volumes and answers frequently asked questions, quickly resolving common support issues without live agents. It will classify calls based on topics and urgency, enabling businesses to prioritize and respond according to specific needs. The solution understands natural language and allows callers to converse as if they’re speaking with a live agent.

Voice Responder logs cases automatically in Salesforce and Zendesk so agents can prioritize follow-ups to resolve more complicated issues. Additionally, it can automate interactive outbound calls to update customers with the latest information, collect information, or reschedule appointments.

One early customer is using Voice Responder to help its customers with basic hardware issues for a commercial product, replacing its offshore call center that was impacted by Covid-19. The voice AI solution asks questions to identify the problem, provides relevant solutions via text, and creates a follow-up case if the issue is not resolved. By using Replicant as its first line of defense, agents can focus on the most urgent and complex cases first and are able to serve all their customers despite spikes in call volumes.

Gadi may have the best timing of any person in tech. Talkdesk was launched on cloud and microservices when entrenched contact center providers were stuck with a hodge-podge of solutions assembled via decades of M&A. They got the job done but were slow and inflexible as a result of the disparate puzzle pieces used.

Talkdesk had a big advantage as a result.

Likewise, Replicant.ai is perfectly timed to help companies get through this Coronavirus crisis. Amazing.

In addition, the solution fits in nicely with our definition of the future of work – where AI and live workers increase productivity, working collaboratively. This can also be referred to as the democratization of AI.

If you found this article interesting, we invite you to join us at the world’s only Future of Work Expo collocated with the ITEXPO #TechSuperShow, June 22-25, 2021 in Miami, Florida.

Join others with $25B+ in IT buying power who plan 2021 budgets! Including 3,500+ resellers!

A unique experience with a collocated SD-WAN Expo, AIOps Expo and MSP Expo…

See all the companies that matter – here is our interview with chatbot and live receptionist company Smith.ai from the last event!