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Int'l Business Times
09-07-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
AI-Driven Customer Experience Solutions Gaining Traction Among Startups
Customer experience (CX) is a crucial factor that determines long-term business success. Statistics show that CX has a significant impact on customer loyalty and overall satisfaction. In fact, 86% of consumers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience and 73% of them say that CX has a major impact on their purchasing decisions. For startups, this means that providing a great CX is essential. AI can help them achieve this goal. No matter if it's excellence in customer service, fine-tuned analytics, or nuanced personalization, AI has the capacity to help startups take their CX to the next level. In fact, some predictions say that AI will handle as much as 40% of all customer service issues by 2027. Here are four platforms that can be instrumental in reaching this target. Nextiva To begin with, there is Nextiva , a market leader in customer experience solutions. Nextiva is a US-based Unified Communications provider that allows businesses to centralize all their internal and customer-facing channels of communication - from voice and video calls to messaging and live chat. This helps startups streamline their communication workflows, avoid friction losses, and provide maximum flexibility and support to any customer reaching out to them. Going further, Nextiva also offers a wide array of AI-powered tools that allow startups to level up their communications. These include functionalities based on natural language processing (NLP) such as interactive voice response (IVR), automatic voicemail, call transcripts, and meeting summaries. Nextiva's advanced IVR, featuring conversational AI, for example, eliminates the need for customers to endure an endless series of dial menus. Instead, they can express their query in their own words and get forwarded to the right agent to deal with it, or resolve it directly with AI help. Additionally, customer service agents have access to real-time analytics and sentiment analysis, as well as an AI assistant to support them during challenging customer conversations. Zendesk Another tool to help startups improve their overall customer experience is Zendesk, a cloud-based customer service platform. Zendesk is a notable tool in the customer service sector, offering a wide range of functionalities, including a helpdesk, email marketing, live chat, and customer engagement solutions. Plus, Zendesk's AI capabilities are custom-tailored to help businesses, including startups, build better and longer-lasting relationships with their customers. Zendesk boasts that its AI tools help businesses automate over 80% of their interactions, allowing customers to resolve issues autonomously and save time at scale. Zendesk also offers Copilot, an AI productivity assistant that can provide real-time insights, propose replies during conversions, and handle a range of actions approved by agents. ProProfs Chat One of the most best-known applications of AI in CX are chatbots. They can handle routine customer interactions, allowing human agents to focus on complex issues. They are also able to provide instant responses even outside of normal business hours. However, in order to be effective, chatbots need to be well-trained. Otherwise, they can easily trigger frustration and waste customers' time. ProProfs Chat offers an easy and intuitive solution for startups to train custom chatbots that align perfectly with their brand's voice and values. No coding skills required. A key advantage of ProProfs Chat is that the platform integrates seamlessly with widely-used e-commerce and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms. This is a major asset in avoiding data siloing and friction losses. Apart from helping businesses harness well-trained chatbots, ProProfs Chat also allows them to provide better chat options with human agents. Its AI tools boost productivity and help provide a better customer experience - from automated greetings, to proactive chat invitations, to intelligent chat routing. UserTesting Finally, for startups looking to get direct feedback from their customers in order to improve CX, UserTesting offers streamlined paths towards making data-driven decisions to elevate their products and services. UserTesting allows startups to explore how customers engage with their products and services, and gather invaluable insights. From getting diverse perspectives and comprehensive user feedback, to sharing results as highlight reels and clips, this platform offers businesses ways of better understanding their target audience and customer base. In terms of AI, UserTesting stands out through its extensive analytics and visualization capabilities. Startups are instantly provided with an AI insight summary that unearths the most important trends and patterns and offers starting points for manual analysis. Going further, UserTesting also leverages AI for advanced analysis of written survey responses, for instance through theme grouping. Finally, UserTesting's AI can also automatically identify customer friction points and conduct real-time sentiment analysis, helping startups pinpoint exactly where resources need to be invested to instantly improve CX. Conclusion Improving customer experience is an integral part of startup success. Choosing the right tools can help businesses reach this goal and increase their overall efficiency. Which tool best suits each startup's unique needs and budget varies, but platforms like Nextiva, Zendesk, ProProfs Chat, and UserTesting are invaluable when it comes to delivering a personalized customer experience and building loyalty. AI Artificial intelligence
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta ranks as one of the best airports to work remotely. Here's why
Whether you're sealing a deal between terminals or hopping on a Zoom call during a layover, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) has proven it's more than just the world's busiest airport, it's also one of the best in the country to get work done. According to a new report by Nextiva, ATL landed at No. 6 on the list of the Top 10 Best U.S. Airports to Work From While Traveling. That's right, our hometown hub is flying high in productivity — and not just departures. According to the study, here's what it has to offer: 12 lounges 4 minute suites 3 shower stations Free Wi-Fi and charging stations Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG) John F. Kennedy International (JFK) Austin-Bergstrom International (AUS) George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW) LaGuardia Airport (LGA) Indianapolis International (IND) Los Angeles International (LAX) Nextiva looked at the top 100 airports in the nation using data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Then, they reviewed each airport's website to see what business-friendly features were available, like free Wi-Fi, lounges, dedicated workspaces, showers, dining spots, and charging stations. They also factored in customer satisfaction and Skytrax ratings to come up with a final ranking of the best airports for working while traveling. The data is current as of May 23, 2025. For more information, visit Vanessa Countryman is the Trending Topics Reporter for the the Deep South Connect Team Georgia. Email her at Vcountryman@ This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Hartsfield-Jackson named one of the best airports for business travelers
Forbes
30-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Your Business Can Harness The Power Of Agentic AI
Agentic AI will allow people to meaningful progress on work, fast. getty Even as businesses are rushing to compete in the emerging era of generative AI, a new technology is changing the game all over again. Suddenly, agentic AI is being discussed everywhere. Forrester calls it 'the next competitive frontier.' An InfoWorld column says it's 'rewriting the future of customer experience.' AdWeek says agentic AI is becoming a 'partner,' allowing people to rethink the creative process. And Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote a note to his staff saying the 'agentic future' is so compelling for the company because 'these agents are going to change the scope and speed at which we can innovate for customers. Agents will allow us to start almost everything from a more advanced starting point.' Given the sudden burst of interest, agentic AI risks becoming something that's all too common in business: a topic that everyone is talking about, but that few people actually understand. This creates all sorts of problems. Looking to jump on the bandwagon, organizations often invest in new tools that promise to deliver all the benefits of the latest rage. But executives don't know exactly what they're getting -- and not getting -- from those tools. They're also unaware of pitfalls, and unclear on how to ensure they're getting ROI. Don't let this happen to you. At Nextiva, our team is focused on helping organizations of all kinds improve their customer experience in the most impactful ways possible. So we're on a mission to help people wrap their minds around what agentic AI really is, and how to ensure that it's working for your business. The paradigm shift of autonomy Here's how we define the term: 'Agentic AI is an advanced level of artificial intelligence automation that adapts to new data and learns on its own. It operates autonomously and executes tasks based on real-world data. The requirement for human intervention is minimal. Agentic AI plans, reasons, and adapts to optimize complex workflows for expected outcomes.' It requires far fewer prompts than generative AI. So when designed well, it makes the customer experience (CX) seamless, moving both the customer and the organization toward key objectives. Agentic AI can achieve things that many businesses didn't see coming. For example, 'Systems can identify and address potential problems before customers report them,' according to a recent study published by the Journal of Advances in Developmental Research. These systems also operate with advanced contextual awareness, 'understanding dynamic contexts to adjust actions accordingly,' authors Ridhima Arora, Maurya Modi, and Arjun Bhalla write. 'Agentic AI represents a paradigm shift in artificial intelligence, characterized by autonomous decision-making capabilities and proactive behavior,' they conclude. Before You Dive In The potential of agentic AI makes it very enticing. But calm heads need to rule. Before adopting a solution, organizations should clearly and carefully plan out the specific functionalities they're seeking. Design use cases, which will allow you to test out specific scenarios to see how well any solution performs. You will also need to make sure that any agentic AI tool you take on can access data across the organization. It needs to comb through your data warehouses or lakes, consolidating and cleaning the records it finds. And it needs updated information whenever and wherever that information comes in, particularly involving customers. So it's best to use agentic AI as part of a unified customer experience management platform ( UCXM ) that pulls together information from every interaction in real time. In addition, all this needs to be done in a way that ensures compliance. Strict guardrails must be in place, with human oversight. Even once you've done all this and get going with agentic AI, there's still work to be done to ensure you're getting the results you need. As my team explains , 'Systems require ongoing monitoring, tuning, and adaptation to maintain effectiveness. Collect customer and employee feedback as a practice for continuous AI algorithm improvement.' While these steps are important and take time, they pale in comparison to what agentic AI can offer. No matter the size of your business or the industry you're in, the chances are that you and your customers will find this new technology to be another leap in the right direction -- with better customer experiences, and therefore better business results, providing the clearest signs.
Forbes
26-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
To Enter The Agentic AI Era, You Need To Know About BDI
As businesses delve into agentic AI, they need a team that can explain its choices, models, and ... More functionality. When businesses look to tap into the power of a new technological trend, they can be tempted to put their faith in third-party vendors without developing an understanding of how the vendors' tools work. But as the global best practices organization Shared Assessments explains, 'Properly understanding and managing third-party vendors is key to ensuring your organization remains secure, compliant, and resilient.' As Nextiva's CEO, I work to equip organizations of all kinds with AI-driven platforms to deliver the best customer experiences. I'm a big believer in the importance of educating businesses about what they're getting and how it works. That's why my team is active about providing explanations of all sorts of emerging technologies, helping everyone make sense of them. Case in point is agentic AI. As organizations invest in this advanced level of automation, they should look into the kinds of systems any tool uses. One of those is known as BDI, which stands for Belief-Desire-Intention models. These models can go a long way in making or breaking an agentic AI system. A study published this year in the International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology explains, 'The Belief-Desire-Intention model has established itself as a pivotal methodology in agentic framework implementation, particularly in hybrid agent architectures. Empirical studies demonstrate that concurrent BDI-based systems achieve a 68.4% improvement in decision-making accuracy.' Focusing on financial trading environments, researcher Sreeram Reddy Thoom of India's JNTU (Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University) found that in high-frequency trading scenarios, this model reduces latency 'by an average of 38.7% while maintaining execution accuracy above 99.1%.' Simulating how people think BDI models are designed to follow 'human-like reasoning and decision-making processes with concepts derived from folk psychology,' according to a recent study in Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence. Austrian researchers Laurent Frering and Gerald Steinbauer-Wagner of Graz University and Andreas Holzinger BOKU University note that these model has a proven ability 'to perform verifiable reasoning and goal management,' and to 'store its mind state, including its belief base' and more. As agentic AI takes off, we can expect more technologists and other scientists to keep building on these models, developing tweaks and changes to advance them further. It's one of the many reasons that agentic AI is so promising. The more it can handle certain tasks, the more humans are freed up to focus on more complex responsibilities that require their direct involvement. As I recently told the Business Standard, AI elevates human intelligence. It remembers, reasons, and helps agents be more effective. Ultimately, it helps them deliver the most important thing they can: excellent CX (customer experiences). Beware the pitfalls As exciting as agentic AI with BDI models can be, there are also potential downsides. For example, if a tool is hard coded and not built to keep learning and changing, it may fail to adapt, and instead repeat processes that fail to deliver results (an idea Omer Ibrahim Erduran of Goethe University warned about in a study). Any agentic AI tool needs to be built to evolve over time, responding to all kinds of changes -- especially in customer behaviors, which are shifting at a faster pace than ever before. And, perhaps ironically, BDI models can lead to a problem of overthinking. Researchers warn of computational overhead that can come along with these systems. So in addition to trying to think the way people do (only faster), these models also need to be taught when to stop thinking. As researchers Ramira van der Meulen, Rineke Verbrugge, and Max van Duijn recently put it in their own recent study, 'In everyday interaction, humans are more likely to use reasoning shortcuts than to overanalyse the situation. A system designed to understand human perspectives should take this into account.' These complexities all lead to the same conclusion: As you delve into agentic AI, don't do so blindly. Work with a team that can explain its choices, models, and functionality. Familiarize yourself enough with the elements that drive agentic AI that you know what to look for, and what to ask. A vendor worth your investment will provide all that, equipping you with not just the tools but the knowledge you need to help guide your organization into the agentic AI era.
Forbes
27-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Checkup Time: The Lurking AI Danger That Can Kill A Successful Business
Businesses need quality data. If they operate on the wrong data, their tools can guide them in the ... More wrong direction. When's the last time your organization had a thorough data checkup? Not just a quick scan, but a deeper, more thorough search for hidden problems that could lead to disaster? The chances are it's been far too long. Surveys have found that the vast majority of businesses rely on stale data, which ushers in a host of hazards. 'Failing to update data regularly can have significant consequences for businesses, including targeting the wrong contacts, making decisions based on outdated information, and exposing the organization to unnecessary risks,' Moody's warns. While these dangers have existed for decades, they've gotten far bigger in the last couple of years. Businesses are rapidly adopting and deploying AI-powered technologies that offer tremendous benefits, like vastly improved CX (customer experience). But if they operate on the wrong data, these same tools can guide an organization in the wrong directions. Just as AI can attract customers, it can also repel them. Nextiva explained in a research survey The Leader's Guide to CX Trends in 2025, 'AI can predict what customers need, assist during live conversations, and save time through automation without making reps feel marginalized. However, poorly implemented AI will frustrate customers and drive them away.' Data hygiene is key One of the biggest mistakes companies make in implementing AI is poor data hygiene. 'AI learns from the data it's fed, and the results can be damaging if that data is outdated, inconsistent, or biased,' Nextiva explained in a blog post. 'Bad data can lead to inaccurate predictions, skewed insights, and poor personalization. For example, if your CRM (customer relationship management tool) includes duplicate customer records or missing information, an AI-driven email campaign could send irrelevant messages, or worse, the same message twice.' Today's consumers want to feel that brands recognize and respect them. They want interactions to be personalized. Irrelevant or duplicate messages send the exact opposite signal. Working with organizations across a wide array of industries, I see this happen all the time. And these days, data decays (becomes obsolete) more quickly than ever, given the rapid pace of change in both business operations and consumer habits. People constantly update what they want or need, and their expectations keep climbing higher and higher. Sending them the wrong messages is just one way your business can go wrong. Recent research highlights other pitfalls as well. For example, a study on financial risk management found that poor data hygiene 'can expose firms to legal consequences and damage customer trust.' Also, independent researcher Anshul Vyas wrote, 'As AI models increasingly demand real-time or streaming data for predictions, the pressure on IT infrastructure, cloud security, and cyber resilience intensifies.' Then there's the environmental impact. 'Storing and processing data has an environmental cost, so 'data hygiene' is gaining importance,' researchers Sergiu-Alexandru Ionescu, Vlad Diaconita, and Andreea-Oana Radu of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies wrote in a recent study. This problem is especially big for financial institutions, which are 'notorious for hoarding data due to regulatory needs (e.g., storing years of transaction records) and analytical ambitions,' they added. These concerns are likely to grow as businesses put increased focus on climate efforts. In addition to tracking their carbon footprint, some are now looking at their 'nature footprint,' which the World Economic Forum describes as 'a holistic understanding of a company's impacts and dependencies on nature.' How to get a clean bill of data health Businesses should use data cleansing tools to automate validation, eliminate duplicate records, purge stale information, and more. They should also conduct regular audits. It's helpful to assign a data steward as well. As defines it, 'A data steward is an information technology employee who controls the quality of data a company gathers and the method it uses to collect it. These stewards are important for a company's data security by creating and enforcing data policies.' Crucially, businesses should combine all their communications into a single AI-powered tool like a unified customer experience management platform (UCXM). These kinds of technologies can automate numerous processes including for data hygiene, while protecting privacy and security. The importance of data hygiene is a powerful reminder that, even in this era, humans are still in charge. AI tools are packed with potential, but even the best are only as good as the data they run on. With employees overseeing data hygiene, your business can proceed much more confidently into the new world of AI -- and trust that you'll maintain a clean bill of health.
