{"id":5325,"date":"2020-02-24T16:01:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T16:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ansafone.com\/?p=5325"},"modified":"2022-05-14T22:26:03","modified_gmt":"2022-05-14T22:26:03","slug":"talking-about-ai-artificial-intelligence-with-jared-mendez-cto-of-ansafone-contact-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/talking-about-ai-artificial-intelligence-with-jared-mendez-cto-of-ansafone-contact-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking about AI (Artificial Intelligence) with Jared Mendez, CTO, of Ansafone Contact Centers"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"5325\" class=\"elementor elementor-5325\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-6adda84 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6adda84\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-d472aa6\" data-id=\"d472aa6\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-559e768 elementor-widget elementor-widget-video\" data-id=\"559e768\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;video_type&quot;:&quot;vimeo&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"video.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-wrapper elementor-open-inline\">\n\t\t\t<iframe class=\"elementor-video-iframe\" allowfullscreen allow=\"clipboard-write\" title=\"vimeo Video Player\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/393481121?color&amp;autopause=0&amp;loop=0&amp;muted=0&amp;title=1&amp;portrait=1&amp;byline=1#t=\"><\/iframe>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3cb17da elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"3cb17da\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/ansafone-contact-centers\/episodes\/Talking-about-AI--Artificial-Intelligence-with-Jared-Mendez--CTO--of-Ansafone-Contact-Centers-eb2q1g\/a-a1j0415\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">More Place to Listen<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2abe159b elementor-hidden-desktop elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-phone elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2abe159b\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3191e940\" data-id=\"3191e940\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-76471f99 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"76471f99\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">View More Interview Highlights:<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-3a69f3b8 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"3a69f3b8\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-7da8f038\" data-id=\"7da8f038\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1c01d439 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1c01d439\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>The Philosophy and Culture of Ansafone \nContact Centers<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-48cf59bb elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"48cf59bb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/videos-and-podcasts\/ansafone-philosophy-culture\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail-768x432.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-3856\" alt=\"Ansafone Contact Centers logo\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail.png 1201w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-4d346c85\" data-id=\"4d346c85\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-70d88a59 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"70d88a59\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Randy Harmat Discusses What Makes Ansafone Contact Centers Different<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1ebc6e2c elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"1ebc6e2c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/videos-and-podcasts\/what-makes-ansafone-different\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail-768x432.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-3856\" alt=\"Ansafone Contact Centers logo\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ansafone-Contact-Centers-Vimeo-video-thumbnail.png 1201w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-3d38291 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"3d38291\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4d40121\" data-id=\"4d40121\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cb3dc0d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cb3dc0d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Transcript:<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d81abe2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"d81abe2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<table>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Good morning, everyone. My name is Judy Lin and I am with Digital Judy Podcast today. We're here with Ansafone Contact Centers in Sunny Santa Ana, California. Ansafone is a leading provider of business process outsourcing and call center solutions. With 50 years of delivering world class customer experience and brand care, we offer state of the art communications technology and outsource-call-center services, including in-bound calls, out-bound calls, HIPAA compliance, secure text messaging, email response, live chat and more. We provide a seamless extension of you.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Hi Jared! How are you?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I\u2019m doing well - thank you for coming down.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Thanks for inviting us down here at Ansafone Contact Centers. So tell us about your role here.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">My role at Ansafone is the Chief Technology Officer.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Okay.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">So, my main job duties are, are delivering stability as well as coming up with innovative solutions for our customers.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Okay so what kind of services do you provide here?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">We provide outsource contact center services and also business process outsourcing so everything from answering service for doctors and lawyers\u2019 offices, down to supporting health plan membership, even financial services as well.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah, I actually talked to your CEO, Randy Harmat, and I guess natural disasters has been like a key niche.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It\u2019s been a big one for us.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah, tell us about that.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah. We got into this business through a line of business called first notice of loss for insurance companies. So, when a hurricane hits South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, what have you - and people need help getting adjusters out to deal with their home damage, we are who they call in the disaster. Right? We can take in that intake and start the process to deliver them help, recover their home and get back to normal life.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">And you\u2019re able to support that kind of capacity that quickly?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah that\u2019s the tricky part.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Just on the fly?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah that is the tricky part \u2013 and it\u2019s two-fold. One is making sure we have the technology options to be able to onboard 100 or 200 so-on agents very quickly. The other, is the human element of that challenge. How do we bring on board enough live agents to support these efforts in a short period of time?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">And how do you do that?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Tried and true practices.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">(Laughing) Yeah.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">So knowing and understanding that someone coming, new into the contact center business \u2013 we try and source people with experience in this industry, and then deliver a good quality training and quality assurance program to make sure, in a pinch and quickly trained, these people are well-armed to help the person on the other end of the line.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yes. So what does a daily day look like for you here?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">A daily day for me is a lot of research and development lately.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I see.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">We\u2019ve built a good organization up underneath myself from a day-to-day systems and support and operational IT, that allows me to focus on what\u2019s next for Ansafone and our customers.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yes. So, I\u2019m curious \u2013 how many years have you been here?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Twenty years with Ansafone now.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Has it been twenty years?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah, it\u2019s been quite a while.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Oh goodness. Well I just heard about your 50<sup>th<\/sup> Anniversary, right??<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah Ansafone is a long-running company!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">That\u2019s amazing I don\u2019t hear much of that in the industry.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">No! Especially not in the call center world. We can from cutting our tees from the 80\u2019s 90\u2019s and in the answering service world and really linked into the contact center of EOP world in the late 90\u2019s. And that\u2019s what I think helped us from going the way of the dodo and not being a company any longer and staying a business was constant innovation of what\u2019s next.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">So in your twenty years plus and experience of technology, what would you say is the most intriguing in the tech-development? And what do you see as a detriment?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Sure, I\u2019d say its artificial intelligence is the subject of this year and next and what\u2019s coming next.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It\u2019s a buzz word, right? Artificial intelligence?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It really is.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Can you talk on that \u2013 I\u2019d like to learn more about this.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah absolutely. I think it\u2019s a very fuzzy concept for a lot of people. Of how does AI really transact in my world? And where can it help?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">And it\u2019s different for every vertical and every company and how they do things. Having the ability to support this artificial intelligence from a customer records perspective and the programmable interface just to get in there. And then how do you even approach it? What transactions do you want artificial intelligence to deal with?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">But aren\u2019t you afraid that the average person is going to get turned off by artificial intelligence? I mean you\u2019re in the call center industry \u2013 I mean who wants to talk to like a bot? I\u2019m just being real with you. Like we need to be real right? Because people want to ask that.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Absolutely! And I think it\u2019s a happy medium of the two and not getting too caught up in the AI fever, we\u2019ll call it, and wanting to swing the pendulum away from live people to only automation. That hasn\u2019t worked in the past with traditional automated IVR\u2019s, or phone trees, the press one, press two, kind of options. You still need that human element behind and that I think has been the biggest challenge here and how to formulate a product that we can go to our customers with, is AI is here to help do the easy transactions, do them quickly, and give you a cost effective way to still staff the live agents and the humans to help your customers in the event that it\u2019s a more difficult transaction or they don\u2019t want to deal with the bot.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I mean, is this common now? Is AI part of the mainstream?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It is.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It is?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Larger organizations \u2013 when you call in now, what would traditionally be these phone tree kind of IVR\u2019s to navigate, are now asking you, \u201cHow can I help you?\u201d and you\u2019re saying that, just naturally, \u201cI need help rescheduling my flight\u201d \u2013 if you\u2019re calling an airline. It\u2019s no longer \u201cPress 3 for reservations\u201d.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Is there any room for technical errors in the AI?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">There always is - right. These bots have to be trained. That\u2019s where I think starting slow is proven here, let alone for internal adoption within your organization, especially your customer bases. How can you start to integrate AI without alienating your customers - like you\u2019ve decided to have them talk to a machine instead of human from now on?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Right.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">So how can you make it easy for them to do the easy transactions and then still make it very quick and unimpeded to get to a live person in your time?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Got it. Wow \u2013 that was quite a discussion about that so what would you say are your top three consistent problems in the industry of call centers?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I would say stability.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">What do you mean?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Stability from just ensuring you have a good business continuity plan. Disaster recovery.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Like the infrastructure needs to be in place?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Correct. And not just written down on a piece of paper and never practiced - and any IT operation. Just because you have the plans \u2013 how well are they used? And wow well are you people involved know how to use them? And are they tested regularly - and continuously improved? I see a lot of organizations where they have this GR plan collecting dust somewhere and it\u2019s never been exercised. And it\u2019s not time to learn if your GR plan works in the middle of a disaster.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">So, I\u2019m curious, Jared, why would you pick this industry or why did you get into technology? Is this something that you enjoy or that you have a fascination with. I mean it sounds like it could be really stressful and complex?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It definitely is all of that and I got involved in the beginning doing Microsoft database server kind of work, and business intelligence and analytics \u2026 and having worked at Ansafone now, for many years, one of the things that\u2019s kept me around and in this industry is the fact that I don\u2019t work for a single company every day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Oh wow I didn\u2019t think about that! Right.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I get to go learn of the next new organization in a whole new vertical \u2013 whole new systems. And how can we integrate and help their customers together? It\u2019s never the same!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">So you have multiple clients basically?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Correct \u2013 and multiple industries! So I get to live the day in the life of a health plan one day, and tomorrow financial services company \u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">And then natural disaster \u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">And then a natural disaster for first notice of loss \u2013 so keeping things exciting. And then figuring out how to keep your technology nimble enough to deal in all these various verticals \u2013 has always kept it very interesting for me and never had me wanting to go elsewhere.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah that\u2019s really interesting. So, what would you see or what would you like to see change in this industry since you\u2019ve been in it for as long as over twenty years - besides artificial intelligence?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Data analytics I think is important. And how can you have you customer service representatives, actually feed you information that\u2019s actionable to help your customer base long-term. So are you getting the inputs from your live agents to help you make business decisions.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I\u2019m sorry, Jared, so what do you mean like data analytics? What kind of data are you specifically talking about?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Around why are the people calling in, or chatting in, or sending an SMS in for help.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Okay like what kind of calls are coming through?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Correct. And rather than just delivering a report saying you received ten customer service calls, three returns and two complaints. Really why were they calling in for that reason? So, having a quality assurance program where we can not only look at the call reasons, but what is truly going on behind the scenes and partner with our client to fix those things that aren\u2019t easily scene in basic reporting.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Got it. So \u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Difficult situations when people are stressed out how do you get through the phone that you\u2019re there to help.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Wouldn\u2019t that be kind of a detriment, if let\u2019s say, you have this straight technology but then an agent gets, maybe impatient or frustrated on the phone and kind of gives a negative impression. How do you fix or what do you do with the agents? Do you train them properly before letting them on a phone call? Or how does that work?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">That\u2019s the key. The key is don\u2019t just unleash unproven people into the world and hope for the best \u2013 that\u2019s not a good plan.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">(Laughing) Yeah!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It starts with picking the right profile of the employees we look to hire. Alright. We want someone who wants to help people, who\u2019s not going to be \u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Just anybody \u2013 yeah.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Correct. Right. You need to be able to deal with stressful situations. Sometimes the people reaching out to a contact center agent for help, are going through life situations that are very difficult to begin with. And you need to be a good active listener \u2013 you need to have empathy and navigate the situation and without getting yourself stressed out during this call. The person needing help is already stressed out to begin with.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Exactly. You probably need a calm person to navigate right?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Correct. And a lot of that is the starting out with the right agent profile. Right? Do they have the right mentality? And kind of approach there, to deal with these kinds of situations? And then layering on the tried-and-true contact center training process that we put our agents through. Soft skills \u2013 how do you make sure and still maintain quality control in these difficult situations when people are stressed out? How do you get through the phone that you\u2019re there to help?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Right. So with all these natural disasters happening more \u2026 I mean, how do you see Ansafone coming in and helping with that situation? I know you talked about it earlier, but I\u2019m just seeing this could be a common theme that\u2019s happening in our everyday lives, can you speak about that?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It\u2019s definitely a tricky business. It\u2019s making sure you\u2019ve got the right systems, and bandwidth to deal with the large influx of phone calls, emails, whatever the channel is that they\u2019re contacting us on. And then how do you source enough people in the time of need. How does Ansafone source enough people for you in the time of need \u2013 in the right location that\u2019s not affected by your disaster. And I think that is the, the challenge ahead of us in the industry, and its\u2019 always been there, in these kinds of disaster and insurance claims types of businesses. So, making sure you\u2019ve got the plans in place and how do you onboard so many people in various locations quickly \u2013 that\u2019s really at the heart of what we do as a business.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Got it. So, what is your happiest moment here at Ansafone, Jared?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I\u2019d say helping others has always been a big thing for myself and being able to help others who can\u2019t necessarily help themselves \u2013 has always been big for me. One example would be helping out a government agency with their child abuse and neglect, notice kind of intake for these kind of complaints. And how do you navigate rural resources who are in these communities with bad technology or old technology, and still layer on new stuff that can help understand is everyone who needs to reach out for help, being helped when they need it. And we are able to dive in and deliver modern technology on top of legacy things into some rural areas where people still need help. And trying to get government or different agencies to totally migrate to something new is a lot time, just cost prohibitive and they can\u2019t - but they still need the people on the other end in these locations to be able to support. So being able to navigate those situations and come up with a happy medium between the two is a really a good experience for me.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Understandable. So, besides fixing these like complex IT problems and situations \u2013 what do you like to do for fun?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">For fun I like to go get my stress out a little bit. It\u2019s definitely a very stressful job.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I can see that! Yes!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\"><\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">I\u2019ve heard people compare being a technology leader in an organization to riding a bicycle that\u2019s on fire while everyone\u2019s trying to kick you off of it. So the key is bringing a little bit of sanity and stability has been big for me in Ansafone over the years. So that way, when the stressful day is over, it\u2019s not putting out fires as things go wrong. So, stability really brought good balance to Ansafone IT staff. Right - So we can go outside and do what we like to do outside of work and not be worried about the stress of the day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yeah. So, your hobbies are really important?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Correct. Correct. And for me, I like to take aggression out on a racetrack - works really well for stress. (laughing)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Wow. Racetrack \u2013 that\u2019s quite a sport.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">It\u2019s a great stress reliever. Also cooking! Coming up with new recipes. It\u2019s kind of what my job is during the day right. What\u2019s the recipe to put it together!? Exactly.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Yes! That\u2019s incredible. Well, thank you so much for coming out and interviewing with us. And uh, where can we find Ansafone?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Ansafone.com \u2013 great place to reach out to us. We are also present in social media everywhere. So, lots of ways to get in touch with us and help your company out.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Judy:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Awesome \u2013 thank you so much ,Jared.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n  <td class=\"left-ck\">Jared:<\/td>\n  <td class=\"right-ck\">Thank you, Judy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this full podcast interview, we talk with Jared Mendez, CTO, of Ansafone Contact Centers about call center technology and artificial intelligence. Ansafone Contact Centers is a national call center that offers omni- channel call center services and bilingual services. Take a listen into the inside scoop of what it&#8217;s like to service natural disasters and everyday business operations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[197],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5325"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14407,"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5325\/revisions\/14407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ansafone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}