Philippines telecommunications company PLDT has integrated a smart voice AI solution to set up two-way communication methods in place of one-way including text messages, and emails, and using an automated payment reminder system (APRS).
The telecom player is using Singapore-based conversational AI company Wiz.ai’s product – Talkbot Pro – to handle payment collection, reduce churn rate, and help customer retention.
Working with Wiz.ai, PLDT’s ICT subsidiary – ePLDT deployed 35 talkbots in September last year.
Over the first six months, it conducted 3.7 million outgoing communications.
PLDT’s vice president and head of credit and collections, Dianne Blanco, said the talkbots added two more hours of call time into the day, increasing productivity by 33 percent, and the handling time for calls has reduced from an average of six minutes to three minutes.
The net benefits are a reduction in manual callouts by 15 percent and a higher collections rate, she added.
The solution was integrated into ePLDT’s cloud contact centre as a service (CCaaS) offering, backed by an Azure Stack Hub which is locally hosted in the ePLDT VITRO data centre.
According to PLDT, Wiz.ai oversees the application services and customisations while the telecom player manages the required infrastructure, including virtual machines and firewalls.
Identifies customers in need of assistance
The AI chatbot is capable of conversing in Taglish - a blend of English and Tagalog which is a widely spoken language in the Philippines and is helping PLDT agents by reducing workload and automating numerous tasks.
Wiz.ai’s head of regional sales, Allan Ong, said the real-time, automated “smart hashtagging” feature identifies customers in need of assistance, including billing disputes or service termination requests.
This allows the agents to prioritise and serve quickly, which results in higher customer satisfaction, Ong added.
Follow-up work including automatic transcription of each call and accurate data for auditing purposes happens automatically, reducing manual work.
According to Blanco, earlier collectors would compile tally sheets manually, but now the team has a database with information.
The company spends time reviewing and analysing the data instead of manipulating sheets of data to identify trends, Blanco added.
PLDT plans to add more talkbots to assist with the inbound call queue, promotional campaigns for pre-paid customers, and finding ways to increase personalisation.
The team is working to expand the regional bots in Mindanao and Bisaya languages, and to make calls empathetic and authentic so customers can connect with and understand the talkbot, Blanco said.
