00:00:07 - 00:00:24 Adam:
Hello, everybody. Welcome to Five Minute Pitch. Today, I am here with Casey Denby, who is with Zenarate, and going to tell us all about AI coaching. Well, Casey, I appreciate you coming on today. Tell us all about your organization, what you guys do. Ready, set, go.

00:00:25 - 00:00:55 Casey:
Thanks, Adam. I appreciate it. Yeah. Casey Denby with Zenarate. We are an AI conversation simulation company, and the high-level problem that we are trying to solve is that in general, the customer engagement jobs that are out there today are more challenging than ever. And the reason for that is because automation is coming in, and it's fantastic, right? There's all these AI companies, they're focused on taking calls out of the call center, taking those away from the agent.

00:00:55 - 00:01:16 Casey:
The issue with that is that it's taking the easier calls out. So the agent job is actually more challenging than ever because they're automating those simple interactions out of the contact center. And so that leaves agents with the most challenging job ever because they have the hardest calls, they're complex products, highly regulated.

00:01:16 - 00:01:37 Casey:
You've got challenging or frustrated or escalated customers that are trying to get out of that automated process or just mad in general, that are the ones reaching the human being. And the reality is that even though there's a focus on automation, 75%, according to "Harvard Business Review" of customers want more human interaction, not less.

00:01:37 - 00:02:07 Casey:
So when you think about how human beings or agents learn, it's a simple model that 70% of what we learn is through doing, and unfortunately, most training organizations out there, and I used to be global head of training at two major brands, global companies, and the problem that we had was we need to get people more real-time experience, on-the-job experience, actually doing what they want to do.

00:02:07 - 00:02:36 Casey:
And I love to use this example, and it's Masters week, and Tiger Woods is the best golfer of all time. Now, by watching somebody do something, you're not going to become great. You need to actually pick up the club, pick up the instrument, take the phone calls, get the practice and the repetition in order to become great at what you're trying to do. So we're focused on making human beings great.

00:02:36 - 00:02:54 Casey:
So instead of focusing on automation, we're actually AI for humans in the sense that we are here to augment the human experience through better performance, and from the company perspective, better KPIs. We work with a lot of major brands across the board. In fact, Bank of America is our largest client.

00:02:54 - 00:03:20 Casey:
We have relationships with KeyBank, ADP, the largest payroll processing company, Anthem Healthcare, United Airlines, American Express, Genpact, fifth-largest BPO in the world, Citizens Bank, and so many more. And if you were to think about our product or solution, and remember just this: we are the flight simulator for customer engagement.

00:03:20 - 00:03:45 Casey:
So before you would ever get on an airplane with a pilot and trust your life to them in that particular transportation situation there, you would have hoped they would have some quality time in a flight simulator. And then from there, there's a progression for pilots. So it's not just, "Hey, let me listen to the teacher or follow the PowerPoint presentation or take a couple of quizzes."

00:03:45 - 00:04:16 Casey:
You have to actually figure out all of the buttons and figure out what to do when rain comes, wind, turbulence from said elements, mountains, so many different things, birds, right? So many things that come into play. Now, why is it any different when it comes to a customer experience agent or individual, right? Somebody that's interfacing with your actual customers, representing your brand. Don't we want them to have the same adequate amount of experience and practice?

00:04:16 - 00:04:41 Casey:
I think the short answer is yes. So that's where Zenarate comes in, is we offer that simulation experience, and we can simulate any human-to-human interaction that any customer in any company has ever had to deal with. And we give them that AI coach then to practice with. So all you need is a Chrome browser and a headset. You log in just like you would log into your bank account.

00:04:41 - 00:05:00 Casey:
You put the headset on, and you're already interacting with your AI coach, just like you would on the floor with an actual customer. But instead of doing it in production and crashing the plane, falling flat on your face, you actually get reps in a practice or safe environment.

00:05:00 - 00:05:21 Casey:
And if you think about it this way, we augment human-to-human role-play, and we take all the negatives out of it, such as the anxiety, the stress that comes with performing in front of your peers, the fact that it's inconsistent. If I role-play with person A versus person B, the bias is going to exist. There's going to be different feedback. And we're consistent, we're scalable, and cost-effective.

00:05:21 - 00:05:49 Casey:
So everybody gets the same experience, whether you're from home or at the office, anywhere in the world, as long as you have access to the internet, Chrome browser, and a headset. So to request a demo, you can visit us at www.zenarate.com and click on the Request a Demo link, or you can just email me personally, [email protected]. That's C-A-S-E-Y-D @zenarate.com. Thanks for the time.

00:05:49 - 00:06:07 Adam:
Casey, what a great presentation. I really appreciate you coming on to Five Minute Pitch today. I look forward to spending some more time learning about your products and services and learning more about how AI coaching can really take organizations, whether they be collection agencies or customer service BPO, really to the next level. So thank you so much for coming on today.

00:06:07 - 00:06:09 Casey:
Much appreciated, Adam. Thank you.