Shows
VUX WorldExclusive: Inside Automation Anywhere’s boost.ai acquisition plansAutomation Anywhere has agreed to acquire boost.ai. What could that mean for customer experience, personal AI agents and the autonomous enterprise?In this exclusive interview, Kane Simms speaks with Jerry Haywood, CEO of boost.ai, and Ankur Kothari, co-founder and COO of Automation Anywhere, about the proposed combination. They discuss how conversational and voice AI could connect to work across enterprise systems, where people remain involved and what customers need to prepare for.The conversation covers the rationale behind the deal, customer and employee operations, the changing relationship between CX and IT, personal agents, agent-to-agent interactions and the...
2026-10-2049 minVUX WorldWhat does it take to make a voice AI agent reliable?Reliable voice AI comes from rigorous testing and evals, and Rohan Vasishth from Bluejay sees trust as the fundamental bottleneck holding back enterprise deployment.Rohan is Co-founder and CEO of Bluejay, which tests and monitors voice and chat AI agents for companies including Google and DoorDash. We work through what to test, when to test it and what each approach costs.We discuss why testing voice AI introduces a whole new layer of complexity, from accents and background noise to interruptions and speech recognition errors. Rohan also shares how customers can stress-test agents, why starting...
2026-10-1537 minVUX WorldKeeping control of your AI agentsStacey Kyler and Guy Tonye of Zammo return to the show for the first time since 2021. Back then they were building for Google Assistant, Alexa and Cortana. ChatGPT arrived soon after and reshaped what customers expected.They cover the move from NLU and diagram flows to agentic systems, why customers now want both the freedom of Gen AI and firm control, how Zammo enforces determinism at the code level while Gen AI handles the conversation, and why evals are the thing Guy would add to any conversation design course today.Show notes
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2026-10-0137 minVUX WorldThe two things contact centres have been missing until nowThe contact centre holds a record of almost every customer interaction. Every conversation carries a signal about why customers are calling and what is behind it. Processing those conversations at scale took the power the contact centre never had before.Ping Wu, CEO of Cresta, joins us to work through what that shift means for enterprise contact centres, from cutting the calls that should never happen to automating the ones that can be.We get into how AI changed what a contact centre can see. Every call, every screen, every exchange can now be processed...
2026-08-2731 minVUX WorldFrom chatbot to voice AI: what changes?Voice AI is the channel everyone is talking about in 2026. One of the biggest things slowing it down is often already sitting inside your stack.In this episode, I’m joined by Endre Davids from Seamly to explore what really happens when businesses take an existing chatbot and move it into the voice channel.We discuss why latency often starts deeper in the conversational platform than teams expect. Endre explains how companies can spend time optimising speech recognition and text-to-speech while the chatbot itself is responsible for much bigger delays.The conversation gets in...
2026-08-2150 minVUX WorldCobus Greyling: why intents, graphs and conversation design have come full circleI'm joined by Cobus Greyling, AI evangelist at Kore.ai, for a wide-ranging conversation on where enterprise AI actually stands today.We explore why many of the ideas now being presented as breakthroughs, from graph engineering and orchestration to intent detection and state management, have deep roots in conversational AI. We also get into one of the biggest barriers to enterprise AI adoption: data. We highlight why customer experience could become the entry point for much wider organisational transformation. We touch on how forward-deployed engineers could help businesses navigate that change and why security will b...
2026-08-131h 14VUX WorldFrom answers to actions: building better government AIPlenty of AI assistants can answer the question in front of them. Fewer can work out what someone is actually trying to do and help them do it.In this episode, we're joined by Pete Kowalczyk, AI Conversation Designer at the Government Digital Service (GDS), to talk about designing AI experiences across the vast and complex landscape of UK government services.Pete explains how GDS is exploring knowledge graphs, persistent state and goal detection to move beyond basic RAG systems. The aim is to connect information with action and guide people through non-linear journeys, such a...
2026-08-0755 minVUX WorldHow Simplyhealth scaled voice AI to resolve 30% of calls with Paul AtkinsAlmost a third of Simplyhealth's incoming calls are now resolved by AI, and email handling time has fallen from 12 minutes to 2. The company is achieving those gains while maintaining the service standards that placed it 31st in KPMG UK's Customer Experience Excellence report.In this episode, we're joined by Paul Atkins, Head of Business Optimisation at Simplyhealth, the UK's member-owned health cash plan provider serving around 2.5 million customers. Paul explains how Simplyhealth introduced voice AI gradually, tested more than 1,000 real customer calls and built trust across a highly regulated organisation.We also get into how...
2026-07-2454 minVUX WorldInside the platform enterprises use to build AI agents with Rasmus Hauch, CTO at boost.aiSafe, reliable, production-ready AI agents don't come from the model. They come from everything built around it.Rasmus Hauch is CTO of Boost.ai, one of the enterprise platforms banks, insurers and public sector organisations use to build customer-facing AI agents. His work sits one layer below every deployment: the orchestration, the guardrails, the testing infrastructure and the model choices that decide whether an agent holds up in front of millions of customers.In this episode, Rasmus opens that layer, explaining why conversational AI is shifting away from traditional conversation flows towards orchestration, testing and...
2026-07-1751 minVUX WorldHow ING is building the instant mortgage with agentic AIA traditional mortgage can take weeks to process. Every application moves through rounds of document requests, condition checks, and broker queries before a decision is made. ING is using agentic AI to change that.In this episode, Bahadir Yilmaz, Chief Analytics Officer at ING, explains how one of Europe's largest mortgage lenders has implemented agentic AI in its mortgage process. The system is live in the Netherlands, rolling out to Germany. Applications now complete in days, a full day faster since AI was introduced. The goal: the instant mortgage, within the next couple of years. ...
2026-07-1043 minVUX WorldFrom TOBi to Super TOBi. Vodafone's AI Evolution with Jordan AnglinIn this episode, recorded at the CCW UK Summit, we’re joined by Jordan Anglin from Vodafone to explore the company's approach to customer experience and how AI supports faster, more seamless issue resolution across digital and human channels.Jordan explains how Vodafone combines its AI assistant, TOBi, asynchronous messaging, and dedicated resolution teams to reduce customer effort, eliminate repetitive conversations, and create genuine ownership from start to finish. Jordan also shares how AI is improving frontline performance through agent assistance, conversation summaries, quality assurance and real-time guidance, while offering a practical perspective on where large language mo...
2026-07-0209 minVUX WorldTurning AI hype into real customer value, with Simplyhealth and EdgeTierWe recorded this episode at the CCW UK Summit in May, capturing some of the key conversations shaping customer experience, service and AI.AI is everywhere in customer experience, yet few organisations are turning that excitement into measurable business outcomes.We're joined by Paul Cuglietta, Customer Services Director at Simplyhealth, and Paul Atkins, Head of Business Optimisation at Simplyhealth, alongside Shane Lynn, CEO and Founder of EdgeTier, to explore what successful AI adoption really looks like.We discuss how Simplyhealth scaled generative voice AI with PolyAI from 5% to 50% of interactions and how the...
2026-06-3014 minVUX WorldHow the company behind Uswitch and Money.co.uk uses AI to resolve up to 70% of customer conversations with Anna Fedorchuk, RVUWhen you switch off your call centre, AI has no safety net to fall back on. RVU did exactly that, building an AI-first customer operations function that serves millions of UK consumers.In this episode, we’re joined by Anna Fedorchuk, Customer Operations Manager at RVU, the company behind brands including Uswitch, Confused.com and Money.co.uk. Anna shares how her team transformed customer support from a traditional contact centre into an AI-first operation, achieving AI resolution rates of 65-70% while maintaining a strong customer experience.We discuss how RVU rolled out AI across ch...
2026-06-2639 minVUX WorldOmotenashi: Japanese concept of hospitality and what CX teams can learn from it with Daniel Orenes Ferrández, UberJapan has one of the lowest average NPS scores in the world, and the reason is cultural: Japanese customers expect more.Daniel Orenes Ferrández, Senior Manager of Customer Experience at Uber, discusses Omotenashi, the Japanese philosophy of anticipating customer needs and apologising sincerely before resolving a problem.Daniel has lived and worked in Japan for over a decade, including five years leading conversational AI initiatives at Rakuten. He explains why the Japanese language has between ten and fifteen ways of saying sorry, why choosing the right level matters as much as solving the issue, a...
2026-06-1946 minVUX WorldHow PolyAI built a voice AI model that handles millions of customer calls with Nikola Mrkšić, Co-founder and CEOFive years after his first appearance on the podcast, PolyAI CEO Nikola Mrkšić returns to VUX World to discuss how conversational AI has evolved from intent-based systems into enterprise-scale AI agents handling millions of customer interactions.PolyAI began as a research-led spinout from Cambridge University with a singular focus on making automated voice conversations genuinely useful. Since then, the company has grown from a handful of pilot deployments to powering customer service operations for nearly 200 enterprises worldwide, including highly regulated industries such as banking, healthcare, insurance and utilities.In thi...
2026-05-1757 min
VUX WorldMost AI projects fail. Here's how to pick the ones that don't with Thomas Schaefer, UniphoreEnterprise AI projects fail more often than they succeed. The MIT figure Thomas Schaefer cites puts that at 95%. The reasons are rarely the model. They are the architecture beneath it, the data that feeds it, and the use case selection that determines whether any of it was worth starting.Thomas Schaefer is Director of Sales Engineering at Uniphore, based in Germany. He has over 20 years in enterprise technology, including 12 years at Jacada across solution architecture, professional services and presales leadership across EMEA and APAC. He joined Uniphore in 2021 and works with enterprise clients on AI transformation...
2026-05-0750 min
VUX WorldBuilding enterprise AI agents in hours with Merlin Bise, CTO at InbentaEnterprise AI tools can spin up a prototype in an hour. Getting that prototype to production with the accuracy, security, and scale a real business needs still takes months for most companies. Inbenta says its new Encore platform closes that gap in days or even hours.Merlin Bise, CTO at Inbenta, returns to VUX World to walk through how Encore builds production-grade AI agents on the fly when a customer deploys a use case. The platform ingests content from websites, documents, recordings and connected systems like SharePoint, then combines large language models with Inbenta's proprietary NLP...
2026-04-241h 12
VUX WorldWhere generative AI earns its place in fintech. Lessons from Jaja Finance with Adrian MateiMost teams are still asking where to use AI. The better question is where not to.In this episode, Adrian Matei, Product Manager from Jaja Finance, breaks down what actually happens when generative AI meets real users and real constraints. The result is far less hype, far more discipline, and a clear view of what it takes to ship AI that works.We talk about Jaja’s chatbot, Airi, which is a RAG-based agentic system with six agents in production, serving customers who often face sensitive financial situations, such as debt....
2026-04-171h 03
VUX WorldA pulse check on conversational AI in 2026We hit the floor at the European Chatbot and Conversational AI Summit in Edinburgh with a mic and a simple rule: answer a question, then leave one for the next person. What unfolds is a chain of questions and answers from practitioners at Lebara, Lloyds Banking Group, Uber, ElevenLabs, Carrefour, Virgin Money, Tesco, Jaja Finance and more. The result is an organic, unscripted snapshot of what the conversational AI community is actually thinking about right now.Topics spiral from enterprise AI adoption and the talent crunch, through agentic banking and agent metrics, to some surprisingly personal...
2026-04-1022 min
VUX WorldYour contact centre is sitting on a goldmine of customer insight with Shane Lynn, EdgeTierMost companies sit on a goldmine of customer insight and do almost nothing with it. Every conversation holds signals about frustration, churn risk, and broken experiences, yet extracting that value can be a slow and manual effort.In this episode, Shane Lynn, CEO and Co-Founder of EdgeTier, unpacks how conversational intelligence is evolving in the age of large language models and what it means for contact centres.Shane explains how EdgeTier can now model metrics such as resolution rate and customer satisfaction across every interaction, rather than relying on the 10–15% survey response rate mo...
2026-04-0241 min
VUX WorldTesting for trust in the age of AI agents with Amitha Pulijala and Christoph Börner, CyaraHow do you test something that can behave differently every single time?In this episode, we speak with Amitha Pulijala, Chief Product Officer, and Christoph Börner, VP of Engineering, both at Cyara, about one of the most pressing challenges in conversational AI today. The shift from deterministic, scripted IVRs to generative AI agents is changing how conversational systems are built and tested.The episode covers how Cyara approaches testing in a non-deterministic world, including using AI agents to test AI agents, and why traditional ideas like test coverage no longer apply in t...
2026-03-2757 min
VUX WorldThe realities of deploying generative AI in customer support with Alia Azim, Citation GroupGenerative AI is changing how customer support chatbots are built, deployed and measured.In this episode, we sit down with Alia Azim, Product Lead for Chatbots at Citation Group, to discuss the company’s shift from traditional NLU chatbots to generative AI conversational agents.Alia brings a wealth of experience in conversational AI, including time spent at Lloyds Banking Group, and she gives us an honest account of what it actually looks like to move from NLU-based chatbots to generative AI in a real business environment. Citation Group provides HR, com...
2026-03-1357 min
VUX WorldAI agents with salaries: Inside the “Cloud Employee” model with Gabe Larsen, AtonomWhat happens when AI stops being treated like a tool and starts being hired like an employee?In this episode, we sit down with Gabe Larsen, Chief Revenue Officer at Atonom (formerly known as Signals), to explore a bold reframing of AI agents as “cloud employees” hired on salary to perform specific job roles.Rather than selling software seats or charging per conversation, Atonom packages AI as role-based digital workers. You hire an AI SDR, a customer service rep, or a recruiter. You coach them and you measure their output. And if they do n...
2026-02-2042 min
VUX WorldThe evolution of conversation design in the age of gen AI with Georgios Tserdanelis, JPMorganChaseGenerative AI has changed how conversations are built and experienced. Georgios Tserdanelis, VP of Conversation Design at JPMorganChase, draws on 15 years of designing voice and chat systems to explain what still holds up, what breaks and why conversation design matters more than ever.Georgios brings years of hands-on experience designing voice and chat experiences across startups and global enterprises, including JPMorganChase, Cigna and Walgreens. With a background in linguistics, he offers a grounded perspective on how human conversation actually works and why those fundamentals still matter in a world of generative AI.We...
2026-02-061h 16
VUX WorldAutomating customer service across 170 countries with HBX GroupHBX Group sits in the middle of one of the most complex customer service chains in travel. A single issue can span a traveller, a travel agent, a global booking platform and a hotel on the other side of the world.In this episode, we explore how HBX Group is leveraging artificial intelligence to transform its global customer service operations with Xavier Godoy Moya, Customer Experience & Automation Director, and Adam Tinsley, Global Customer Service Director.We break down how HBX uses AI-driven classification to triage hundreds of thousands of monthly cases across voice...
2026-01-301h 15
VUX WorldDesigning conversational AI that works with Anne Cantera of OptimumFrom IVRs to multimodal AI experiences, the hardest problems are rarely technical. In this episode, we dive into the evolving landscape of conversational AI and enterprise automation with Anne Cantera, Senior Product Designer at Optimum. With extensive experience in transforming traditional IVR systems into conversational interfaces, Anne shares valuable insights on the practical implementation of AI in customer service environments.We explore the concept of 'hybrid architecture' in AI implementation, discussing how combining rule-based automation with generative AI often provides the optimal solution for enterprise needs. Anne explains how her team strategically deploys...
2026-01-2356 min
VUX WorldThe AI talent war with Chris Morrow, Founder of DigitalentAI has moved from pilot projects to boardroom urgency. Companies feel the pressure to act, hire, and keep up. Many start with tools or chase a single unicorn hire. Chris Morrow, Founder of Digitalent, explains why this approach fails and why the real battle is for people who can drive transformation, culture change and long-term value. In this episode, Chris draws on two decades of experience in tech recruitment and his work with VC-backed startups, global enterprises, and governments. He breaks down why AI hiring is unlike any previous talent cycle. Roles are ill-defined, expectations are i...
2026-01-161h 05
VUX WorldThe AI-driven evolution of the in-car experience with BalaKrishna Kolluru, Senior Director of AI at Cerence AICars are becoming one of the most competitive frontiers in AI, and most people don’t realise how complex it really is.In this episode, we’re joined by BalaKrishna Kolluru, Senior Director of AI at Cerence, the company powering conversational AI in over 500 million vehicles worldwide. With over 25 years of experience in machine learning and speech recognition, Bala brings deep insights into how generative AI is transforming the in-vehicle experience.We explore how voice AI in vehicles has evolved from basic command-and-control systems to sophisticated conversational interfaces powered by hybrid cloud-edge architectures. Bala...
2026-01-0954 min
VUX WorldWhy AI is the future of customer service with Fergal Reid, Chief AI Officer at IntercomWhat does it really take to build AI that can resolve customer support at scale reliably, safely, and with measurable business impact?We explore how Intercom has evolved from a traditional customer support platform into an AI-first company, with its AI assistant, Fin, now resolving 65% of customer queries without human intervention. Intercom's Chief AI Officer, Fergal Reid, discusses the company's journey from natural language understanding (NLU) systems to their current retrieval augmented generation (RAG) approach, explaining how they've optimised every component of their AI pipeline with custom-built models.The conversation covers Intercom's unique...
2025-12-041h 13
VUX WorldHow AI is rewriting the business automation playbook with Joe Kim, CEO of DRUID AIIn this episode, Joe Kim, the new CEO of DRUID AI, unpacks what might be the biggest shift in technology since the internet.We discuss the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and its growing impact on businesses. Joe, who has been in his role for 70 days, brings fresh perspectives on how DRUID AI positioned itself as a workflow automation platform years before the market caught up, a bet that's now paying off as companies move beyond AI experimentation into real implementation.The discussion covers the current state of the AI market, including the...
2025-11-171h 27
VUX WorldWhat is agentic AI? Inside Teneo’s real-world automation approach with Anne JenkinsEveryone's slapping 'agentic' on their AI products, but what does that even mean? Anne Jenkins, Vice President of Solution Architecture at Teneo, helps us separate substance from buzzwords.In this episode, Anne shares her expertise on agentic AI and the evolution of conversational AI technologies. We explore what truly makes an AI ‘agentic’ versus the marketing hype all over your LinkedIn feed and beyond. Anne explains why Teneo's hybrid approach, combining traditional NLU capabilities with large language models, creates more reliable, cost-effective, and latency-friendly solutions than pure LLM implementations.We also discuss the chal...
2025-11-061h 21
VUX World15 million chats per year: Lessons in AI-driven customer conversations from Lloyds Banking Group with Cainan Wright and John YoungOnce switched off during busy periods, Lloyds Banking Group’s chatbot now handles more than 15 million conversations a year. Learn what it really takes to build AI solutions that customers trust with their money. We sit down with Cainan Wright, Senior Product Owner, and John Young, AI Lead - Chatbots and Generative AI, from Lloyds Banking Group, to explore their remarkable nine-year journey in building one of the UK's most successful banking chatbots. From handling 3 million conversations in 2021 to over 15 million in 2025, they share the hard-earned lessons of transforming a rather "unloved" virtual assistant into a mis...
2025-10-231h 14
VUX WorldMastering context engineering in conversational AI with Martin Cross, ConnectIn this episode, we dive into the art and science of context engineering with Martin Cross, President of Connect, a company that empowers enterprises to transform through the use of AI and automation.Martin shares how most businesses still approach AI with a technology-first mindset, deploying solutions before clearly defining the customer problem they’re solving. He explains why successful AI experiences begin with understanding the user journey, designing the right interaction, and then selecting the appropriate tools, not the other way around.We explore different layers of context - from session-level to jo...
2025-10-1658 min
VUX WorldMaking human-like voice AI accessible and affordable with NLX and InworldVoice AI is having a breakthrough moment. With large language models delivering unprecedented understanding and next-gen text-to-speech achieving near-human fidelity, the possibilities for immersive, scalable, and personalised customer experiences are greater than ever.We’re joined by Andrei Papancea (CEO & Co-Founder, NLX) and Kylan Gibbs (CEO & Co-Founder, Inworld), who break down how their companies are working together, making studio-quality voice experiences accessible to developers and enterprises at scale.The conversation traces how voice technology has progressed from basic assistants to today’s lifelike AI voices. We also discuss the shift from brand voices to b...
2025-09-251h 02
VUX WorldAI, empathy, and the future of work with Ian Jacobs, Opus ResearchWhat happens when one of the world’s leading analysts on customer service and conversational technologies sits down to unpack the future of AI?We explore the profound implications of AI adoption with Ian Jacobs, VP, Lead Analyst at Opus Research. We discuss how AI is transforming contact centres and customer service operations, from agent augmentation to process automation. Ian shares insights on how businesses are navigating the balance between AI efficiency and human empathy, including the fascinating concept of when non-empathetic AI might actually be the more empathetic choice for customers in cer...
2025-09-191h 13
VUX WorldExpert analysis of the best AI platforms in 2025Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Conversational AI platforms is back in 2025! This is a must-watch for CX leaders seeking to make informed decisions about their AI tech stack. Here, we provide deep technology market analysis for artificial intelligence in customer experience. Whether you're looking to build AI chatbots, AI agents, Retrieval Augmented Generation applications, these conversational AI platforms are the best of breed.Show notesKane Simms on LinkedInDiscover VUX ConsultingTake the updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to...
2025-09-1229 min
VUX WorldMachines that talk: How Toyota drives innovation in manufacturing with Kordel FranceAs one of the world’s largest car manufacturers, Toyota is giving its machines a voice using AI as a trusted partner to transform how cars are built and serviced.In this episode, we speak with Kordel France, Principal AI Engineer & AI Architect at Toyota, to uncover how artificial intelligence is reshaping production and maintenance globally.We explore how Toyota has moved from technicians spending hours sifting through thousands of pages of manuals to intelligent systems that can diagnose faults in seconds and even predict breakdowns before they happen. Kordel explains the technical ar...
2025-09-051h 10
VUX WorldNiCE & Cognigy: The AI arms race in CX has begunThe AI arms race in customer experience just got serious. We’re joined by industry legends Nerys Corfield (Injection Consulting), Jon Arnold (J Arnold & Associates), and Henry Iversen (boost.ai) to unpack one of the biggest AI moves in recent memory: NiCE’s $955M acquisition of Cognigy.We break down what this deal means for the future of AI-first contact centres, the fate of best-in-class point solutions, and the broader shift toward an AI-led customer experience strategy. From questions of market consolidation and vendor lock-in to the culture clash between product-led innovation and marketing muscle, we shar...
2025-08-0845 min
VUX WorldInside the analyst’s mind: How AI is reshaping enterprise communications with Jon ArnoldFrom the hype cycle around AI to the real-world constraints enterprises face when adopting new tech, we explore the opportunities shaping the future of business communications in this episode. We’re joined by Jon Arnold, an independent tech analyst, for a conversation about the shifting landscape of enterprise communications. We talk about analysts' unique role in shaping vendor strategy and market perception. We discuss the current state of business communications technology, examining what Jon describes as the "three-legged stool" of cloud communications: CCaaS, CPaaS, and UCaaS. We discuss how these previously distinct domains are...
2025-07-281h 02
VUX WorldInside the AI copilot revolution that saved Essent €1.8M with Kellin Sjoerds and Ricky RekkersIn this episode of VUX World, we chat with Kellin Sjoerds and Ricky Wekker, Conversational AI Engineers at Essent - the Netherlands’ largest utility provider and part of the E.ON Group to uncover the story behind their groundbreaking agent assist tool, Bolt.Bolt is an AI-powered agent copilot that has transformed Essent’s call centre operations, shaving an average of 60 seconds off every call and delivering over €1.8 million in savings, not through layoffs, but by reducing dependence on BPOs.We unpack the full journey behind Essent’s AI copilot, Bolt, starting with a simple...
2025-07-1159 min
VUX WorldFrom IVR to AI: The future of voice testing in contact centres with Satish Barot, KlearcomAs generative AI redefines the contact centre, ensuring consistent performance across complex telephony networks becomes mission-critical. In this episode, we speak with Satish Barot, CTO at Klearcom, about the evolution of contact centre technology and the critical role of quality assurance in AI voice systems. We explore how organisations gradually transition from traditional DTMF-based IVR systems to more sophisticated conversational AI and generative AI solutions. Satish shares insights on why this shift is happening incrementally, with many companies adopting hybrid approaches that run traditional and AI-powered systems side by side while they evaluate pe...
2025-07-0450 min
VUX WorldThe enterprise AI evolution nobody’s talking about with Merlin Bise, Inbenta74% of CEOs think their jobs are on the line because of AI. Not because AI might replace them, but because failing to implement it successfully could cost them everything.Merlin Bise, CTO of Inbenta and former Head of Technology at a firm acquired by the London Stock Exchange, joins us to share how Inbenta is helping enterprises modernise their customer experience. Merlin explains that so many AI deployments fail, not because the technology is lacking, but because companies often bet on the wrong frameworks, overlook data foundations, or underestimate the importance of testing. ...
2025-06-271h 02
VUX WorldGaining clarity in conversational AI live from Boost CampIn this special episode, recorded live at Boost Camp, we have three industry leaders who are shaping the future of conversational AI: Ben Maxim, CTO at Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU), Åse Marthinsen, who leads generative AI at Norway’s largest bank, DNB and Nick Mitchell, Chief Revenue Officer at boost.ai.We cover the ever-changing landscape of conversational AI, including aligning teams, integrating data across channels and designing experiences that are on brand and human-centric.We look at how organisations are managing thousands of conversational intents with lea...
2025-06-2031 min
VUX WorldHow True Classic tailored AI for customer experience with Jordan GeskyIn this episode, we explore how True Classic, a men's apparel brand, is leveraging AI to transform its customer support with Jordan Gesky, Senior Customer Experience Manager.We look at True Classic’s journey from rule-based automation to generative AI across multiple channels. Jordan talks about how their AI assistant, Crue, now handles customer service inquiries through chat, email and phone channels and how that’s reduced costs and time to resolve.We get into the practicalities of AI in customer service, including continuous auditing, clear guidelines and giving AI a brand voice. Jord...
2025-06-1351 min
VUX WorldAI vs BPO: Foundever's transformative journey with Guillaume LaporteIn this episode, we talk to Guillaume Laporte, Chief AI Officer at Foundever - a $4 billion BPO giant with 150,000 employees worldwide. Guillaume explains the massive impact of generative AI on the BPO industry, why it’s the biggest threat and the biggest opportunity for contact centres today.From deciding whether to buy, build or partner on AI solutions to navigating multiple client systems and languages, Guillaume shares how Foundever is transforming its workforce with AI-powered tools like EverAssist. Guillaume also explains why Foundever built its own internal version of ChatGPT rather than licensing OpenAI’s solution, savi...
2025-06-0658 min
VUX WorldDesigning for generative AI: The UX evolution at Prudential with Alex ShinGenerative AI has changed everything - from how we build to how we design. In this episode, we’re joined by Alex Shin, Senior Product Designer at Prudential Financial, to talk about how UX is evolving in the age of LLMs.Alex shares his journey from studying Social Policy to UX and conversation design, including how he helped launch Prudential’s first customer-facing chatbot in 2022.We talk about how Prudential’s NLU-based chatbot is consistently getting customer satisfaction scores above industry standards and how the company is exploring generative AI solutions for both intern...
2025-05-3044 min
VUX WorldThe mid-market’s AI agent advantage with Braden Ream, VoiceflowWhat if the most exciting AI agent innovation isn’t happening in the enterprise, but in the mid-market?In this episode, we unpack Voiceflow’s explosive growth, the shift from flowcharts to frameworks, and why success today isn’t about having the smartest model, but about how you deploy it.We explore how to build reliable, production-grade agents, the rise of self-improving systems, and the emergence of agent-to-agent orchestration.And while mid-market companies are moving fast, Braden explains why enterprise adoption is inevitable, and what it’ll take to reach that tip...
2025-05-2251 min
VUX WorldThe mad genius of using LLMs as classifiers with Katherine Munro, SwisscomIn this episode, Kane Simms is joined by Katherine Munro, Conversational AI Engineer at Swisscom, for a deep dive into what might sound like an odd pairing: using LLMs to classify customer intents.Large Language Models (LLMs) are powerful, multi-purpose tools. But would you trust one to handle the precision of a classification task?It’s an unlikely fit for an LLM. Classifiers typically need to be fast, accurate, and interpretable. LLMs are slow, random black-boxes. Classifiers need to output a single label. LLMs never stop talking.And yet, there ar...
2025-05-161h 35
VUX WorldBuilding AI maturity at Pandora with Sonia IngramIn this episode, Kane is joined by Sonia Ingram, Global Director of AI at Pandora, to explore what it really takes to develop AI maturity in a global business.Many organisations aiming to get started with AI and generative AI often focus on short-term, point solutions to specific problems. This emergent strategy often led from the grassroots to solve siloed departmental pain points can work for proof of value. But it rarely scales.For example, a chatbot that handles returns brilliantly may not be equipped or supported to drive sales conversations. If the...
2025-05-091h 08
VUX WorldConversations Squared #6 - Kane SimmsOh wow, is that the time?! VUX World has been going for 5 years! For this episode of Conversations Squared the focus is on the man who's usually asking the questions - Kane Simms! What's he learned in the past 5 years? Where's the industry headed? What about Alexa and Google Assistant? Listen to Kane's responses to these questions and more...0:00 Intro4:00 Conversations and listening7:00 We need patience for conversational AI9:00 30 seconds, go!11:10 What surprised you most about the industry when you started VUX...
2023-03-0241 min
VUX WorldLearnings from designing over 300 chatbots with Jim-Rowe BotIf you're a keen part of the conversational AI community, you'll likely know Jim Rowe-Bot. Jim has immense experience in designing conversational AI applications, having worked on over 300 chatbot projects. Jim Rowe-Bot joins Kane-versational AI to chat about lessons learned, best practice and the future of conversational AI.Purchase Jims ebook "How To Be a Great Conversational Designer" here: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/hermes?token=30810429YL523245M&useraction=commit&mfid=1671185940654_f568963212092 The botrepreneurs website: https://www.botrepreneurs.live/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2022-12-161h 01
VUX WorldAn AI modelled on the human brain, with Peter Voss, CEO, AigoPeter Voss coined the term ‘AGI’ (artificial general intelligence) and is one of the best brains in the business to discuss the real potential of artificial intelligence to behave like humans. Can we build machines that can think? That are conscious? What needs to happen for us to have that ever-present AI assistant we’ve been dreaming of? The JARVIS, the Holly, the Computer, the Hal’s of the world. Peter Voss is the co-founder, CEO and Chief Scientist at Aigo, a conversational AI technology that uses a brain-like cognitive architecture – also known as ‘The Third Wave of AI’. Accor...
2022-08-241h 05
VUX WorldShooting the shiz with Balto's Marc Bernstein 003Marc Bernstein, CEO, Balto, and Kane Simms, CEO, VUX World, knock their heads together again in another episode of shoot the shiz, discussing the latest trends in CX and beyond, including: Friendly competition - zoom and GenesysIrish Bank - 2 hour wait timesNearly 20% of brands have seen a dip in customer experience quality.A great post from Andrew Moorehouse on the Death of Live Chat. Analysis from studying 10,000 live chat transcriptions. It’s bad. “Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good” (Shout out to Run DMC).Check out BaltoSubscri...
2022-06-0854 min
VUX WorldTransforming customer communications with Shawn Edmunds, CRO, LumenvoxLumenVox provides AI-driven speech and authentication technology used by some of the world's leading communication providers. Join CRO, Shawn Edmunds, and VUX World's Kane Simms, to explore how LumenVox has been building a technology that makes customer relations faster, stronger and safer than ever before.00:00 Intro, presenting Deepgram and Symbl.ai02:35 Introducing Shawn Edmunds05:00 Nokia, Nuance and exposure to AI08:00 AI hype vs belief 10:15 Bad IVR experiences13:40 Lumenvox15:30 2013 vs today19:20 Lumenvox capabilities25:20 Top drawer use cases
2022-02-221h 00
VUX WorldShooting the shiz with Balto's Marc Bernstein 002Kane Simms, CEO, VUX World, and Marc Bernstein, CEO, Balto, analyse the week's customer experience and technology news and happenings.00:00 Howdy, Super Bowl01:16 The magic of voice06:55 Limitations and potential of voice and smart TVs13:13 Why hasn't Alexa got better faster?17:00 Alexa: verticalising vs ecosystems20:35 Charter's first class phone service28:00 Moving from reacting to proactive CX31:38 Technology and consistency34:30 DeepMind's AlphaCode: computers that can code37:40 AI to enhance developer productivity41:20 Productivity vs the creation of crap
2022-02-1551 min
VUX WorldConversational AI at scale with Philipp Heltewig, CEO, CognigyMany companies have played around with voice assistants and chatbots, but few are operating at true scale... Yet.You see, when you go from playing with prototypes into proper production, and from one bot to sixteen bots, things change.Join Cognigy Co-Founder and CEO, Philipp Heltewig, and VUX World's Kane Simms, as we discuss the biggest challenges facing companies deploying conversational AI today... Scale.And, crucially, how to do it properly.LinksVisit Cognigy.comLearn at the Cognigy AcademyPresented by De...
2022-01-281h 03
VUX WorldExploring AI conversational intelligence with Surbhi Rathore, CEO, Symbl.aiSymbl.ai is on a mission to revolutionise work, from lead generation, internal meeting management, sales and customer care.Join CEO, Surbhi Rathore, and VUX World's Kane Simms, to explore what conversational intelligence is, and businesses are using it to create impactful experiences and results.Presented by Deepgram and Symbl.aiSymbl.ai is a Conversation Intelligence (CI) platform for building applications capable of understanding natural human conversations at scale. Their comprehensive suite of developer-centric products and APIs make it easy to build and deploy intelligent speech-to-text functionality, extract contextual insights...
2022-01-201h 01
VUX WorldShooting the shiz with Balto's Marc Bernstein 001The first in a new collaborative series where Kane Simms, founder of VUX World and host of this VUX World podcast, and Marc Bernstein, CEO at Balto and host of the Reimagining the Contact Centre podcast, join forces to discuss and analyse broader technology and customer behaviour trends, and how it relates to the adoption and usage of AI.In this first episode, we discuss:The impossibility of finding a note-taking app that does it allCapability provision vs productThe value and challenges of tech starting in academiaBrain-machine interfacesThe pace of tech advancement...
2022-01-121h 15
Future Ear Radio087 - Kane Simms - The State of Conversational AI Heading into 2022Guest: Kane Simms - Founder of VUX World
Topic: The State of Conversational AI Heading into 2022
For the last podcast of 2021, Kane Simms joins Dave to provide the listeners with an update on everything that's currently transpiring within the conversational AI space and where Kane believes the technology is moving toward in 2022.
As Dave mentions at the beginning of the conversation, the reason that conversational AI is relevance to the world of hearing healthcare is because of the increasing feasibility of utilizing conversational AI with one's hearing device (hearing aids or hearables). So, i...
2021-12-291h 06
VUX WorldWhat's new in conversational AI 001Stories covered:LinkedIn allows newsletters in the UK: sign up to conversational AI and NLP hereKane closes SwissCognitive Cognitive Virtual event with 'AI strategy in 5 days' talkWake word detection with SoundHound's Darin ClarkMicrosoft release contact centre with AI at its coreThe future of NLU with Chandra KhatriMaking audio more discoverable with Gal KleinSymbl.ai raises $17m. Join CEO, Surbhi Rathore on VUX World Live on 25th NovemberInworld AI raises $7mNVIDIA's Audio2FaceCoinbase acquires AgaraSonos voice assistant code leaked Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2021-11-0946 min
The Speechly PodcastKane Simms of VUX World on Voice UIs for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - Ep. 3Welcome to another episode of the Speechly Podcast. In this episode, we cover the following topics in the Voice User Interface space with Kane Simms of VUX World:
- The importance of getting specific when training Speech Recognition and Natural Language Understanding models.
- Where User Behavior with Voice UIs is at today and how that could have better directed the Einstein Voice Assistant rollout
- Why you should focus on user problems before prioritizing the technology used to solve the problem
- How Multi-Modality was overlooked and...
2021-09-1357 min
The Voicebot PodcastKane Simms Co-Founder of VUX World on Voice Strategy, User Experience, and Industry TrendsKane Simms is co-founder of VUX World, a voice studio, design consultancy, and creator of a popular industry podcast and numerous LinkedIn videos. Today, we discuss voice user experience design and specifically cover some elements of VUX World's methodology when working with clients. We also review voice strategy, industry trends, and much more. Kane is an astute observer of the voice industry landscape and one of the technology's most effective champions.
2020-11-161h 53
Bixby Developers ChatVoice and Podcasts with the Dynamic Duo: Kane Simms and Dustin CoatesIn this episode, Roger talks with Kane Simms and Dustin Coates. Kane and Dustin are most well know for their VUX World podcast (a must-listen) and are very accomplished voice pros!We discuss how they got started in voice and what keeps them excited in voice and conversational AI.Kane tells us how the VUX World podcast was created, how Dustin was added as the co-host and he reveals a surprising fact about him and Dustin.Kane and Dustin talk about both success and challenges in podcasting. How do you pick guests? How...
2020-09-151h 11
VUX WorldAmazon's Paul Cutsinger tells us what's newAfter covering the top new Alexa features for marketers and the top features for developers, we were getting a lot of questions from the community about the new Alexa features announced during Alexa Live 2020. So, what better way to dive deep into them than by sitting down with someone who had a hand in creating a great deal of them.Paul Cutsinger is known within the voice community for being one of the first Alexa developer evangelists and teaching people all over the world how to build skills. Now, he's moved into more of a product role...
2020-09-021h 08
VUX WorldYour audio strategy's Holy Trinity with Ron JaworskiRon Jaworski, CEO Trinity Audio, joins us to share how to satisfy the user, the publisher and the advertiser with your audio strategy.The Holy Trinity of your audio strategyTrinity Audio's philosophy is to satisfy users, publishers and advertisers in an attempt to provide value to all three with audio. Trinity Audio's technology turns any webpage into audio using text to speech and allows publishers to then distribute that on their websites, as well as through any other audio channel, such as Spotify, podcast players, Flash Briefings, via an R...
2020-08-241h 04
VUX WorldDesigning human-like voice bots for IVR with Einav ItamarEinav Itamar is the founder and CEO of Voca.ai, a technology company specialising in IVR automation using conversational AI. He joins Dustin and Kane to chat about how to create human-like conversations for IVR bots, the impact of coronavirus on call centre demand and how organisations are approaching automating incoming call centre calls with AI.Need help with call centre automation? Book a free 20 minute consultation.Designing human-like voice bots for IVROne thing is for sure: Covid-19 hit call centres hard.Some saw the frailty o...
2020-08-0357 min
VUX WorldAutomating call centres with AISPONSORED BY PROJECT VOICE CATALYSTProject Voice Catalyst is for companies working with voice and AI, whether heavily involved or just starting, it uses an extensive network to connect companies working with voice tech and conversational AI to new customers, partners, media, or investors, depending on needs and business objectives.Accelerating your business months ahead of where you otherwise would be.No matter what industry - publishing, healthcare, automotive, banking, gaming, hospitality - Project Voice: Catalyst is helping others and can help you.Contact Ray Kyle, Score Publishing's Director o...
2020-07-141h 05
VUX WorldMulti-modal design with Google's Daniel PadgettSponsored by Project Voice CatalystProject Voice Catalyst is for companies working with voice and AI, whether heavily involved or just starting, it uses an extensive network to connect companies working with voice tech and conversational AI to new customers, partners, media, or investors, depending on needs and business objectives.Accelerating your business months ahead of where you otherwise would be.No matter what industry - publishing, healthcare, automotive, banking, gaming, hospitality - Project Voice: Catalyst is helping others and can help you.Contact Ray Kyle, Score Publishing's Director of Business D...
2020-06-2250 min
VUX WorldAlexa is part of the family now with Rozzi MeredithSponsored by Project Voice CatalystProject Voice Catalyst is for companies working with voice and AI, whether heavily involved or just starting, it uses an extensive network to connect companies working with voice tech and conversational AI to new customers, partners, media, or investors, depending on needs and business objectives.Accelerating your business months ahead of where you otherwise would be.No matter what industry - publishing, healthcare, automotive, banking, gaming, hospitality - Project Voice: Catalyst is helping others and can help you.Contact Ray Kyle, Score Publishing's Director o...
2020-06-151h 04
VUX WorldUsing voice to make Scientists more productive with Dan DeAlmeidaSponsored by Project Voice CatalystProject Voice Catalyst is for companies working with voice and AI, whether heavily involved or just starting, it uses an extensive network to connect companies working with voice tech and conversational AI to new customers, partners, media, or investors, depending on needs and business objectives.Accelerating your business months ahead of where you otherwise would be.No matter what industry - publishing, healthcare, automotive, banking, gaming, hospitality - Project Voice: Catalyst is helping others and can help you.Contact Ray Kyle, Score Publishing's Director o...
2020-06-1553 min
VUX WorldSMS conversation design with Hillary and Matthew BlackSponsored by Project Voice CatalystProject Voice Catalyst is for companies working with voice and AI, whether heavily involved or just starting, it uses an extensive network to connect companies working with voice tech and conversational AI to new customers, partners, media, or investors, depending on needs and business objectives.Accelerating your business months ahead of where you otherwise would be.No matter what industry - publishing, healthcare, automotive, banking, gaming, hospitality - Project Voice: Catalyst is helping others and can help you.Contact Ray Kyle, Score Publishing's Director o...
2020-06-151h 00
VUX WorldThe Rundown: THE API, Beeb and the most recognisable audio logosKane Simms and Dustin Coates rundown this week's top stories in voice and conversational AI.Top stories this week:Open AI APIThe Beeb, BBC's voice assistant in public BetaFlipkart launches voice assistant for webMicrosoft files patent for smart speakerVeritonic Audio Logo Index 2020 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-06-1250 min
VUX WorldThe Rundown: Voice authenticated purchasing and bye bye Google Home?Stories covered this week:Subvocal recognitionMIT Alterego Communicated with a Computer Through SubvocalizationNuEyes Partners with Third Eye for voice controlled device for low-visionGoogle assistant beta voice match for purchasesGoogle home is no more? Microsoft Cortana - new voice for work flow featuresApple glass leakedDatch - voice-visual platform for factories secures $3.2 mill in funding Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-05-2954 min
VUX WorldDesigning natural conversations with IBM's Bob MooreMagic happens when you take patterns and systems of nature and apply them to solve human problems.✈️ Aeroplane wings are inspired by birds🚗 Wet tyre treads have been inspired by the toe pads of tree frogs💡 LED bulbs can be made more efficient by mimicking the scales on a Firefly’s abdomen📸 Canon cameras imitate the structure of a moth’s eye to reduce lens flare🚞 High speed trains in Japan were based on a Kingfisher’s beak. They use 15% less electricity and are 10% fasterWhat happens when you take a conver...
2020-05-261h 14
VUX WorldWhat is text-to-speech and how does it work with Niclas BergströmEvery voice assistant needs three core components: Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Text-to-Speech (TTS). We've already covered what Automatic Speech Recognition is and how it works with Catherine Breslin and in this episode, we're covering the latter, text-to-speech.To guide us through the ins and outs of TTS, we're joined by Niclas Bergström, a TTS veteran and co-founder of one of the largest TTS companies on the planet, Readspeaker.Text-to-speech is the technology that gives voice assistants a voice. It's the thing that produces the synthetic vocal sound tha...
2020-05-1853 min
VUX WorldThe Rundown: Talking volcanos finding gaps you can Read Along toThis week's top stories:Google’s Read Along Vernacular.ai raises $5.1 million led by Exfinity Ventures, Kalaari CapitalHR AI system, Paradox AI gets 40m funding for replacing the ‘boring’ jobsConverseNow has closed a $3.25 million seed funding round led by Bala InvestmentsOmilia, a conversational artificial intelligence platform developer, has raised $20 million in a funding round led by Grafton CapitalGetting the tone right - automated copy generation has to be retrained in a time of crisisStores may use voice assistants to transform shoppin...
2020-05-1553 min
VUX WorldVoice technology and music with Dennis Kooker and Achim MatthesMusic has been the top use case on smart speakers pretty much from the beginning. Having any song you like at your beckoning call makes playing music around the house easier than ever. And households that play music out loud are, apparently, happier households. It doesn't require too much thought, either. So, discoverability isn't as much of a challenge as with skills, actions and services. If you want to play some Michael Jackson, just ask. Having said that, music consumption habits are advancing. According to Pandora, more people are listening to up-beat, exercise music during lock...
2020-05-141h 06
VUX WorldThe Rundown: Talking elevators and clever BlendersStories covered:Talking elevators and the Scottish elevator sketchContact centre voice biometricsGoogle Assistant's voice matchFacebook Chatbot, Blender, can talk about anything. See some sample dialogues and try it out.Juniper researchNPR Smart Audio ReportPandora's listening habit changesAI conference on Aminal FarmClaire Mitchell on VUX World Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-05-0755 min
VUX WorldVoice technology for kids with Dr. Patricia ScanlonDustin and Kane are joined by Patricia Scanlon, CEO SoapBox Labs, to discuss how its specialist speech technology for kids is being used and scaled across the globe to help kids learn to read and more.In this episode: voice tech for kidsImagine being able to have your child read to an iPad and have it tell them how they’re doing. Whether they’re pronouncing the words right and encouraging them to improve.Imagine, as a parent or teacher, being able to report on different child’s progress so that...
2020-04-3047 min
VUX WorldEthical design with Microsoft's Deborah HarrisonDeborah Harrison was the very first writer on the Cortana team and defined the personality of Microsoft's digital assistant that is used on over 400m surfaces globally.In this talk, we chat to Deborah about the importance of personality and persona in conversational experiences, and the critical responsibility of ethical design.LinksFollow Deborah on Twitter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-04-2454 min
VUX WorldMeasuring your share of voice with Andy HeadingtonVoice search is growing. As smart speaker adoption increases and people use the voice assistants on their phones more and more, voice is playing an increasing role in more customer journeys.But what's your share of voice? How often does your company 'rank' for the search terms you'd like to rank for?Amazon and Google are tight-lipped about voice search volumes and don't offer any way of tracking voice search performance for websites, skills or actions.Thankfully, Andy Headington and his team at Adido, has created a tool that lets you do just...
2020-04-1447 min
VUX WorldWhat is automatic speech recognition and how does it work? With Catherine BreslinWhat is speech recognition and how does it work?Automatics speech recognition (also known as ASR) is a suite of technology that takes audio signals containing speech, analysis it and converts it into text so that it can be read and understood by humans and machines. It's the technology that makes voice assistants like Amazon Alexa able to understand what a user says.There's obviously a whole lot more to it that than, though. So, in today's episode, we're speaking to one of the most knowledgable and experienced speech recognition minds the world has to o...
2020-03-3052 min
VUX WorldAlexa for retailers and the voice shopping landscape with Shilp AgarwalVoice shopping on Alexa and Google Assistant smart speakers is a $2bn market today, and is forecast to explode. I've wrote about the potential of voice shopping for the Harvard Business Review last year, but things are starting to pick up.According Amazon's Patrick Gauthier, 20% of Americans are ready for voice shopping now, and 39% of all Americans will complete some part of their purchase journey via voice by 2022.And while it might not generate a huge percentage of sales today, the learnings that you'll gather through observing and collecting data on how customers are interacting with...
2020-03-2355 min
VUX WorldThe Rundown: coronavirus and voice, Spotify, user journeys and JovoCorona virus hits voice as Google removes coronavirus actions, Spotify looks like it's releasing a voice assistant and Jovo lets you build voice assistants everywhere.Presented by SparksSparks is a new podcast player app that lets you learn and retain knowledge while you listen.The Sparks team are looking for people just like you: podcast listeners who're also innovative early adopters of new tech, to try the beta app and provide feedback.Try it now at sparksapp.io/vuxStories discussed in this episodeGoogle reject c...
2020-03-1656 min
VUX WorldLive video broadcasting on Alexa with Tim McElreathThe Food Network aims to the be Peloton of cooking with live video broadcasting on Alexa. Director of Technology and Emerging Platforms at Discovery Inc., Tim McElreath, joins us to share how.Presented by SparksSparks is a new podcast player app that lets you learn and retain knowledge while you listen.The Sparks team are looking for people just like you: podcast listeners who're also innovative early adopters of new tech, to try the beta app and provide feedback.Try it now at sparksapp.io/vux
2020-03-0950 min
Agile Digital BusinessPart 2 Interview with Kane Simms, VUX World, on putting customers first in design of voice experiencesKane Simms, co-founder and co-host of VUX World was my guest in Episode 24 of Agile Digital Business. Season 2 of the podcast is focused on preparing your business for the voice platform. This is Part 2 of my conversation with Kane. We talk about world-class voice experiences; a definition of an Amazon Alexa Skill; our experiences with creating a Flash Briefing; and we chat about the starting point for a marketing person who is looking to establish a presence for their brand in the voice platform. At the end of the show, you'll hear me...
2019-12-3142 min
Agile Digital BusinessPart 1 Interview with Kane Simms of VUX World about voice experiences that meet customer needsListen to insights about what voice means for your company in this conversation I held with Kane Simms, VUX World. He and I have a fun conversation about preparing for voice and designing for the voice platform with the customer in mind. This is Part 1 of a 2-part interview for Agile Digital Business. Kane is not only the co-host of VUX World, but also co-founder of a consultancy and voice design studio. 0:00 Welcome and introduction of the episode by host, Vickie Maris :30 Intro music; request that you subscribe to the show so that...
2019-12-2323 min
VUX WorldAlliveiating lonliness with Adam GreenwoodAdam Greenwood is the CEO of the human tech agency, Greenwood Campbell. Last year, Adam and his team trialled placing voice assistants in residential homes in the UK to see whether voice assistants can help alleviate loneliness for senior citizens.We discuss the project and the results, as well as get Adam's take on the current state of voice and what he'd like to see in 2020.Presented by the Conversational Academy. Save 10% on the world's no.1 online conversation design course.This episode was broadcast live on LinkedIn. To catch the...
2019-12-1034 min
VUX WorldVoice and mobile: stop getting it confused. Live from the Bots, AI and Voice Meet-up LondonTaken from Kane's talk at the Bots, AI and Voice meet-up in London on 20 November 2019.The meet-up was ran by Roy Murphy of Synthetic. Check out the meet-up page for info on the next meet-up.Connect with me on LinkedIn to watch all future talks live, including the panel discussion on voice design at MUXL2019. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2019-11-2132 min
VUX WorldMUXL Meetup: Market adoption and user behaviourKane hosted the MUXL: Voice innovation 2019 Meetup on October 24th 2019 at Amazon HQ, and this is the opening talk. It covers the most recent smart speaker adoption rates for the UK, debates the 'voice first winter' and shares some recent behavioural trends from Code Computer Love.LinksGartner AI hype cycle, July 2019UK Smart speaker adoption stats from Voicebot.aiChinese smart speaker adoption, CanalysCode computer love UK smart speaker usage Survey, October 2019 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2019-10-2511 min
VUX WorldFrom copywriter to conversational designer with Claire MedcalfClaire Medcalf, Lead Creative at Rehab Agency, joins us to share her learnings on moving from a copywriter to a conversation designer and how you can do the same.Presented by BotmockBotMock is a purpose-built conversational design tool that'll have you rapidly prototyping and testing in no time.Check it out for freeBecome an expert conversation designer with the...The Conversational Academy is THE course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the U...
2019-09-1652 min
VUX WorldVoice and the TV with TiVo's Charles Dawes and Patrick ByrdenDustin and Kane speak with Charles Dawes and Patrick Byrden of TiVo about how they're helping users discover content through the power of voice, and the future of TV.Presented byIf you're using things like Lucid Charts and Microsoft Visio to design your conversational experiences in, you should check out BotMock. Those tools are business process mapping tools, are limited and will disrupt your rapid prototyping capability. BotMockis a purpose-built conversational design tool that'll have you rapidly prototyping and testing in no time.Check it out for fre...
2019-07-1058 min
VUX WorldMulti-channel conversational strategies with Nico AcostaThis week, Dustin and Kane chat with Nico Acosta, Director of Product and Engineering at Twilio, about how companies are approaching multi-channel conversational strategies.Presented byIf you're using things like Lucid Charts and Microsoft Visio to design your conversational experiences in, you should check out BotMock. Those tools are business process mapping tools, are limited and will disrupt your rapid prototyping capability. BotMock is a purpose-built conversational design tool that'll have you rapidly prototyping and testing in no time.Check it out for free...
2019-06-1847 min
VUX WorldHow voice will change the way we shopAfter being published in the Harvard Business Review with the article, How voice could change the way we shop, Kane gives a high level overview of the piece in a presentation to those who attended the General Assembly event, Voice Commerce: the future of shopping? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2019-06-1314 min
VUX WorldTwilio Autopilot and building trust through dialogue design with Elaine LeeKane Simms and Dustin Coates are joined by Elaine Lee, Principal Product Designer at Twilio, to discuss the ins and outs of Twilio's Autopilot bot builder and how you can build trust with users through dialogue design.Voice-Connected Home 2019, Cologne, GermanyThe Voice-Connected Home 2019 conference dives into all this and more with an incredible line up of speakers from brands like Amazon Alexa, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, BBC, BMW, Vodaphone and plenty more.Save 30% on tickets with promo code VuxVoice.Find out more
2019-05-0157 min
VUX WorldBuilding an assistant on an assistant with Nick CareyThis week, Dustin Coates and Kane Simms are joined by Nick Carey, Lead Product Designer at Potato, to discuss the concept of creating an assistant on an assistant.This episode touches on some unique topics that we haven't covered before, such as:How to create an assistant on an assistant and the reasons for doing so.The utility to affinity scale and when to create a persona.AI and personalised VS static content and the difference between the voice interface and the backend functionality. We also discuss Nick's design and research p...
2019-04-0258 min
VUX WorldTechNOVA Voice 2019: Voice 101 opening talkThis is the recording of the opening breakfast session at TechNOVA Voice 2019, a voice-first conference held at the Hilton Tower Bridge, London, on 14th March 2019.Kane covers where we're at in voice right now, from adoption numbers and usage figures, to emerging environments and a run through of some exemplar use cases.View the slides and source material: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NqmndiWCF4EEke76lCFQaTKr9jyepkp0Qv_F1bV59rc/edit?usp=sharing Find out more about the conference: https://marketforcelive.com/technova/events/voice/ Hosted...
2019-03-1430 min
VUX WorldInside Voice with Kane Simms and James PoulterAn interview with Kane Simms taken from the Inside Voice podcast, the official podcast of the Voice Summit 2019.Visit voicesummit.ai to apply to speak or buy tickets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2019-03-1130 min
VUX WorldThe Rundown 003: Increased engagement, Alexa room bookings, skill-to-skill connections, Google Assistant payments and moreTranslating the recent happenings in voice news into insights and recommendations for designers, developers and brands. As ever, lots has been occurring recently. In this episode of the rundown, we discuss:The state of voice assistants by Adobe and how we're seeing increased usage in the 'third category'. That is, people are using more in-depth functionality on their voice assistants. That opens doors for richer voice experiences and suggests that customers can handle more complex, transactional interactions.The picture of voice shopping - thanks to Charlie Cadburyfor sharing - and how v...
2018-10-1637 min
VUX WorldWelcome to VUX World with Kane SimmsLadies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to VUX World.This introductory episode is all about what VUX World is all about. Here, I'll take you through:the aims of the showhow we intend to meet those aimswhy it existswho would find it usefulwhat's in store over the coming monthsThe aims of VUX WorldThis is an ambitious show that intends to cover three core aims for three primary groups of people:To help VUX pros create better...
2018-02-1216 min