The Philippines’ largest telecommunications provider PLDT became the first company in the telco industry to expand its existing suite of customer service channels with a voice artificial intelligence solution. PLDT deployed the Talkbot Pro, a product of Microsoft partner WIZ.AI, via a contract with PLDT’s ICT subsidiary, ePLDT, to assist the collections team in delivering hyper-personalized customer experiences. The solution resides securely on ePLDT’s Azure Stack Hub, which ensures data compliance and sovereignty. As a result, the company has had a boost in efficiency, increased collections revenue, and streamlined back-end operations.
Through decades of innovation, PLDT has facilitated meaningful connections for its customers through fixed-line, wireless, and information and communication technology services. With a strong drive to elevate the quality of customer experience, PLDT’s customer group is leveraging innovation to expand its traditional contact methods with more personalized ways to individually connect with customers. “Our customers are at the heart of everything that we do. We are always looking for faster, safer, and more reliable channels for our customers to reach us if they need help,” says Jeanine Rubin, First Vice President and Head of Customer Care Group at PLDT.
Integrating AI to support agents
Apart from some outsourced callouts, PLDT relied mostly on one-way communication, including SMS, email, and APRS (automated payment reminder system) for collections. Dianne Blanco, Vice President and Head of Credit and Collections at PLDT, was looking for ways to enhance two-way conversational interactions with customers, particularly when it came to more sensitive situations like reminding customers of an outstanding balance.
The answer was WIZ.AI’s flagship product, Talkbot Pro. “Many other payment and collection reminder solutions don’t empathize, acknowledge, or respond to customer queries very well. If customers receive a call and realize it’s from a robot, there’s a strong chance they will hang up,” explains Blanco. “The WIZ.AI Talkbot does it all—during our first demo, it didn’t feel like a robot talking. It sounded like a human.” Combined with hyper-localization features, this voice artificial intelligence (AI) was the perfect fit for PLDT.
Singaporean-based WIZ.AI builds intuitive, smart voice AI engagement solutions that are truly human-like. “Unlike traditional turn-based or text-based chatting, our Talkbot listens and understands the intent of the caller’s speech in natural spoken language. In fact, over 95 percent of users are unable to tell the difference between a human agent and our Talkbot,” explains Allan Ong, Head of Regional Sales at WIZ.AI.
Over 95 percent of users are unable to tell the difference between a human agent and our Talkbot.
Setting up effective and compliant infrastructure
In September 2022, ePLDT and WIZ.AI worked together to develop and deploy 35 talkbots that handle payment collection, reduce churn rate, and help customer retention. “We’re proud to be the first telecommunications provider in the country that is leading the way in using voice AI to offer better customer service,” says Blanco.
The solution was integrated into ePLDT’s cloud contact center as a service (CCaaS) offering, backed by an Azure Stack Hub which is locally hosted in the ePLDT VITRO data center. WIZ.AI oversaw the application services and customizations while ePLDT managed the required infrastructure, including virtual machines and firewalls. In addition, ePLDT also ensures that the integration of WIZ.AI Talkbots into CCaaS will result in optimal connectivity for PLDT.
For Blanco, ensuring that the project would spark the upskilling of PLDT employees was essential. With this mindset, an internal team led the initiative, from understanding how to work with AI to deploying and managing daily operations. “Our call operators are no longer just making the call but also managing the talkbots doing the callout,” she explains. “Through working on this project, they’ve increased their knowledge of the AI bot and learned the terms that allow them to communicate smoothly with the technical team.”
Amplifying operational bandwidth
Over the first six months, the talkbots conducted 3.7 million outgoing communications with minimal supervision, the bulk of which were routine reminders. One year in, PLDT is seeing outstanding results.
“The talkbots added two more hours of call time into the day, which increased our productivity by 33 percent,” says Blanco. “The calls are even concluded quicker—the handling time for most calls are cut in half, from an average of six minutes to three minutes.”
The bots follow a standard script guaranteeing quicker and more consistent calls. Any updates or changes are incorporated by simply uploading a new script. With each call, the voice AI adapts, according to Blanco. “Similar to a person, the talkbot learns with each interaction. Every week, with each new conversation, we add to its knowledge base.”
PLDT was also able to increase revenue generated from collections by increasing contact rates with customers. “The net benefits of this initiative, resulting from the boost in efficiency, are a reduction in manual callouts by 15 percent and a higher collections rate,” says Blanco.
The talkbots added two more hours of call time into the day, which increased our productivity by 33 percent.
Leveraging analytics for better connectivity
The localized AI talkbot, which can communicate even in Taglish (a mix of English and Tagalog, which is among the most commonly spoken languages in the Philippines), has significantly reduced the high volume and manual tasks for PLDT agents. “The real-time, automated Smart Hashtagging feature identifies customers in need of assistance, such as for billing disputes or service termination requests. This allows the agents to prioritize and serve them quickly, which results in higher customer satisfaction,” shares Ong.
Most of the follow-up work required after each call now happens automatically, further reducing arduous manual work. This includes the automatic transcription of each call and more accurate data for auditing purposes. “In the past, collectors would compile tally sheets manually. Now we have a database with all the information. We spend more time reviewing and analyzing the data instead of manipulating sheets of data to identify trends,” explains Blanco. PLDT uses these actionable insights to further enhance customer experience.
Having already met the targets for 2023, PLDT is ready to take the solution to the next level, to deliver even better customer care. This includes adding more talkbots to assist with the inbound call queue, promotional campaigns for pre-paid customers, and finding ways to increase personalization. “Right now, a lot of our calls are in Tagalog but we’re working to expand the regional bots so that conversations in Mindanao and Bisaya can also happen. We want to make our calls even more empathetic and authentic so customers can connect with and understand the talkbot immediately,” says Blanco.
