Harnessing AI to Optimize the Employee Life Cycle at iQor

The Expert Tech Leadership Driving Digital Transformation for the Age of AI  

Welcome to the debut episode of CX Labs, a new installment of the Digitally Irresistible podcast where we cover the latest CX practices, including performance optimization, technology trends, employee experience, industry developments, and success factors to inspire great CX for your brand.  

Our first guest is iQor’s Chief Digital Officer PJ Singh. PJ leads a team of technology professionals whose focus is harnessing technology, automation, and human expertise in the delivery of excellent CX for the brands that entrust us to service their customers. . PJ leads a team of technology professionals whose focus is harnessing technology, automation, and human expertise in the delivery of excellent CX for the brands that entrust us to service their customers.   

On this episode, PJ shares insights on Symphony [AI]™, iQor’s generative AI ecosystem designed to create a holistic employee experience by leveraging intelligent insights at every stage of the employee lifecycle. Read on to learn how PJ and his team harness generative AI in the BPO industry to optimize the entire employee lifecycle to deliver winning CX.  

Why iQor Is at the Forefront of Generative AI in the BPO Industry  

At iQor, we recognize the transformative capacity of generative AI impacting every industry, including BPOs. Leveraging its capabilities is a top priority. According to PJ, a strong investment in AI takes a lot of engineering. Under his leadership, the company's internal data experts are committed to high-capacity AI development across all CX processes.   

While AI technology is always evolving, iQor has longstanding investments in its potential to optimize customer service. For example, our proprietary speech analytics engine, VALDI, leverages AI to translate interaction signals into insights like customer sentiment and key topics. We have years of experience deploying commercial models to monitor for compliance defects in work-at-home (WAH) environments, using AI to improve security protocols with zero trust architecture that safeguards data from threats.    

We identify pockets of potential attrition using our machine learning models to understand how we can better retain employees. Our predictive analytics capabilities increase retention by as much as 300% by deploying intervention strategies to support at-risk employees. At iQor, we possess a huge wealth of knowledge, engineering capacity, and the drive to continuously improve all our processes with AI, positioning us to succeed as a leader in AI innovations for BPOs.

The Science Behind iQor’s Symphony [AI]  

PJ explains that Symphony [AI] is an ecosystem of proprietary tools, and commercial technologies designed to optimize the employee lifecycle and unify iQor’s dedication to exceptional customer service. Harnessing the latest in AI capabilities and guided by human insight, Symphony [AI] synchronizes the relationship between agent, customer, and client by delivering seamless, smile-worthy experiences. 

To this end, our data scientists utilize enormous amounts of data from iQor’s accumulated process knowledge as a BPO provider with decades of experience. This information trains our proprietary large language models (LLMs) to deliver outcomes that meet our high standards for CX. 

Irresistible Innovations Powered by Decades of Accumulated Process Knowledge  

iQor’s accumulated process knowledge is the ongoing aggregation of decades of combined experience, insights, and methodologies our customer service experts bring to the table every day. This combination unlocks expert innovations and unique organizational insights for maximizing performance potential at scale. Our accumulated process knowledge forms an invaluable data lake of information to train our LLMs for industry-leading customer service.   

PJ offers a simple explanation for the complex LLMs that power Symphony [AI]. Like ChatGPT and other AI familiar to broader audiences, Symphony [AI] is trained on billions and billions of rows of data to understand and make logical sense of information. A well-trained LLM is able to respond to input using natural language, the same way a well-informed human being would respond.   

Symphony [AI] uses this input to develop advanced conversational models and provide dynamic chat interactions, performance enablement technology, and automation opportunities that boost KPIs, improve employee retention, and more to shape the bright new future of customer service with AI.    

Elevating the Employee Lifecycle With Intelligent Insights   

PJ explains that iQor’s goal is to supercharge the employee lifecycle with Symphony [AI] by optimizing talent acquisition, accelerating the training process, and evaluating performance indicators to support employees throughout their employee journey. Here’s how Symphony [AI] cultivates exceptional experiences at every stage of the employee lifecycle.   

1. Recruiting: Symphony [AI] begins impacting the employee experience before new agents are even hired. Frontline agents present a high value proposition for contact centers which is why we leverage Symphony [AI] to identify and shortlist candidates who meet the requirements. This creates a seamless hiring and onboarding process from the first interaction.  

2. Training: Symphony [AI] enables employee training programs that improve knowledge and skill retention. We optimize training techniques with top instructional strategies in active learning and personalized career pathing to enable every agent to perform with excellence. This personalized ecosystem guides frontline workers through the training process and increases their familiarity with the systems and processes they will use after training. frontline workers through the training process and increases their familiarity with the systems and processes they will use after training.  

3. Continuous Coaching: When agents reach the production floor, they still access that AI partner on their desktop to facilitate conversations and increase time to proficiency. As agents gain tenure with the company, Symphony [AI] provides insights to guide performance optimization, monitor compliance, and maximize employee well-being. The result is satisfied employees who perform at optimal levels and create smiles for customers.  

How Harmonious Employee Experiences Create Happy Customers 

When customers contact customer service, they want to explain their reason for seeking support and reach a resolution as quickly as possible. The more proficient an agent is, the higher the chance that the customer will be satisfied with the support they experience.   

Achieving consistent customer satisfaction is always our goal. Understanding the customer’s needs and supporting those needs according to existing systems, processes, and policies is not always straightforward—which is exactly why Symphony [AI]’s ecosystem is a strategic enabler for optimizing agent potential and ensuring best-in-class customer care. With the power of AI augmenting our agents’ capabilities, iQor is unlocking the complexity of customer interactions and providing swift, effective resolutions for customers. Symphony [AI]’s impact on the employee lifecycle creates a ripple effect of satisfaction from frontline workers to our clients’ end customer that keeps our clients smiling.    

To learn more about Symphony [AI] and iQor’s digital capabilities, visit iQor.com/symphony-ai. 

To learn more about PJ, visit him on LinkedIn.  

Watch the video here.

Read the blog post here.