Bakstage.AI embeds IBM’s watsonx to enhance customer experience in the AI era

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Preet Raj, CTO & Co-founder, Bakstage.AI

• How does Bakstage.AI differentiate itself in the market and what impact it has on businesses in India and globally?

At Bakstage.AI, we take a unique approach by not just incorporating AI into our platform but actually using it to enhance the human element in business interactions. While many in this space are looking at replacing human interactions with AI, we believe in the synergy that a human + AI hybrid solution can bring. Our platform leverages AI to augment the human connection, making each interaction between customers and businesses not just efficient but also deeply meaningful.

Moreover, our 1:1 Video Concierge Service allows real-time, personalized engagements that truly humanize digital sales experiences. This is paired with our comprehensive suite of tools that include AI-driven insights and CRM integrations, enabling sales teams to deliver exceptional service.

What sets us further apart is our commitment to ethical AI use. We ensure that our AI solutions augment human capabilities, fostering trust and enhancing relationships rather than replacing the human element in business interactions.

Bakstage.AI is making a significant impact in boosting online sales. In India, for instance, our approach to personalization really resonates with businesses. The Indian market values personalized service highly, and our platform’s ability to tailor interactions to individual customer preferences has proven to be a game changer. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also enhances customer retention and loyalty, which are key metrics for our success.

Globally, the benefits are equally impressive. Businesses are seeing a noticeable improvement in conversion rates thanks to our instant video connection that effectively captures high-value leads at crucial moments. Additionally, the AI-driven insights provided by our platform empower sales agents with the knowledge they need to successfully cross-sell and up-sell, boosting customer lifetime value.

Agent productivity is another major benefit. Our platform streamlines sales processes by providing actionable insights and automating routine tasks. This allows sales agents to focus more on strategy and customer service, leading to faster follow-ups and more effective interactions.

• How has the integration of IBM’s watsonx technology enhanced the capabilities of Bakstage.AI’s solutions?

IBM’s watsonx technology has been a cornerstone in the evolution of Bakstage.AI’s platform, particularly in enhancing our AI-driven capabilities. For instance, watsonx’s natural language processing (NLP) powers our sentiment analysis feature. This is crucial because it allows us to analyze conversations with customers, providing insights into customer emotions and satisfaction levels. Such insights are invaluable, as they help our clients understand customer needs better and train their staff more effectively, ultimately elevating the overall customer experience.

Moreover, we’ve leveraged watsonx’s advanced capabilities to incorporate the Mixtral-8x7B model into our platform. This model is specifically trained and fine-tuned to capture and analyze customer data & conversations, enabling us to provide guided feedback to clients about the outcomes of customer interactions. This feedback includes detailed AI-generated call summaries, comprehensive follow-up workflows with necessary action items, and targeted advice for human agents on how to enhance future interactions.

These enhancements, allow us to offer a deeply personalized and strategic sales process. They’re particularly beneficial for industries like B2B SaaS, retail, financial services, and insurance, where understanding nuanced customer inquiries in various languages and managing complex industry-specific use cases are paramount. Our integration with IBM’s AI tools, fortified by strong AI guardrails and a robust governance framework, ensures that our platform is not only powerful but also responsible and reliable in how it handles data and interacts with users. This alignment with IBM’s technology helps us deliver a cutting-edge, ethical AI solution that’s designed to meet the modern challenges of digital sales and customer service.”

This integration represents a significant leap forward in making Bakstage.AI’s solutions not just more intelligent but also more intuitive and responsive to the complex needs of our diverse clientele.

• How Bakstage.AI is tapping into India’s rich talent pool to strengthen its technological capabilities?

India’s talent pool is not only vast but also incredibly rich in technical expertise and innovative thinking. At Bakstage.AI, we are incredibly fortunate to have a strong engineering team that draws from this wealth of talent. Many of our engineers are based across different parts of India.

Our engineers are experts in their respective fields, bringing with them years of experience and a deep understanding of AI, software development, and customer experience technologies. What’s truly unique about our team is the bond they share with each other, and with my co-founder and me. Most of them have been our colleagues or collaborators at some point in our careers, and their belief in what we are building at Bakstage.AI encouraged them to join us on this journey. This pre-existing relationship has fostered a strong sense of trust and collaboration within our team, which is crucial when tackling complex engineering challenges and innovating at the edge of AI technology.

We leverage this internal expertise to continuously enhance our AI solutions, ensuring they are not only technologically advanced but also ethically aligned with global standards. This approach not only strengthens our technological capabilities but also ensures we remain at the forefront of the AI-driven sales enablement industry. By integrating our deep industry knowledge with our team’s innovative spirit, we are able to craft solutions that truly resonate with our clients’ needs and push the boundaries of what AI can achieve in sales and customer engagement.

This strategic utilization of India’s talent not only boosts our technological prowess but also enhances our ability to innovate continuously, allowing us to provide superior AI solutions globally.

• How does Bakstage.AI plan to further expand its presence and operations in India?

India is a crucial market for us at Bakstage.AI, given its rapid digital transformation and the increasing demand for AI-driven solutions across sectors. Our expansion strategy in India is multifaceted, focusing on scaling our operations, enhancing local partnerships, and deepening our engagement with the tech community.

We are actively forging stronger partnerships with leading Indian enterprises, startups, and institutions. These collaborations are essential, not just for refining our product offerings, but also for ensuring that they are customized to meet the unique challenges and opportunities present in different sectors of the Indian market.

Furthermore, we aim to engage more deeply with the local tech community by participating in tech talks, workshops, and webinars. These activities not only help us stay connected with the latest innovations in AI and sales technology but also allow us to contribute to and nurture the growing tech ecosystem in India.

Lastly, considering the vast and varied landscape of Indian industries, we are also looking at vertical-specific strategies to address the unique needs of sectors such as finance, retail, and healthcare. By developing tailored solutions that leverage our AI-driven technologies, we can provide more value and drive deeper market penetration.

Overall, our goal is not just to expand our physical presence but to make a lasting impact on the way businesses in India utilize AI to enhance their customer engagement and sales effectiveness. We believe that with our commitment to innovation and our focus on collaborative growth, Bakstage.AI will play a significant role in shaping the future of AI-driven sales enablement in India.

• How does Bakstage.AI envision the future of AI-driven customer interactions?

At Bakstage.AI, we are not just looking at AI as a tool but as a revolutionary force that enhances the very fabric of customer interactions. Imagine a scenario where every conversation between a customer and a sales agent is supercharged by AI, transforming a simple dialogue into a dynamic, engaging, and incredibly efficient interaction.

Let’s paint a picture: Picture a customer inquiring about a new tech gadget, but they’re not quite sure about its specifications or even the model name. Instead of navigating through a potentially lengthy and error-prone conversation, Bakstage.AI’s technology kicks in seamlessly. As the conversation unfolds, our AI is already at work, transcribing the video in real-time, picking up keywords, and understanding the customer’s needs.

Here’s where it gets even more interesting: the AI quickly scans through extensive product catalogs, identifies the exact gadget the customer is hinting at, and furnishes this information to the sales agent within milliseconds. But we don’t stop there. Our AI, can also advise the agent on how to reassure the customer about the product by highlighting positive reviews or suggesting a quick virtual product try-on, enhancing the customer’s confidence in making the purchase.

After the call, the interaction isn’t just forgotten. AI dives deep into the conversation’s nuances, analyzing how the interaction could be further improved. Was the customer delighted? Did the suggestions meet their expectations? The AI synthesizes this data, offering targeted feedback to the agent and generating personalized training tips to refine their skills further.

This isn’t just futuristic thinking; it’s the roadmap we are actively developing at Bakstage.AI. It’s about creating a symbiotic relationship between AI and human agents that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations, driving unparalleled satisfaction and loyalty. That’s the exciting future we’re building towards—one where AI empowers human connections, making every customer interaction smarter, faster, and more empathetic.

• Are there any emerging trends in customer engagement segment that will create a greater impact with AI?

There are several emerging trends in customer engagement that are poised to make a greater impact with the integration of AI but I’m going to talk about the ones that I’m most excited about.

AI-Powered Personalization: AI is revolutionizing how businesses understand and interact with customers by offering tailor-made experiences. Predictive analytics push this further by anticipating customer needs before they even articulate them, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty​.

Augmented and Virtual Reality: AR and VR technologies are being used to create immersive and interactive customer experiences. These technologies are perfect for a sensory-rich evaluation of products, boosting confidence and reducing returns​.

The Human Element: Despite technological advances, the human touch remains irreplaceable. A hybrid approach, blending AI efficiency with human empathy, ensures that technology enhances rather than replaces the nuanced human interactions that customers value, especially in complex service scenarios​.