Not all sales are created equal. Depending on the products, region, and size of a company, a business may require sales experts with different specialties. In 2021, Americans spent nearly $487 billion on technological products and services (a 7.5 percent increase from the previous year)—they’re expected to spend even more in 2022.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a cult classic; the quintessential "evil robot takes over" science-fiction tale featuring a soft-spoken killer robot with the neighbourly name of HAL. Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the story the 1968 movie was based on, went through several creative bot names before deciding on HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer). He toyed with Autonomous Mobile Explorer-5, Socrates, and Athena.

2 years into the pandemic, the business landscape has changed with the speed of light. While 74% of professionals expect remote work to become standard, managing a distributed workforce has its unique challenges. Overseeing disjointed teams and handling resource crunch has led to fragmented data, frustrated agents, and poor customer experience. This has made companies ask themselves whether they are ready for the future of work?

Anyone who works in business development knows that it can be a tough job to explain. If someone asks you what you do for a living and you say, “Business development,” you’re usually met with a quizzical look. So if you don’t have a thorough grasp on what business development is, don’t worry—you’re not alone. The best way to understand business development is to break it into clear pieces. That’s what we’re here to do.

Successful companies are constantly asking questions. Customer support teams are in a tricky situation — they need to optimize costs and still provide the best agent and customer experience. Many businesses use traditional KPIs like average handle time and first call resolution as key metrics. But support leaders wonder if these metrics are really the best path to improved agent performance and increased customer satisfaction. That’s where conversation AI analytics comes in.

For the first time in a long time, the world of tech, business, and media seem to be less focused on the pandemic and more focused on the future.

Many of us have experience interacting with customer support agents in various contexts, from streaming service subscriptions and car rental bookings, to online clothing purchases. For businesses worldwide, offering timely support across multiple channels and touchpoints is critical in today’s highly competitive and digital-first world. A strong customer experience strategy is a defining feature that sets companies apart – yet what do customer service and customer support truly mean?

If you’re not yet focusing on the customer experience with your organization, it’s time to get started and kick it into high gear. Customer expectations are higher than ever and evolving. You’ve got to get ahead of that. There are often challenges to getting a customer experience program off the ground in any organization, so let’s overcome those and get moving.