AI accent tech to improve BPO service delivery

By Aubrey Rose A. Inosante, Reporter

THE INFORMATION technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry can provide improved customer service through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology that neutralizes accents, experts said.

“I think it’s going to be an advantage to all. I think it’s going to reduce handling times. I think it’s going to improve the quality of customer experience across the board,” Jack Madrid, president and chief executive officer of the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), said.

Mr. Madrid said he saw a demo of Silicon Valley company Sanas’ technology and was “very impressed” with how it transformed the accent of an agent from Samar into a North American accent.

“It was quite neutral without changing her voice. It was still the voice of the agent. It’s going to make the customer experience more productive, the length of the call shorter, and resolution faster,” he said.

“Relative to other countries, we have among the most neutral accents, especially for North America. But I would not limit the Philippines’ competitive advantage to a neutral accent,” Mr. Madrid added.

Familiarity with English and the American culture are part of Filipinos’ competitive advantage in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, as well as their ability to learn new skills, strong service orientation, and a “world-renowned” level of empathy, he said.

Anant Singh, head of go-to-market at Sanas, said that more than 30,000 agents in India and the Philippines currently use Sanas for accent translation.

“By becoming an official member of the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines, Sanas is strengthening and expanding its footprint in the Philippines, positioning itself to empower local contact centers and drive economic growth,” Mr. Singh said in an e-mail.

Sanas also aims to deepen its understanding of the Philippines market and collaborate with business leaders to advance the country’s contact center industry, he said.

“Before Sanas, agents were often hired, fired, or promoted based solely on their accents,” Mr. Singh said.

With accent neutralization technology, BPO companies can now focus on hiring based on talent rather than “digestible” accents, he said, adding that firms that were reluctant to expand their operations into the Philippines due to cultural differences and accents are now more open to it due to Sanas.

“It is for this reason that Sanas is enabling companies to hire talent from a much larger pool than previously available. Companies can now expand out of hubs like Manila and go into areas in the Philippines like Cabanatuan and Davao.”

IT-BPM firms can now hire 36% more talent that they previously wouldn’t due to accent barriers, Mr. Singh said, which will continue to drive operational efficiencies and return on investment.

He added that Sanas’ customers are considering expanding beyond Tier 1 and 2 cities into more rural parts of the Philippines, creating more job opportunities.

“Sanas’ technology opens new opportunities in previously untapped markets, enabling businesses to expand their services globally. Our AI technology will expand jobs in the Philippines,” he said.

AI USE IN THE INDUSTRY
An IBPAP survey conducted this year showed that 67% of IT-BPM firms in the country are already using AI in their operations, with only 8% reporting a decline in their workforce due to the use of the new technology.

Meanwhile, 13% reported headcount gains.

AI has been deployed in customer service, data entry, and quality assurance, IBPAP said, adding that challenges in the use of these technologies include the cost of implementation, integration with legacy systems, data privacy, and lack of talent.

Mr. Madrid earlier said the impact of AI on firms’ operations has been “mostly positive, with companies reporting improvements in productivity, operational efficiency, service quality, and revenue generation.”

The IBPAP is targeting $38 billion in revenues and a 7% growth in headcount to 1.82 million employees by end-2024.

Benjamin B. Velasco, assistant professor at the School of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of the Philippines Diliman, said accent neutralization technology is expected to have a “great impact” on the BPO industry as this will increase productivity, although he added that it “hopefully will not displace labor.”

“Others like chatbots will have a labor displacement effect. But like other tech, it will destroy but also create jobs. People are needed to train AI,” Mr. Velasco said.

There are already Filipinos working for AI technology companies and doing outsourced work for corporations using AI, he added.

Meanwhile, Leonardo A. Lanzona, an economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, said the effect of this AI accent neutralization technology on the BPO sector will largely depend on the response of the industry itself and the government.

“The idea is to make technology increase worker productivity and not to replace it. So, we need to be selective about the types of technology we will adapt, or we need to adapt it in such a way that it creates new jobs,” Mr. Lanzona said.

It is important for the government and private sector to work together to ensure that the development of these kinds of technologies would not lead to more unemployment, he added.