By Ryan Falkenberg, 04 December 2024 – Originally published by TechFinancials. Ask most people how they feel about getting a sales call and they’ll tell you how annoying it is. That annoyance only increases if they pick up the phone and can tell that a virtual agent...

By Ryan Falkenberg, 17 October 2024 – Originally published by Retail Brief Africa. Not all that long ago, Black Friday was the preserve of major US retailers. Held the day after US Thanksgiving (which always falls on the fourth Thursday of November), it signals the sta...

By Ryan Falkenberg, 30 September 2024 – Originally published by Retail Brief Africa. The online marketplace has changed dramatically since COVID-19 and big international players entering the market and technological advancements like AI are further changing th...

By Ryan Falkenberg, 24 May 2024 – Originally published by BizCommunity. It’s no secret that South Africa has a service delivery problem. In the run up to elections, government departments and state owned enterprises (SOEs) have come under the microscope for their abi...

By Ryan Falkenberg, 05 July 2023 – Originally published by IT Online. Let’s be honest: how often have you called an organisation’s contact centre in a good mood? I’d wager that the answer is somewhere between “seldom” and “almost never”. After all, most...

By Ryan Falkenberg, 18 April 2023 – Originally published by IT Online. Ask the average South African how load-shedding is affecting businesses, they’ll probably mention mining and industry or small businesses (such as hairdressers and restaurants) that rely on a consistent flow of en...

By Mudiwa Gavaza, 09 February 2023 – Originally published by Business Live. ChatGPT, the large language model that has taken the world by storm in a short three months, is expected to do away with a number of traditional jobs. Experts say customer service and suppor...

By Ryan Falkenberg, 28 September 2022 - Originally published by Retail Brief Africa Outbound call centres have never had to work harder to remain relevant. Today’s customer has a plethora of tools that allow them to screen and block unsolicited calls. And even when they do pick up, the...

By Johan Steyn, 10 October 2022 - Originally published by BusinessDay Steyn is on the faculty at Woxsen University, a research fellow at Stellenbosch University and the founder of AIforBusiness.net...

Originally published on IT-Online on 5 September 2022 By Ryan Falkenberg, Co-CEO of CLEVVA Pty. Ltd. When conversational-AI powered chatbots started entering the mainstream a few years ago, many businesses thought they would be a panacea for their customer service needs. These digi...

As expected, digital disruption is picking up speed, transforming the way we buy products, access public services and get customer service from organisations. We are becoming more comfortable self-serving for things, ranging from paying our tax via e-filing to ordering our groceries, and as digital...

Originally published on IT-Online on 18 July 2022 By Ryan Falkenberg, Co-CEO of CLEVVA Pty. Ltd. Customer service in call centres, particularly in the banking sector, has been variable, at best, for a number of reasons. Technologically, many businesses...