Voice AI Agents are gaining popularity in the Asia Pacific region. The intricacies of Asian languages are both the competitive edge and the main challenge. Many of the leading CX vendors are collaborating with partners to improve how they enhance Voice AI agents in languages such as Bahasa Indonesia, Mandarin, Thai, Tamil, and others.
Small nuances matter. In ‘Singlish’ or Malaysian English, it’s important to understand how some sentences might end with a “la” or a “lor.” These are ways locals communicate when calling banks, airlines, telcos, and others. Therefore, bridging that gap is essential for the success of a Voice AI deployment. Otherwise, customers will call to speak to an agent!
If you’re looking for a solution that needs to bridge the challenges of Asian languages, do consider some of the following:
- Define the use case for Voice AI: Is this for inbound service IVR replacement, outbound collections/tele‑sales, appointment reminders, or agent assist? Each point narrows the vendor list.
- Look at the global platform vendors and assess their offerings. These players include Google, Cisco, Amazon Web Services (AWS), PolyAI, NiCE Cognigy, and others.
- Run a tightly scoped PoC, include local accents in test scripts, and test for language quality.
- Involve your telco/CPaaS provider early, and ensure handoff to agents, reporting, and failure modes perform well under challenging conditions. Test for latency.
At the #MWC last week, Singtel announced it is working with Sierra to strengthen customer interactions through AI across its operations. The collaboration started late January with a pilot involving Singtel Singapore’s CX teams. “Shirley,” the AI assistant, has been designed to understand local expressions and colloquialisms, including Singlish!
Singtel went live in less than 10 weeks, and in the first six weeks since launch,” Shirley” handled over 70,000 customer cases involving high-volume requests in areas such as mobile issues and roaming services.
Initial results have been positive:
- 73% of mobile and home troubleshooting cases were resolved without requiring a Customer Care officer.
- 76% of roaming sign-up requests were completed successfully without requiring a Customer Care officer.
- More than 200 roaming add-ons were purchased independently
In addition, Singtel will deploy voice-based AI agents for Outbound sales calls.
Congratulations to Bret Taylor and the team at Sierra on this deployment.
