UC solutions have always been focused on improving communications and collaboration. However, with the onset of the pandemic and workforces being forced to go remote, the mission of UC as it relates to productivity became even more critical.
Today's hybrid workforce needs robust communications solutions that work in and out of the office. As a result, many are looking to artificial intelligence advances that can supercharge a UC offering to maximize efficiencies. Here are just a few ways AI is being used to improve the hybrid work experience.
Speech to text
Two powerful applications of artificial intelligence in UC are real-time translation and real-time transcription. Both can have a significant impact on the efficiency of a workforce.
As you'd expect, real-time translation allows workers and clients in different locales to communicate in their native languages. An AI-based engine translates voice in real time and provides a translation that can be different for each participant based on their language preference.
Real-time transcription allows meeting participants to receive text-based recaps of the call. Not only can this free participants from having to take their own notes, but the final transcriptions are searchable.
Automated meeting summaries and actions
Some transcription solutions can create automated meeting summaries and perform actions based on the call's content. For example, tasks and follow-up meetings mentioned during the conference can be automatically generated by the AI-driven solution, further improving efficiencies.
Additionally, users can input keywords and phrases, and the software can highlight sections of the meeting in which those topics were discussed. Summary reports can then be generated and distributed to keep all team members well-informed.
Noise suppression
As many workers are operating out of less-than-ideal environments, eliminating background noise can significantly impact call quality. AI-driven noise suppression can filter out unwanted background sounds while focusing on the speaker's voice.
Not only can noise suppression create a more enjoyable and professional experience for meeting attendees, but it can improve the outcomes of the transcription and translation services mentioned above.
Voice assistants and chatbots
Voice assistants powered by AI can improve productivity by automatically helping users make calls, send text-based chats, schedule meetings, translate voicemail to text and more. The great thing about incorporating AI is that the solutions will learn as they are used and get more effective over time.
Additionally, chatbots and voicebots can greatly improve productivity by offloading some or all communication to AI. For example, the AI can easily handle common questions from customers and escalate to live humans if the need arises.