Focus less on tech, more on the solutions it provides

At the 2022 Project Voice conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee, NLX CEO, CPO, and Co-founder Andrei Papancea spoke to peers, partners, and potential clients about what’s working for NLX and where he sees the future of the Conversational AI industry headed. You can read a summary of his speech below, or watch a recording of it here on YouTube. Project Voice is the #1 event in the U.S.A. for Voice technology.

“I’m really proud of our technology as I am sure other companies represented here are too, but the fact is that the customer doesn’t care,” said Papancea. “What drove products five to ten years ago is coming to pass. It’s no longer about the tech. We could put all our tech up against one another, but tech doesn’t solve the problem unless it provides a solution.”

Unlike most tech-focused operators in the CAI space, Papancea said, NLX strongly advocates for being a solutions-based company. This means focusing less on the detail of the technologies and more on the solutions that the products provide. 

“We’ve succeeded by really listening to the problem our clients present us with. We were working with a major airline to automate part of their journey, and the providers we worked with couldn’t create - or even see a path to create - a solution because they were only focused on the tech.  So, instead, we built around it, created something new and got the solution to the customer, innovating beyond what everyone thought was possible. Being solutions-based means not being limited by what the tech can do today but innovating for what it could do tomorrow.” 

The switch from technology-bias to solutions-focused businesses requires a certain honesty.

“Some ideas the client has might be good ones,” continued Papancea, “but not all of them are practical. And this is why there are critical moments when it’s important to tell your customers no. This can be intimidating, it can be risky, but it’s honestly better in the long run.” 

Essentially honesty has become a missing value in business, though there are other important values that are needed to be a leader in this space.

“We should keep talking about AI, but let’s not forget about what it means to be human,” he told the conference. “Be a people-focused company. Empower your people to make honest decisions in front of customers, and it will carry the day. Grow and scale your organization responsibly. I asked my team to be brave, I trusted they will, and the results have been remarkable.”