Dialpad, an AI-powered customer intelligence platform, has unveiled the findings from its 2023 Dialpad The State of AI at Work Report.

Key findings reveal how sales and customer service professionals, across industries, are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) while breaking down the barriers to adoption including lack of budget and the importance of developing ethical guidelines and enhancing accessibility. 

“AI has created an all-new technological frontier that is compressing the pace of innovation at a rate we never thought possible,” said Dan O’Connell, chief AI & strategy officer at Dialpad. “As AI continues to be embedded throughout enterprise workflows, it’s crucial to focus on new opportunities created by this transformation – the potential that it possesses is a must for every business.” 

Key findings from the report include:

• AI adoption is positive: 76% of respondents stated that they previously didn’t use AI, but will now consider it after using ChatGPT. 
• Sales and customer service professionals using AI are seeing the benefits: 79% of sales and customer service professionals using AI tools at work have experienced a positive impact on their performance. Specifically, media, entertainment, defence, software, and chemical/pharmaceutical make up the top five industries that have actively integrated AI into their customer service and/or sales day-to-day operations.
• Customer service professionals are embracing AI in droves: Despite being a major topic of discussion, 70% of sales and customer service professionals don’t fear AI will steal their job one day.  Additionally, with the state of the economy in 2023, a large majority (84%) of sales managers and above believe that AI tools are crucial to support their company’s growth objectives. As managers look to invest further in these capabilities to be more efficient, sell more, and service better, there is a high probability that budgets may shift in favour of AI. 
• AI ethical considerations are murky: Questions around AI ethics resulted in mixed responses, with 84% of respondents stating that their company does not have a company-wide AI policy, and just over half of respondents believe AI is accessible. These findings indicate an increasingly emerging need for company-specific AI policies to guide its responsible usage, but a lack of understanding of how to accomplish it. 
• Budgetary concerns pose an obstacle to AI adoption: 37% of respondents said lack of budget was the reason AI tools aren’t being used at work. The report also found that addressing ethical concerns, developing robust policies, privacy, and improving accessibility to ensure that AI is deployed in a responsible, fair, and inclusive manner remain additional barriers to wider adoption. 
• Small businesses are most sceptical about using AI: The report found that 30% of companies with less than 50 employees are sceptical of AI tools.

“Dialpad has been a responsible leader in the development of AI technology over the last five  years, and we’re proud to be the only comprehensive platform with native, proprietary Ai across all channels,” said Craig Walker, CEO and founder of Dialpad. “We’re only at the beginning of this transformative moment for the enterprise. The findings of Dialpad’s State of AI at Work Report further establishes the business imperative for real-time insights that lead to actionable outcomes to enhance experiences and enable the future of work.” 

Dialpad surveyed more than 1,000 customer service and sales representatives across a range of industries, including (but not limited to) media, retail, manufacturing, finance, energy, and defence. The survey was administered in the United States between May 8-22, 2023, through Qualtrics. Survey respondents included employees from enterprises of all sizes and surveyed various levels including agent/representative, manager, director, VP, and C-suite executives. 

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Tags: AI, customer service, Sales