Technology

Webinar: Voice AI helps restaurants drive customer satisfaction, growth

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August 15, 2023

In an era marked by rapid technological advancement, the intersection of artificial intelligence and customer-centric strategies has emerged as a pivotal driver of success for businesses across industries. A recent webinar titled "How Voice AI is Driving Customer Satisfaction and Growth" delved into the profound impact of voice AI solutions on enhancing customer experiences and fostering business expansion. Hosted by FastCasual.com and sponsored by SoundHound, the webinar featured expert voices showcasing how voice AI is reshaping interactions, streamlining operations and ultimately revolutionizing the landscape of customer service.

Speakers for the webinar included Matt Thompson, senior director, product management for SoundHound, Danielle Sardi, head of enterprise, restaurants for SoundHound, Oana Busuioceanu, senior manager solution engineering for Oracle Food & Beverage and Pete Dalby, Senior Solution Engineer for Oracle Food & Beverage. Mandy Detwiler, managing editor for Networld Media Group, served as moderator for the webinar.

Over the past year or so, we've seen a surge in interest in restaurant tech from industry leaders. "The way technology is looked at from an industry perspective has definitely produced a number of challenges that technology is trying to address," said Busuioceanu. "I think one of the key ones that we have discovered … is labor shortage, for example, or labor cost is one of the challenges that we're trying to address within the industry and with the technology, as well as from a consumer perspective, it's all about digital consumer experiences as well (including) off-premise ordering and how it that experience by the consumer."

Sardi said she would add in obvious attrition issues, especially after COVID. Creating a culture and an environment in which employees are happy and want to stay is crucial to success.

"You can't fight real-world problems without technology in the 21st century," Sardi added. "That is such a huge, huge problem. I feel like it's that paradigm shift, right?"

Dalby said restaurants are having to juggle many balls in terms of the amount of technology streams used in their restaurants today.

"Trying to maintain brand standards … being delivered by a delivery aggregator as well," he said, adding a story about ordering sushi for his daughter and having it show up thrown in a box with poor presentation all unraveled being a terrible experience. It certainly wasn't the level of standard to which the sushi restaurant was known.

Thompson said society is becoming so technology driven that we expect it in areas where it hasn't been perfected yet. Consumers "are seeing it out in the real world … and asking why can't I bring that into my restaurant? Why can't I somehow take advantage of that technology within my day-to-day job?" he said.

To learn more about how AI is driving customer satisfaction and growth click here to watch the webinar on demand.