A little over a year ago, I posted a story about how artificial intelligence startup Replicant uses AI in making customer service centers more accessible. The San Francisco-based company wants to make calls centers more accessible—and efficient—for agents and customers alike.
“What we came to do is to automate mundane [calls] to customer service contacts, whether they are text messages or phone calls or other [types of] messaging,” Gadi Shamia, Replicant’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said to me in an interview last year via videoconference. “Agents can focus on more complex, more emotional type of calls where it’s really important to use human creativity and problem-solving abilities.”
As it happens, Shamia and Replicant aren’t alone in their pursuits.
In late June, cloud computing company Genesys announced a partnership with the Central Florida-based Lighthouse Works that the former said in a press release has “resulted in significant career opportunities for the Blind or visually impaired.” Genesys boasted in the press release’s headline the joint venture with Lighthouse Works resulted in a 25% increase in new jobs for Blind Americans last year.
The collaboration involves utilizing Genesys’ Cloud CX platform and its proprietary API to give those who are Blind and low vision more opportunity for career advancement, most notably in customer service centers. The Lighthouse Works development team built a user interface using a custom API that integrates with the aforementioned Cloud CX system. The end result is a piece of software which “delivers audio cues to agents in real-time [and] equips those with blindness or vision loss with the tools needed for careers within a contact center.”
In the announcement, Genesys noted its work with the Lighthouse came to be as a result of “glaring lack of progress to support this talent-rich population [of Blind and low vision people] that faces a disproportionate rate of unemployment.” Genesys added studies have shown people in the Blind and low vision community “face significant challenges finding a job,” with the unemployment rate standing at a staggering 70%. If given proper support and access to opportunities, both Genesys and the Lighthouse strongly believe Blind and low vision people can be tremendous assets to the workforce, with Genesys saying they are “well-suited to provide superior customer experiences in the contact center.”
“People with vision loss frequently face perception issues and skepticism from employers, not to mention navigating additional challenges, such as transportation and lack of workplace accommodations,“ Kyle Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Lighthouse Works, said in a statement included in the press release. “By partnering with Genesys, we’re able to create more job opportunities for this underserved population, as well as bring a competitive advantage to our customers because of our unique workforce, not in spite of it.”
In an interview with me prior to the announcement, conducted in mid-May, Genesys CEO Tony Bates explained his company supports over 7,000 customers of all shapes and sizes. At the root of the company’s work, he said, is creating “incredible, personalized customer experiences through digital channels.” With regards to accessibility, Bates told me “nothing is more important” than having empathy for disabled people and providing them tools with which to succeed at their employment.
Bates called Lighthouse Works “an incredible partner” to Genesys, saying he felt very fortunate Lighthouse CEO Kyle Johnson took the time to speak to the Genesys leadership team. In the cloud computing sector, where efficiency and effectiveness is paramount, Bates said technology is the differentiating factor in making everything work. More pointedly, Bates shared his enthusiasm for the impact Genesys and its tech stack has on enabling those in the disability community to thrive and meaningfully contribute to society. In many ways, accessibility is the conduit through which the ultimate user experience is created.
For his part, Johnson explained Lighthouse’s mission as providing rehabilitation and educational training to individuals who are Blind and low vision. Lighthouse Works, he told me, strives to “level the playing field” for Blind and low vision people in terms of living and earning.
For Sophia McCall, the partnership has led to her to prosper.
McCall, who works at Lighthouse Works, lost her eyesight at age 39. In an interview concurrent to Bates and Johnson’s, she told me she first linked with Lighthouse Works in 2016 as she was coping with the loss of her vision and contemplating how to best move forward. She appreciates the technology Genesys and Lighthouse Works have created together because, essentially, she can perform all the same tasks a sighted person can do, and communicate with customers from the call center without them necessarily being aware of her condition. McCall said she likes to “surprise people” with her disability, telling me she wants to “show people, despite your disability, [when] you’re given a fair playing field—which would be accessibility—you can go as high as you want.”
“I love talking about [accessibility],” she said.
Bates sung McCall’s praises, saying she has incredible abilities and her perspective as a blind person has proven invaluable to the organization. In terms of potential, Bates emphatically asserted that McCall is “nowhere near the top rung of her ladder” and will “change a lot of people’s lives and the work that she does, whether with us or anywhere.”
As to the future, both Bates and Johnson shared optimism about the work they’re doing together. Both men believe technology is extremely powerful in giving disabled people like McCall access to flourish in the world. “My hope is that we co-develop technology that really does democratize and equalizes people around the world,” Bates said of his company’s work with Lighthouse Works. “I think the root is we need more empathy. We need to know where people are coming from, and it’s been a bit of a missing link in contact centers and customer service. Everyone should be on the same playing field and feel equal. If technology can help that create jobs, I think that’s a wonderful thing.”
Johnson wholeheartedly agrees, as does McCall.
“It’s rare that we find systems that are fully accessible. But it’s even more rare to hear from a chief executive, at a company as formidable as Genesys that is such a powerhouse, making that commitment and really believing in that commitment, Johnson said of working alongside Genesys. “That’s incredibly commendable and it makes me very excited. I’d like the massive opportunity for Genesys to set itself apart in the software world—to be that leader that goes first and really show how, not only is [supporting accessibility] empathetic, humane, responsible, honorable—it’s also achievable and it also makes good business sense.”
“I have a passion for empowerment of disabled people,” McCall said.
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