97: Using AI for Customer Support: Voice AI vs Humans in Customer Service Strategy with Nathan Strum

**Nathan Strum** (0:00)
I would definitely would not go with an AI if there's no way to escalate that call to a human.

**Chris Daigle** (0:05)
Why the human is a better option instead of a voice agent or something along those lines?

**Nathan Strum** (0:10)
So what we found is the voice agents are very good at sticking to scripts, very good at certain workflows, very good when something doesn't fall outside of the norm workflow that it expects. And so what we know from customer service is you can never get rid of edge cases, and edge cases are unpredictable. And unpredictability is best handled by human.

**Chris Daigle** (0:33)
What are the risks for a listener that says, hey, let's rent a list of names and blast them with the voice AI agent?

**Nathan Strum** (0:39)
It's already a very risky job to be doing an outbound call to somebody that's not expecting your call.

**Chris Daigle** (0:45)
Even if it's the human, huh?

**Nathan Strum** (0:46)
Even if it's the human, right? So you throw the AI on top of that and you're just lighting the fuel on fire.

**Chris Daigle** (0:52)
So for those listeners that have standard business needs, where would be some low-hanging fruit that you would say, hey, you're okay, you're safe using AI here?

**Nathan Strum** (1:00)
Somebody's got to answer that phone within one ring. It's got to be a receptionist you've hired. And if it's not a receptionist you've hired because that's too expensive for your budget, then it has to be another solution. And that's where AI voice agents do really shine.

**Chris Daigle** (1:15)
Nathan Strum is the CEO and co-founder of Abby Connect, where he spent two decades helping small businesses deliver better customer experiences and is now leading the shift toward a smarter future with AI-powered reception that keeps the human touch. Welcome to Using AI at Work. I'm your host, Chris Daigle. Each week we'll be learning how today's business owners, entrepreneurs, and ambitious professionals are getting more done with smart use of tomorrow's tech. Let's get started. Right now every business leader is asking the same question. What are we going to do about AI? If this is you, chiefaiofficer.com has the answer. We'll give you a simple path forward where we provide executive and team training so your people know exactly how to safely use Generative AI in their day-to-day. We also manage the deployment and implementation to make sure tools actually get adopted and deliver results. And we'll also guide company-wide transformation so AI becomes part of your operating system, not just another shiny object. The companies that act now will increase productivity, cut costs, and grow faster than their competitors. Those that wait will get left behind. So if you want to make AI work in your business, visit chiefaiofficer.com and see how we're helping companies of all sizes finally get results from AI. Hi everybody and welcome to another episode of Using AI at Work. My name is Chris Daigle and I'm the host of the show. And today our guest is Nathan Strum, who's representing abby.com. They're headquartered in Las Vegas with about 20,000 square feet of office space that's housing humans. And it seems to me that many people could look at that arrangement in today's scenario and say that's kind of risky, especially considering Abby's push into the AI space. So they're primarily focused on have been voice support, phone support for companies for the bulk of their career. But we're going to talk about what it's like to still maintain the human side while also introducing AI really best practices across the entire organization. So Nathan, before we get started, why don't we tell the audience what they should expect to learn from today's episode?

**Nathan Strum** (3:17)
Well, as you rightfully said, we've been in this business for 20 years with humans answering calls and have gained a lot of experience in those 20 years. I know I look young, but it's been a fun ride. And we're taking that experience and applying it to today's AI world and AI customer service. And through everything that we've learned, we believe that humans are going to be more important than ever.

**Chris Daigle** (3:48)
Well, I like hearing that because, you know, just on paper, it seems many companies are thinking, wow, we can flatten our headcount or reduce our headcount significantly. And especially in the voice AI, the phone support environment. And here you are talking about, you know, doubling down on the human side of that interaction. So tell me, what's the like, what's the thesis internally about why the human is a better option instead of, you know, a voice agent or something along those lines?