In this VUX World podcast episode with Kerry Phillipson, she reveals how Arriva Group transforms customer experience using cutting-edge AI technology. Learn how they're creating a virtual assistant that's not just another chatbot, but a smart, personable travel companion that understands your journey needs.

Kerry shares with us how Arriva is driving AI innovation within the transportation sector. She explains how artificial intelligence is used to tackle real customer pain points, making travel smoother and more intuitive. The conversation also dives into what it takes to design an AI with a genuine personality one that feels more like a helpful guide than a machine. Looking ahead, they explore the future of travel support and how AI is reshaping the way customers interact with transportation services.

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In this episode on the VUX World podcast, we chat all about the innovative AI journey of Citizens Advice with Stuart Pearson.

We discover how a nonprofit organisation is revolutionising customer support through Caddy, an intelligent AI assistant that reduces average handle time by 50% while maintaining a rigorous ethical approach.

Stuart shares the meticulous process of developing an internal AI tool that supports contact centre agents, highlighting the importance of responsible AI implementation.

From initial challenges with chatbots to creating a sophisticated AI solution, this podcast reveals how organisations can leverage artificial intelligence to enhance productivity, improve service delivery, and ultimately help more people.

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In this episode, we dive deep into how NatWest uses generative AI to reshape customer service at scale, with Mark Worden, Strategy & Innovation Lead for Cora at NatWest.

We explore how one of the UK’s biggest banks is building AI-driven customer journeys that are smarter, faster, and more efficient. From traditional NLU-based bots to cutting-edge Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, Mark shares how Cora Plus achieves up to 99% accuracy and drastically reduces handoffs to human agents.

Mark takes us inside NatWest’s pilot process - from narrowing 500 web pages down to a curated 120-item knowledge base to running internal tests, red-teaming for hallucinations, and prioritising customer consent and governance at every step. 

We also discover how NatWest’s summarisation tool transforms the agent experience by reducing transcript review time and saving over 50,000 minutes weekly in both agent and customer wait time. With 1.2 million conversations a month and counting, this is a masterclass in scaling AI responsibly within a highly regulated industry.

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AI is changing how businesses talk to customers, but how do you move beyond the hype and make AI work for your business? In this episode, we chat with Chafik Abdellaoui, Workforce and Quality Manager at Autodesk, about how AI is used in sales and customer experience and the real results.

Autodesk is leveraging AI to analyse calls, generate follow-up emails and improve CRM data. AI is being used to make sales teams more efficient and effective. Chafik explains how AI is automating low-value tasks so sales reps can focus on what really matters: building relationships and closing deals. From extracting insights from conversations to drafting personalised emails and proposals, Autodesk’s approach is about enhancing and not replacing human expertise.

But AI adoption isn’t always easy. We discuss the challenges of implementing AI in sales teams, including agent adoption, structured processes and data quality. We also ask the following question: As more companies deploy AI, do we end up with homogenous customer experiences, or is there still room for differentiation?

Connect with Chafik Abdellaoui on LinkedIn.

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In this episode, Panos Karagiannis, CEO of Moveo.AI, joins us to explore how AI has been reshaping business automation. Panos shares invaluable insights into what it takes to build production-ready AI agents, from scaling AI solutions across industries to navigating the complexities of enterprise adoption.

We also dive deep into the real-world applications of Gen AI, the buy vs. build debate for enterprises, and the challenges of differentiation in a world where many businesses use the same foundational AI models. Plus, we discuss why quality assurance is the unsung hero of AI implementation and how companies can future-proof their AI strategies.

Check out Moveo.AI

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AI has made incredible strides, but is it truly user-friendly? In this episode, UX legend Jakob Nielsen joins VUX World to discuss why AI usability still lags behind and what needs to change. As the founder of UX Tigers and a pioneer in usability with 41 years of experience, Nielsen has shaped the field with groundbreaking contributions, including heuristic evaluation, Jakob’s Law, and the 10 usability heuristics. He has authored eight best-selling books, holds 79 patents, and was named “the king of usability” by Internet Magazine and “the guru of Web page usability" by The New York Times.

We explore the challenges AI users face, from the articulation barrier to unclear system feedback, and why many AI products still prioritise engineering over usability. Nielsen also unpacks the impact of AI stigma, discussing how better design can build trust and encourage wider adoption. Drawing on his vast expertise, he explains why usability heuristics are more relevant than ever in the AI era.

Finally, we discuss the future of AI usability and what it takes to create AI-powered tools that people actually want to use. From improving AI-human collaboration to eliminating confusing interfaces, this conversation is packed with insights for anyone working in AI, UX, or product design.

Check out Jakobs LinkedIn 

Read ‘What is agentic AI? A deeply researched definition’ on The AI Ultimatum Substack

Read ‘AI Agents are not a technology. They are a strategy’ on AgentsDecoded Substack

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This is an interview with Ronald Ashri, Co-Founder of OpenDialog. We discuss the evolving landscape of conversational AI. Ron shares how OpenDialog has progressed since our last conversation in 2021, highlighting the transformative impact of large language models and generative AI on the enterprise automation space.

We dive into the nuances of defining "AI agents", calling out the hype and misuse of the term and putting a few of the well-known tech companies on the chopping block! We chat about how OpenDialog leverages AI agent-based abstractions and goal-driven architectures to build more reliable and effective conversational systems, striking a balance between the flexibility of language models and the constraints of business processes.

The conversation also explores the future of conversational interfaces, touching on the potential to blend language AI, dynamic user interfaces, and orchestrated experiences to create seamless, multi-modal interactions. It’s a thought-provoking perspective on the current state of the industry and the practical steps organisations can take to harness the power of generative AI in business.

Check out OpenDialog: https://opendialog.ai/ 

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Read ‘What is agentic AI? A deeply researched definition’ on The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://kanesimms.substack.com/p/what-agentic-ai-actually-is-a-deeply?r=g9nf 

Read ‘AI Agents are not a technology. They are a strategy’ on agentsdecoded Substack: https://www.agentsdecoded.com/p/ai-agents-are-not-a-technology-they

Our 15 AI Trends in CX Insights Report is out now! Learn how to find success with AI: https://vux.world/customer-experience-trends-2025/?utm_source=vux&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Trends2025

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In this podcast with Sarah Haider, Digital Manager for Conversational AI at Salzburg AG, we explore the journey of revolutionising customer interactions with AI. From the early days of NLU-based chatbots to embracing generative AI and retrieval-augmented generation technology, Sarah outlines the challenges and breakthroughs in enhancing Salzburg AG’s digital assistant capabilities.

Chapters:

00:00: Introduction to Sarah Haider and Salzburg AG

05:23: Why is AI appealing for the energy industry?

08:32: The history of AI at Salzburg AG

12:00: Measuring success pre-generative AI

16:25: Goals of exploring generative AI

19:50: Starting with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)

24:10: Full RAG implementation process

39:45: Lessons in prompt design

44:45: Quality assurance tactics

48:25: Impact of generative AI

51:20: Other use cases for generative AI

The conversation highlights the strategic shift to generative AI, tackling complex use cases like public transport queries while maintaining customer satisfaction and reliability. Sarah dives into the importance of data preparation, prompt design, testing, and quality assurance, shedding light on what it takes to make AI solutions scalable and effective in real-world scenarios.

This episode is perfect for anyone looking to modernise their chatbot or explore the potential of AI in customer experience. From reducing call centre volume to delivering human-like interactions, Sarah's approach demonstrates how innovation can elevate both business impact and customer satisfaction.

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From the rise of ChatGPT to the death of intent classification, Alan shares insights into how modern AI systems, like Rasa's CALM approach, are reshaping enterprise workflows and user experiences.

Alan shares how Rasa's innovative platform integrates large language models with structured business logic, and is able to deliver robust, reliable, and natural conversations. Alan highlights the balance between deterministic workflows and flexible AI, debunking myths about agentic AI and discussing the critical role of context and understanding.

This episode is packed with actionable insights and a visionary outlook on where the industry is headed!

Visit Alan's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anichol/

Find out more about Rasa - https://rasa.com/

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This episode features Noam Fine, co-founder and CEO of Hear.ai. Noam is a serial entrepreneur with multiple exits, having most recently founded Over.ai, which was acquired by Vonage in 2019.

In this conversation, we delve into the transformative potential of generative AI in the contact center. Not for automating conversations with customers, but for turning these conversations into insights. Insights that can lead to tremendous improvements in customer experience, and business growth.

We explore how generative AI can enable new mindsets and move beyond incremental improvements, fundamentally reshaping the way organisations approach customer service and support.

At the heart of the conversation is the concept of the "Customer Value Exchange" (CVX) - the idea of turning contact centers from traditional cost centers into strategic value centers that can provide invaluable insights to drive business growth.

We discuss the details behind the hear.ai platform and how it leverages a unique blend of small and large language models, as well as fine-tuned models, to achieve reliability and cost-efficiency in analysing customer interactions.

This episode offers a glimpse into the transformative power of generative AI in the contact center industry, showcasing how innovative solutions like the Here AI platform can redefine the customer experience landscape and drive tangible business impact.

Visit Noam's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/noamfine/

Read our 15 AI Trends in Customer Experience 2025 - https://vux.world/customer-experience-trends-2025/?utm_source=vux&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Trends2025

Be sure to check out hear.ai - https://www.linkedin.com/company/hear-ai/posts/?feedView=all

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