VUX World

Once switched off during busy periods, Lloyds Banking Group’s chatbot now handles more than 15 million conversations a year. Learn what it really takes to build AI solutions that customers trust with their money. We sit down with Cainan Wright, Senior Product Owner, and John Young, AI Lead - Chatbots and Generative AI, from Lloyds Banking Group, to explore their remarkable nine-year journey in building one of the UK's most successful banking chatbots. From handling 3 million conversations in 2021 to over 15 million in 2025, they share the hard-earned lessons of transforming a rather "unloved" virtual assistant into a mission-critical service for almost 27 million customers.We cover how the team stabilised their service by focusing on the basics, investing in design expertise, and securing organisational buy-in through demonstrating clear value.Cainan and John also share valuable insights into their pragmatic approach to generative AI, explaining how they combine deterministic processes with generative language capabilities to deliver the best customer experience while maintaining brand consistency and ensuring regulatory compliance.The team's journey offers important lessons about perseverance and the importance of striking a balance between innovation and responsibility when deploying AI in a highly regulated industry.Timestamps00:00 – Intro01:34 – Meet Lloyds Banking Group03:18 – The unloved virtual assistant era05:30 – AI before ChatGPT06:50 – Stabilising the service and earning trust14:23 – From underloved to mission critical16:55 – Buy-in from stakeholders to scale AI capabilities18:41 – Defining new AI roles in banking20:51 – Scaling from 3 to 15 million conversations25:15 – How to handle a 5x increase in three years27:43 – Experiments with generative AI in banking30:24 – Using an LLM classifier31:07 – Improving tools within teams32:45 – Using generative AI for value and impact34:56 – Valuable design research sessions38:56 – Meeting customer expectations with generative AI46:04 – Maintaining consistency in probabilistic landscape49:30 – The right tool for the right job in conversational AI55:26 – How do you measure the impact of generative AI?56:13 – Responsible AI and proving business value1:01:10 – The next 12 months1:07:02 – Magic wand moments1:11:34 – If the team could start over again1:14:03 – Closing remarks from KaneShow notesFollow Kane Simms on LinkedInDiscover VUX ConsultingTake our updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we dive into the art and science of context engineering with Martin Cross, President of Connect, a company that empowers enterprises to transform through the use of AI and automation.Martin shares how most businesses still approach AI with a technology-first mindset, deploying solutions before clearly defining the customer problem they’re solving. He explains why successful AI experiences begin with understanding the user journey, designing the right interaction, and then selecting the appropriate tools, not the other way around.We explore different layers of context - from session-level to journey-wide to CRM-integrated, and how they work together to transform generic interactions into deeply personalised, proactive experiences.We also unpack Connect’s acquisition of Elerian AI and why contact centre voice recordings represent an untapped goldmine of training data. Martin explains how fine-tuning models with real-world conversations, including dialects, accents, and customer intents, can dramatically improve AI accuracy and empathy.Additionally, we reflect on why the industry continues to repeat old mistakes and how businesses can design AI that truly understands and anticipates customer needs.Show notesFollow Martin Cross on LinkedInFind out more about ConnectFollow Kane Simms on LinkedInDiscover VUX ConsultingTake our updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kylan Gibbs, Co-founder and CEO of Inworld, and Andrei Papancea, Co-founder and CEO of NLX, dive into the exciting evolution of voice AI technology. They explore the shift from basic assistants to lifelike voices that deliver personalized customer experiences. The duo details their collaboration to make high-quality text-to-speech accessible for developers. They discuss how brands can transition from mere voice to vibrant personalities, emphasizing the importance of user segmentation and customization. Their insights on measuring quality in voice interactions and the necessity for continuous experimentation highlight the future of voice AI.

Ian Jacobs, VP and Lead Analyst at Opus Research, brings a wealth of expertise in customer service and conversational tech. He dives into how AI is reshaping contact centers, balancing efficiency with human empathy. Intriguingly, he discusses instances where non-empathetic AI might actually serve customers better. The conversation expands to explore the future of work, human happiness, and the challenges of regulating rapidly advancing AI technology. Discover the complexities of navigating AI's role in modern business and society.

Exploring the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for conversational AI platforms, industry experts analyze Google's unified platform and its enterprise complexities. The conversation highlights Cognigy's strengths in multilingual support and its strategic acquisition by Nice. Boost AI's ascent as a reliable leader is examined, alongside IBM's struggle to maintain relevance. Druid's workflow automation focus and Yellow AI's global messaging success are discussed. Insightful recommendations for startups, along with strategic advice on platform selection for CX leaders, round out the engaging topics.

As one of the world’s largest car manufacturers, Toyota is giving its machines a voice using AI as a trusted partner to transform how cars are built and serviced.In this episode, we speak with Kordel France, Principal AI Engineer & AI Architect at Toyota, to uncover how artificial intelligence is reshaping production and maintenance globally.We explore how Toyota has moved from technicians spending hours sifting through thousands of pages of manuals to intelligent systems that can diagnose faults in seconds and even predict breakdowns before they happen. Kordel explains the technical architecture behind these solutions, blending classical machine learning with generative AI, and the challenges of creating specialised systems from general-purpose models.You’ll also hear why high-quality data ingestion is more important than the model itself, how even a relatively small number of users can drive asymmetric improvements in efficiency, and what Toyota’s collaboration with NLX means for service technicians working across increasingly complex powertrains.Show notesKane Simms on LinkedInDiscover VUX ConsultingTake the updated AI Maturity AssessmentSubscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The AI arms race in customer experience just got serious. We’re joined by industry legends Nerys Corfield (Injection Consulting), Jon Arnold (J Arnold & Associates), and Henry Iversen (boost.ai) to unpack one of the biggest AI moves in recent memory: NiCE’s $955M acquisition of Cognigy.We break down what this deal means for the future of AI-first contact centres, the fate of best-in-class point solutions, and the broader shift toward an AI-led customer experience strategy. From questions of market consolidation and vendor lock-in to the culture clash between product-led innovation and marketing muscle, we share some real, unscripted insights into the implications of the acquisition for enterprises, vendors, and buyers alike.This episode is brought to you by NLXBuild and deploy sophisticated chat, voice, and multimodal applications for any purpose with NLX. NLX works seamlessly with any LLM and existing tech stack, freeing you to create, not configure. Trusted by individual builders and leading teams at Comcast, Saks Fifth Avenue, Toyota, and United Airlines, NLX helps you turn AI concepts into working conversational experiences.Show notesFollow the episode guests on LinkedIn:Nerys Corfield - Director, Injection ConsultingHenry Iversen - CCO & Co-Founder, boost.aiJon Arnold - Principal, J Arnold & AssociatesKane Simms on LinkedIn Subscribe to VUX WorldSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the hype cycle around AI to the real-world constraints enterprises face when adopting new tech, we explore the opportunities shaping the future of business communications in this episode.  We’re joined by Jon Arnold, an independent tech analyst, for a conversation about the shifting landscape of enterprise communications. We talk about analysts' unique role in shaping vendor strategy and market perception. We discuss the current state of business communications technology, examining what Jon describes as the "three-legged stool" of cloud communications: CCaaS, CPaaS, and UCaaS. We discuss how these previously distinct domains are converging, with vendors increasingly offering capabilities across all three areas.We also explore how AI is disrupting the traditional communications technology landscape. Jon offers valuable insights into why AI-native companies may have advantages over traditional contact centre vendors who are adding AI capabilities, and why the pace of AI adoption varies significantly across different industries and organisations.This episode is brought to you by NLX.NLX is a conversational AI platform enabling brands to build and manage chat, voice and multimodal applications. NLX’s patented Voice+ technology synchronizes voice with digital channels, making it possible to automate complex use cases typically handled by a human agent. When a customer calls, the voice AI guides them to resolve their inquiry through self-service using the brand’s digital asset, resulting in automation and CSAT scores well above industry average. Just ask United Airlines.Shownotes:Find out more about Jon Arnold: https://www.jarnoldassociates.com/about/jon-arnoldSubscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of VUX World, we chat with Kellin Sjoerds and Ricky Wekker, Conversational AI Engineers at Essent - the Netherlands’ largest utility provider and part of the E.ON Group to uncover the story behind their groundbreaking agent assist tool, Bolt.Bolt is an AI-powered agent copilot that has transformed Essent’s call centre operations, shaving an average of 60 seconds off every call and delivering over €1.8 million in savings, not through layoffs, but by reducing dependence on BPOs.We unpack the full journey behind Essent’s AI copilot, Bolt, starting with a simple observation during a team shadowing session that sparked its creation. What began as a hackathon MVP quickly turned heads, prompting leadership to ask, “How fast can we launch this?” From there, we uncover how the team tackled complex challenges like cleaning and restructuring their knowledge base, implementing a smart chunking system, and fine-tuning prompts to ensure accurate, reliable outputs. And through a carefully staged rollout, they struck the right balance between innovation and safety, navigating compliance hurdles while delivering impressive business value.This episode is brought to you by NLX.NLX is a conversational AI platform enabling brands to build and manage chat, voice and multimodal applications. NLX’s patented Voice+ technology synchronizes voice with digital channels, making it possible to automate complex use cases typically handled by a human agent. When a customer calls, the voice AI guides them to resolve their inquiry through self-service using the brand’s digital asset, resulting in automation and CSAT scores well above industry average. Just ask United Airlines.Shownotes:Subscribe to VUX World: https://vuxworld.typeform.com/to/Qlo5aaeWSubscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/kanesimmsGet in touch with Kane on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanesimms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Satish Barot, a leader at Klearcom specializing in telephony testing and quality assurance, discusses the dynamic shift in contact center technology. He highlights how organizations are transitioning from traditional IVR systems to advanced generative AI, often adopting hybrid solutions. Key topics include the importance of thorough testing for AI voice systems, privacy concerns, and the need for a customer-focused approach. Satish emphasizes starting small and leveraging real-world testing to ensure accurate performance in this evolving landscape.