5YF Episode #3: ASAPP CEO Gustavo Sapoznik

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Large companies spend more on their call centers than their databases, IT, and security budgets combined. That budget is now being unlocked to transform the antiquated and broken customer experience. Thanks to AI companies like ASAPP, customer service agents will predictively call us as problems arise and be empowered with the full knowledge toolkit of their organizations. Wait lines will be replaced by positive moments between customer and company, reinforcing their brand and building loyalty. I sit down with ASAPP’s CEO to discuss the future of delighting customers in the third episode of 5 Year Frontier.

The paradigm ought to shift and will shift to one of predictive and proactive.

What you’ll hear:‍

🔮 Data’s role in identifying problems before they begin

🎨 Personalizing the customer experience at scale

🛠️ Fixing call centers’ abysmal 100% attrition rate

🧮 Large language models vs smaller focused AI

👥 Having John Chambers and John Doerr on your board

♾️ And plenty more!
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Job elimination in contact centers already exists without any technology because the average attrition rate is about 100%

Our guest:

Gustavo Sapoznik is Founder and CEO of ASAPP, a New York based technology company he started in 2014 to use software and AI to dramatically improve the customer service experience. ASAPP calls JetBlue, Dish, and Sprint amongst its many customers. Gustavo has built up one of the most sophisticated technical organizations and talent pools in the AI industry. ASAPP was last valued at $1.6B and has raised hundreds of millions of VC capital from the likes of Emergence, Fidelity, March, and industry giants John Chambers, and John Doerr.

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Vertical (AI) models will likely outperform horizontal models

My takeaway:

Every engagement with a customer is a privilege that can unlock immense value for a company. Using predictive data models, AI augmented agents, and personalized service turns an experience that erodes company brand and loyalty into one that can cement it. Not to mention, provide a channel to sell more through. The technology is now there thanks to companies like ASAPP, so is capital ($600B in annual spend on call centers!), what is left is the paradigm shift from call deflection and minimization to one of maximizing the opportunity and customer delight.