Episode 9: Using AI to Empower Customer Engagement

Enformed Insights Episode 8 Transcript 

0:00 

Alex Richter 

Welcome to Enformed Insights, the official podcast of Enformion.com and your guide to the world of public records and data analysis.  

Join our host, Fred Pfeiffer, as he interviews industry experts and shares practical tips for navigating the future of digital information. 

0:20 

Fred Pfeiffer 

Adena Kirkbride, welcome to the Enformed Insights podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today – tell us a little bit about LinkLive.AI and your role at the company. 

0:29 

Adena KirkBride 

Yeah, thank you Fred. LinkLive is a very exciting a platform that we’ve got – it’s an all in one AI-enabled communications and contact center platform. 

We’re trusted by the world’s most highly regulated industries to securely connect with consumers in the channels of their choice 

anything from video voice chat, email, SMS, you name it – and my role here is I’m an account executive for sales in the southwest. 

0:53 

Fred 

Right – so how does LinkLive.AI stand out in this crowded AI-driven communication space? 

1:01 

Adena 

Yeah, I’m glad you asked that. So last year we really kicked off and we’re continuing this year with AI that matters. 

We’ve seen over the years that people have been, you know, you get bolt-on AI pieces and it’s really not functional, 

you get it for the razzle and dazzle of having AI. So our focus is really on improving the overall customer experience as well as the agents experience. 

So with tools like our AI chat bot, customers can get answers they need quickly without having to engage an agent 

and then the more priority urgent calls can actually go to a live agent as needed. 

Now on the agent side we also have access to – they’ll have access to our AI via Co pilot. 

It’s what we’ve named it it’s a native tool of LinkLive, it’s not in Microsoft, but it basically will work with the agent 

and give them suggested answers based on customer questions to help them resolve the tickets quicker. 

1:49 

Fred 

Great, what industries benefit the most from LinkLive’s AI solutions? 

1:55 

Adena 

I would say – so we started in the financial space, so financial institutions, but over the last 20 years we’ve been in business 

we’ve grown into healthcare and social services as well. So if you think of disaster recovery having to send out notifications,  

things like that – we’re definitely in social services as well.  

2:12 

Fred 

Where do you see AI powered communication heading in the next few years? 

2:17 

Adena 

I think we are on track to really drive again that AI that matters, making AI impactful. 

I think people got nervous a few years ago when AI started coming into the contact centers because it was more so trying to replace agents 

and I think what I see it happening in the future is it’s going to empower the agents, you know?  

There’s a lot of agent turnover in the contact center space customer service space  

and so I think helping to empower agents to where they’re working on more priority tickets.  

I think it’s going to allow the contact centers to grow – so I do see AI getting more impactful as long as people are, you know, taking the right guidance. 

2:54 

Fred 

Great – so one of the things that brought you on our radar was your podcast and I loved it. I know you’ve hosted your own podcast,  

can you tell us a little bit about it and what was the focus, and who was your audience when you started it? 

3:08 

Adena 

Yeah – so I first started a few years ago when I worked at Nice Incontact and I started it to reach out be able to reach more of my partners 

rather than just the one on one phone calls and what it’s kind of transformed to now, me being in direct sales, is I’m giving a platform for  

potential customers as well as existing customers to join in and not only listen to we do have focal points about LinkLive 

but really what it is is about just contact center. I’ve invited some of my colleagues on that have experience in the space as well 

so we can give kind of best practices what we’re seeing as issues in the contact center and then I also have try to split it up 

so it’s not just overdrawn Powerpoint slides I have about, you know, half the time 15 minutes is spent on showing them 

some slides of what I’ve seen in the industry and then the other half of the time is open discussion 

so people can jump in with their own questions and really the topics come from the audience and even just the conversations I have day to day with 

with customers with prospects trying to find out kind of where the pain points are where they really have questions 

4:09 

Fred 

Great – what inspired you to start podcasting and what were some of the biggest lessons you learned from hosting a show?  

I started seeing although the webinars, I mean, everybody’s trying to get creative now, trying to touch, you know, new clients and existing customers 

and so I figured “hey, why not just host my own?” and that’s kind of where it started and I would say biggest lesson I learned kind of restarting it at a new company is 

it’s having consistency – so I do try to host it once a month so if some people can’t join one month it’s not like I go off the radar 

and I think that really helps. I also keep it so people can be anonymous they can ask questions beforehand if they want 

if they don’t wanna speak up during the actual podcast but I do like to keep it keep it open and I do listen to topics that people bring up. 

4:54 

Fred 

Are there any particular memorable guests or moments from your podcast that stand out? 

5:00 

Adena 

Yeah, my favorite moment and I’m still working on getting momentum here – but at Nice I think my favorite moment was when I had a full audience and they actually 

it was the first time they actually jumped in and started asking questions and my partners were actually talking to one another, 

not just me, we had about three or four people actually chime in and it was a it was an open discussion and I thought that was great 

that was the whole point of the podcast.  

5:24 

Fred 

What skills from podcasting have translated well into your current role at LinkLive.AI? 

5:31 

Adena 

I think communication – I know it sounds like a big term but really listening to how people are talking on the podcast 

the different questions that they ask it helps in my day to day role as a salesperson talking in one on one conversations 

cause it’s just giving me more knowledge of what people are talking about and I would say that’s, I would recommend it for anybody. 

I think it’s a great way to reach your audience in a wider view and then take those two one on one conversations. 

5:57 

Fred 

Do you see yourself getting back into podcasting in the future or do you integrate those skills into your work today? 

6:04 

Adena 

Both, yeah –  I’m definitely going to continue the podcast I love people to join you don’t necessarily have to be in the financial industry 

or healthcare, you know, if you’re interested in learning about contact center, you know, just even topics of what’s going on in 

the industry today definitely join I definitely want to continue it and it’ll as the year goes on. 

You know, my upcoming podcast is going to be on AI so I try to translate kind of what trends I’m saying into the podcast 

and that way my existing conversations I’m having with my customers translates to the podcast of vice versa. 

6:33 

Fred 

Really cool – I want to get a little bit now into your career and personal insight so your professional background let’s talk a little bit about that. What led you to work in AI driven communication? 

6:44 

Adena 

So I actually started – it’s been a journey – I started in cybersecurity, eventually moved into the contact center space. 

In the contact center space I saw a huge gap in everyday customer service and where companies were starting to change 

they were starting to incorporate AI and where I landed at LinkLive it was a perfect it was just a perfect match 

because I was looking for a company that was using AI, but it wasn’t solely their only thing that they do.  

They found a way to really incorporate it throughout the platform and from here now each quarter we’re developing out new AI 

tools based on what we’re hearing in the market so I would say like I said our team is very focused on  

making AI impactful and so that’s why I truly enjoy LinkLive and what we’re doing. 

7:28 

Fred 

Right – looking back on your career, what key decisions or experiences have been most pivotal in shaping where you are today? 

7:36 

Adena 

Yeah, I would say there’s two major points in my career that really shaped me as a salesperson. 

I’m starting with my first job in tech was with a company called Coupa Procurement Software – it’s not the, it’s not the sexiest but definitely good lesson 

I learned a lot about actually I’m kind of being a sales development rep is really where I started. 

I started at the ground and where you’re calling 50 60 70 times, you know, people a day and sending emails and sending texts 

and it really gave me a baseline of my sales career when I finally moved into my account executive role 

was at Cloudflare Cybersecurity I learned I really had I sat down with the engineers they were they were smaller company so I got the pleasure of actually being able to 

utilize the engineers and learning the product inside and out I think that’s a huge piece that’s made me a better salesperson 

is knowing what I’m selling it creates the knowledge of the product actually creates better trust with customers. 

8:28 

Fred 

what advice would you give the professionals who want to build a career at the intersection of AI technology and communication? 

8:37 

Adena 

I would say take your time building your career it’s definitely it’s kind of cheesy to say but it’s a Marathon it’s not a sprint.  

Take every job every experience take the good and the bad and learn from it and listen to your teammates 

I’ve learned so much from my teammates throughout the years and I would say just lastly learn the technology 

there are a lot of sales people out there that yes you can sell anything however if you know your technology 

you’re going to continue the trust with your customers and I’ve had customers follow me along my career when I’ve changed companies 

9:08 

Fred 

Are there any books podcast or resources that have been particularly influential for you? 

9:14 

Adena 

Yeah, I would say I’m not a huge reader, however, I do go old school a great book I would say for any salesperson starting out your career 

pick up The Challenger Sale – it’s very old school but it’ll give you a foundation to start with, I wouldn’t say read it like the Bible 

there’s multiple different sales tools out there and sales techniques you can learn but that’s a good baseline for you.  

LinkedIn –  I feel like for some reason in the past few years, I feel like it’s been under utilized but I’m seeing people get back on it again 

it’s a fantastic tool make sure your profiles updated, make sure you have your full background with the companies you worked for 

and then I would say lastly is Crunchbase I don’t know if a lot of people know about it but it’s a great tool to see what’s going on 

the text space especially startups, you can see funding rounds and things like that and get backgrounds on companies  

9:59 

Fred 

If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of career advice, what would it be? 

10:05 

Adena 

Oh man, I would say utilize LinkedIn sooner. I regret not kicking it off when I was in college even – and just because it’s a way for you to tap into networks 

not just connecting directly with people out there but you know following different companies following different forums 

I think that’s the one thing I would definitely have changed is just start it to interconnect with people 

10:26 

Fred 

Adena this has been such a fantastic conversation, thank you so much for sharing your insights your experiences and your perspective with us today 

it’s been great learning more about you your journey LinkLive.AI and the role AI is playing and transforming customer engagement. 

Before we wrap up is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience where can they connect or find you? 

10:45 

Adena 

No, I said it a few times here LinkedIn – LinkedIn’s the best way to connect with me and thank you for your time Fred, I really appreciate you. 

10:55 

Alex 

Thanks for listening to Enformed insights, to learn more or listen to another episode please visit Enformion.com.