Alorica Launches AI-Powered Speech Translation CX Platform
Reposted from Forbes. Authored by Megan Poinski | Writer
Alorica, which uses technology to transform customer experience, has a new AI implementation hitting markets today: Real-time Voice Language Translation (ReVoLT). This platform can do real-time audio and voice translation in 75 languages, making it possible for customer service operators from anywhere to quickly and accurately communicate with customers in their own language in a voice conversation. I talked to Mike Clifton, Alorica chief growth and transformation officer, about the new product.
Alorica, which creates digital solutions to enhance customer experience (CX), is launching its new Real-time Voice Language Translation platform. This platform automatically translates spoken language from one language into another for customer service applications. With Alorica’s new system, a German-speaking customer can call an English-speaking representative, and the system will listen to both speakers and translate what they said.
The system, which is at the center of the Alorica Clear suite of AI-powered translations for a variety of business uses, is referred to by the abbreviation ReVoLT. Alorica Chief Growth and Transformation Officer Mike Clifton said in an interview the name is apt.
“It’s a revolt in the industry, because it kind of changes the operating model,” Clifton said.
The system has been under development for about 22 months, Clifton said, and allows companies to streamline their operations. Multinational companies using this system don’t need to find customer representatives who speak a variety of languages—or contract with third parties that can manually translate on a case-by-case basis. Instead, everything can be streamlined into one call center with operators who speak any language. Clifton said the platform simplifies operations, makes work more efficient from both administrative and economic viewpoints, and improves CX.
The platform’s first set of use cases are the hotel and hospitality industry, tech companies, device manufacturers and retailers. Clifton said these industries commonly have operations through a variety of languages, and the customer service questions are often similar.
Alorica has been piloting ReVoLT with six businesses in these key industries, but has been prospecting for companies that are interested in using the tool now that it is widely available. Clifton said the technology can help companies expand and improve their customer interactions, but it can’t entirely replace human workers. ReVoLT is a real-time translator, but it still needs people to be answering the phones and interacting with customers.
“If you’ve been holding back expanding into regions, or your business performance in those regions isn’t great, you’re constrained by how many people you can get in-region to service it,” Clifton said. “This opens the door to say, there’s really no barriers to expansion. If you go with this model, you can literally go in pretty quickly. You’ll see a lot more businesses getting more aggressive into new territories and new geos.”
Clifton said programming the real-time audio translation was the biggest challenge. However, he said, translating spoken words is actually easier than using AI to translate written ones, which are prone to typos, slang or misuse.
While every company doing anything with tech is probably working on a similar kind of platform—Samsung’s Galaxy S24 smartphone will have real-time AI translation for 13 languages built in—Clifton said Alorica’s solution is unique because it’s targeting B2B interactions.
ReVoLT is new today, but Clifton said he sees the platform taking on more capabilities as time goes on. More interactions will help hone its responses, and the future may bring it to more complicated industries, including health care and insurance. He also envisions all of Alorica’s AI-powered translation tools working across all forms of consumer communication.
“You can seamlessly jump between communications but keep language fluidity and written words in the same language,” he said. “...You can service the account in many channels over a journey of a client doing business with you, independent of the language.”