Giving AI the work, and people the time to care

Avaya's chief technology officer, David Funck, discusses how artificial intelligence can handle routine tasks for businesses, allowing employees to focus on providing more personalized customer experiences. An example is a customer calling their insurer after a car accident. An AI agent could open the claim, arrange a tow truck, and reserve a rental car, giving the human employee time to listen and offer reassurance.

This "tandem care" approach aims to connect information across the organization, determine when AI should step in and hand over to a person, and build new capabilities around systems that keep daily operations running. However, this raises the question of how much autonomy AI should have and when a human should intervene. Funck suggests that the level of autonomy should be based on confidence and consequence.

For low-risk tasks with straightforward performance evaluation, AI can work more independently. For high-risk tasks involving payments, sensitive data, or potential harm, human oversight is crucial. A bank customer reporting a suspicious transaction could have an AI agent verify their identity, retrieve transaction history, open a fraud case, and take permitted actions, like temporarily freezing the card.

If the customer then asks for a replacement card sent to an unfamiliar address, a human specialist could take over. Businesses must establish clear boundaries and governance from the start, including rules on data access, independent actions, and human intervention. Avaya has partnered with Databricks to provide data management and governance tools for enterprise AI.

The company's Infinity platform uses the Model Context Protocol to give AI structured access to enterprise tools and current context. Funck emphasizes that human connection should remain the foundation of the relationship between businesses and their customers. Avaya's Infinity platform is designed to work alongside existing IT investments, allowing organizations to modernize at their own pace, choosing an on-premises, hybrid-cloud, or full-cloud path that meets their security, data sovereignty, and operational requirements.

The goal is to improve daily efficiency and contribute to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term business value.