June 6, 2024 • 35 mins
Join us for our very first episode of “insight.tech Talk” where we talk about how voice AI transforms the QSR experience—boosting efficiency and creating a smoother experience both for customers and employees.
Just as our new name reflects the ever-changing tech landscape, this episode explores how voice assistants enable QSRs to take orders faster and more accurately, reducing staff workload and handling complex requests. The result: shorter lines, happier customers, and more consistent service.
Listen in as we explore benefits, address potential challenges, and peek into how voice AI impacts other areas of the industry.
Join us as we explore these ideas with:
Salwa Al-Tahan, Research and Marketing Executive, Sodaclick
Stevan Dragas, EMEA Digital Signage Segment Manager, Intel
Christina Cardoza, Editorial Director, insight.tech
Salwa and Stevan answer our questions about
- How voice AI enhances QSR experiences
- Voice AI infrastructure and investments
- Technological advancements making voice AI possible
- Real-world examples of voice AI in QSRs
- Voice AI opportunities beyond QSRs
Related Content
To learn more about conversational voice AI, read Talking Up Self-Serve Patient Check-In Kiosks in Healthcare. For the latest innovations from Sodaclick, follow them on Twitter at @sodaclick and on LinkedIn. For the latest innovations from Intel, follow them on Twitter at @sodaclick and on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(bright music)
(bright music continues)
- Hello and welcome tothe "insight.tech talk."
I'm your host, Christina Cardoza,
Editorial Director of insight.tech.
And some of our long-term listeners
(00:20):
probably have already pickedup that we've updated our name
from the IoT Chat to "insight.tech Talk,"
and that's because, as you know,
this technology space ismoving incredibly fast
and we wanted to reflect the conversations
that we will be having beyond IoT.
But don't worry, you'll still be getting
the same high-quality conversationsaround IoT technology,
trends and latest innovations.
(00:42):
This just allows us to keep up
with the pace of the industry.
So without further ado,
I want to get into today's conversation,
which we're going to betalking about voice AI
in quick-service restaurantswith Sodaclick and Intel.
So as always, before wejump into the conversation,
let's get to know our guests.
Salwa from Sodaclick, I'll start with you.
What can you tell us aboutyourself and Sodaclick?
(01:03):
- Hi, Christina. Thank you.
So I'm Salwa Al-Tahan,
Head of Marketing andResearch at Sodaclick.
Thank you for invitingme to join this podcast.
So Sodaclick is a London-based AI company.
We actually started, for thosethat don't know, in 2017,
as a digital content platform.
But AI was always part of their vision.
(01:24):
And in 2019, they actuallyopened up the AI division,
and that was primarilyfocusing on voice AI,
although that was quitelinear, it was command-driven.
And they always knew that itneeded to be more natural,
more human-like, more conversational,
(01:46):
so the co-founders are really hot
on being at the forefront of technology,
always innovating, alwayslooking to improve.
And with the advent of generative AI,
they started fine-tuning their LLM,
and that's where we are now.
Now we're a London-basedcompany with a global presence.
(02:06):
- Great! Looking forward todigging into some of that.
Especially making voice AI more natural
because I'm sure a lot ofpeople have had the displeasure
of those customerservice voice AI chatbots
that you're always screaming at the phone,
trying to get it to understand you,
or trying to get where you need to go
and trying to talk to a human.
So looking forward to
(02:26):
how that's not only being broughtinto the restaurant space,
but I know Sodaclick doesthings in many other industries.
So we'll dig into that alittle bit in our conversation.
But before we get there,Stevan, welcome to the show.
What can you tell us about yourself?
- That's interesting. So Stevan Dragas.
Why it's interesting is because
over the last 24 years in Intel,
(02:48):
I've done so manyexciting roles, positions.
And on the recent visit
where I had the pleasureof taking Sodaclick
to join Intel Vision in US, Ibrahim,
one of the founders of Sodaclick,
actually reminded methat at the time in 2019,
(03:08):
when they moved into the Voice,
that that was the first time he met me.
I kind of, unfortunately, forgot that.
But he reminded me thatthat time we met first time,
and I kind of gave themsome hints, advices,
what would work, what did not work.
And unfortunately, kind of have to say,
almost like glad that theylistened to me at that time.
(03:30):
Because with what we are doing,
what Sodaclick at the momentdoing, we cover both edge,
from the edge to the cloud,
and driving ultimatelythe new usage models,
driving user experience,
driving benefits from startingfrom the end user to retailer
to the operator of QSR.
(03:51):
But ultimately we driving newexperience in usage models
and benefits and changing the industries.
Now my role is basically to promote
and support Intel platformproducts, technologies, software,
across multiple vertical industries,
from which QSR is just oneof the vertical industries.
(04:12):
So I go horizontal, and Ihave number of companies
which are just as exciting as Sodaclick,
but they're one of my,let's say, crown jewels
that I am actually pleased and happy
that over the last couple of years,
we kind of really acceleratedand will continue.
Specifically because weare now looking into adding
some of the new products
(04:32):
that Intel actually brought to the market.
Not necessarily just the new products
that are for the cloud,
but also introducing for the first time
in the computing industry, to call it.
The new products which actuallyhave not just anymore CPU
and GPU but also NPU.
And in May, Sodaclickwill be demonstrating
(04:55):
and using their producton this new platform.
It used to be called Meteor Lake,
but it's actually IntelCore™ Ultra platform,
and really exciting to workacross all of these industries,
specifically with Sodaclick.
They have been so good,and I'm happy to also say
that we are looking to a lot more
than just the QSR type of restaurants
(05:18):
because many industries andvertical industries solutions
would benefit from some kindof conversational discussion
from asking a open question,
rather than pre-scripted, menu-driven,
type of conversation with the machine.
- Yeah, command-drivenis so linear and boring.
(05:39):
And like you say, frustratingto customers as well.
These natural interactions withthe conversational voice AI
is definitely the future,
and the way it is beingdeployed at the moment.
- Yeah, absolutely. So let'sget into that a little bit.
Specifically looking at thequick-service restaurants,
how it is being deployedand used in those areas.
(06:00):
Salwa, if you can giveus a little bit more
what Sodaclick is doing in this space?
And how you're seeing voice AI improve
or enhance the QSR experiences?
- There's two aspects to the QSR industry
which are benefiting fromthe integration of voice AI.
One is in-store, so we'reseeing a handful, I would say,
(06:23):
of QSR brands actuallyintegrating voice AI
into their in-store kiosk tomake them truly omnichannel.
The other aspect is at the drive-through.
So it becomes the firstinteraction for a customer
as they drive up tothe order-taking point.
You've got your conversationalvoice AI assistant there.
These are the two mainfocuses at the moment.
(06:48):
And to be honest,
each one comes with itsdifferent benefits, I would say.
And it's different benefits,
both to the business and to the customer.
So at the in-store kiosk, it's faster.
If you think about, if youknow exactly what you want,
going up to a kiosk, havingto scroll through the UI,
adding extra lettuce,or removing cheese, or,
(07:11):
these little things, no ice,
you actually have to scrollthrough and it takes time.
Whereas it's fasterfor you just to say it.
And that faster interaction means
that you can get a fasterthroughput as well.
You can serve morecustomers, reduce wait times.
Also, in in-store kiosks,it becomes more inclusive.
Having voice AI as an option to customers
(07:35):
means that any customers withsort of visual impairments,
physical impairments,sensory processing disorders,
even the elderly who struggle with
accurately touching thosetouch points to place an order,
it becomes much more inclusive to them.
They're able to use theirvoice for that interaction.
So these are some key benefits, obviously,
(07:58):
as well as upselling opportunities.
At the drive-through,
it's a completely different interaction.
It's again polite, it's friendly,
it's allowing businessesto unify their brand image
with excellent customer service.
It's improving that order accuracy.
(08:21):
I know from the QSR annualreport for their drive-throughs
in 2023, order accuracy improved by 1%.
It was 85% in 2022, itmoved up to 86% in 2023.
With voice AI,
we're actually able tobring that up to 96%-plus.
(08:42):
And that is because at the order point,
it's quite a repetitivetask for members of staff.
They're just constantlydoing the same thing.
That means that sometimes, unfortunately,
you're not getting thefriendly customer service,
you're not getting that bubbly person
at the end of their shift.
Humans are humans, though.
(09:02):
They might be having a bad day.
They might not have allthe product information
that you're after.
Whereas with theconversation voice AI model,
we're able to consistently give polite,
friendly customer service, awarm, human-like interaction.
(09:25):
We're actually able to bring in voices
that are neural voices,
which are so human-like, mostpeople wouldn't even know
that they're talking to an AI.
We're able to offer it in96 languages and variants,
which means that you are ableto serve a wider community,
within the area as well,
(09:45):
without any order inaccuraciesof mishearing something,
or asking them to repeat themselves.
Language is another really big factor,
both in-store and at the drive-through.
- Salwa, if I may add, it increases -
- Of course, please do.
- From working veryclosely with Sodaclick,
it also increases greatly the accuracy.
(10:09):
Removes the necessity from the operator
to necessarily kind of closelylisten and try to understand,
but the same time reducesthe time to delivery,
because the moment when you are already
having like three, fourarticles listed on the screen,
the operator can startalready making the order,
(10:31):
working on the product,
rather than listening for thecomplete order to be finished.
Because the technology is now stepping
between helping both sides.
- Absolutely, it'sstreamlining operations,
both for the businessand for the customer.
So you're absolutely right, Stevan,
that it's a benefit to both.
And also alleviating that pressure
(10:53):
on members of staff as well.
So it can all, like you say,it can be stressful as well,
inputting all of that information.
And although it is repetitive,it can be stressful,
especially if you've got a large queue.
People honking their horns and ...
They just want their food fast,
and that's what it is allabout in the QSR industry,
getting your food fast.
(11:13):
So by being able toimprove order accuracy,
it has that knock on effectof the other benefits.
Streamlining it for both thebusiness and the customer,
but also increasing speed of service
and quality of service as well.
And it allows members of staff
that from being takenaway from that position
(11:35):
at the order point,
we're not actuallyremoving a member of staff,
we're just repurposingthem into the kitchen
so that they can focus,exactly like you say,
on preparing the orders,
on other pressing tasks thatmight be needed in store.
And also improving thequality of customer service.
- Yeah, as a customer myself,
I guess in preparation to thisconversation a little bit,
(11:58):
I went through a drive-through,
quick service restaurant, last night.
And I used the app before I left the house
and ordered my food
and then went through thedrive-through to do it,
but I wanted a sandwich with pickles on it
and like you said, I didn'twant to go through the app
and figure out how to add pickles to it,
but then I also didn'twant to drive through
and talk to a employee, becausethen, just my own thing,
(12:20):
I feel embarrassed, or thatI'm being a difficult customer,
asking for these modificationsand customization.
So if it was an AI I was talking to,
I would've been much more comfortable
to order the sandwich that I wanted.
And to your point, it'sthat customer experience,
but I'm curious,
you talked a little biton the business level,
the benefits that they get
and how they can redistributetheir employees elsewhere.
(12:42):
How can we actuallyimplement this voice AI,
what is Sodaclick doing to add this on to
maybe the technologythat's already in there?
Or is there investmentsthat have to be made
to the infrastructure tostart bringing voice AI
to the business and to the customers?
- So actually if a QSRdoesn't already have this,
(13:03):
the technology already,we can work with them,
and integrate into theirexisting technology.
- So if I may add to that existing points,
customer interaction points,
where they either interactor make purchase orders
in existing stores, oreven if it's drive-through,
(13:26):
what Sodaclick from technology side brings
is the microphone, whichis cone microphone,
which focuses in very noisyenvironments to the person.
And it's actually doing that
with the new algorithmsdeveloped with Sodaclick,
driving very, very highpercent of the accuracy.
But not only accuracy of the person,
but also recognition on theaccents and different words.
(13:50):
In the same environment, therecould be multiple languages.
From the technology side, theyalso integrate with the APIs,
with the stock of the products,
directly integrate withthe products available,
but not only available,
they integrate with theanalyzing existing products.
For instance, are they protein-rich?
(14:11):
Are they rich in someother minerals or whatever?
Again, specificallynow talking about QSRs.
And from the technical side also,
they look into whatexisting infrastructure is.
Maybe existing infrastructure is enough.
Or maybe they need so-calleda little bit more horsepower,
in which case just computingpart needs to be up-leveled
(14:34):
to be able to process all the information
in order to drive this nearreal-time conversational
kind of usage model.
- Great, and Stevan, you mentioned,
some of the Intel technologiesthat are coming out
to help do this more,
because I'm assuming, like you mentioned,
there's a microphone,then we have cameras,
(14:54):
there's algorithms allhappening at the backend
to make sure that the softwarecan accurately understand
what the customer is saying andbe able to put that all down
and get their order right.
So what are some of thetechnological advancements coming
that make this so thatit's fast, it's accurate,
it's real-time, that it's natural?
(15:16):
How is Intel technologymaking this all possible
and helping companies likeSodaclick bring this to market?
- So there are a couple of things
that actually directly playon the technology side.
One is effectively physics.
In order to drive real-timeor near real-life experience,
(15:36):
conversational experience ofthe users, of the customers,
decision-making needsto be done at the edge.
Processing, running of those LLM models
need to be done at the source.
At the source, which isthe edge integration point,
communication point.
And Intel has recently introduced,
and this is industry first,
(15:57):
new processors which have now three cores.
And they are all in the same chip,
which is basically CPUas traditionally was,
GPU on top of it, and then NPU.
NPU is effectively narrow processing unit,
which effectively enablesAI decision-making
being done at the core, at the edge.
So Ultra Core platform products
(16:20):
are something that are coming out.
There are already number ofthem available in the market,
but will be even more spread
with driving this AI userexperience, conversational AI.
On the other hand, thereare a number of products
which are for the cloud, forthe edge, for the server,
but ultimately, when I said physics,
you literally have like latencybetween transmitting data
(16:43):
from the point where you make the order,
where you conversate, andyou don't really have time.
I don't know if others are like myself.
I am not very patient.
Sal, you are laughing because you know me.
But ultimately, if youneed to say something
and then wait for a couple of seconds
for that message to betransferred to the data center,
or to the cloud or somewhere away,
(17:05):
and then response need to come back,
normally I go without lunch ifthere is a queue in the line.
But that's simply maybe me.
But ultimately, if you wantto have a conversation,
conversational AI, that needs to be real.
As long as that processingis happening at the edge,
and this is what Intel is bringing.
(17:27):
Bringing not only products,
but also as Intel®Tiber™ or edge platform,
then OpenVINO™ framework,which Sodaclick are using.
So ultimately, not necessarilyjust do the technology
for the sake of technology,
but use the technologyto enable usage models,
to enable experience to drive the smile,
(17:48):
to drive the repeat return tothe either same environment,
or the similar environments.
To literally break out of the box
of traditional read the menuand repeat what is said.
Or if you don't read, I don't understand.
So this is where basicallySodaclick are coming in
with their software solution.
(18:09):
- Just like Stevan was mentioning,
I think what a lot of brands were doing
at the drive-through orderpoint was reducing their menus.
But with conversational voice AI,
you can actually still have that full menu
and have your customersinteract with that and choose,
(18:29):
even maybe new favorites withthe opportunities for upsells.
And it's a lot more intuitive as well.
And like Stevan was saying,sort of using OpenVINO,
it means that we're ableto create the solution
and then scale it across the brand.
- Even to add to that,
(18:50):
when I mentioned a couple oftimes all the user experience,
imagine if you arebasically return customer.
And maybe there is a loyalty program,
maybe, I don't know, some special.
And imagine you come back there,
and rather than having to go through
your three, four, five items,how about the sign says,
(19:10):
"Hey, welcome back, Christina!"
All clearly because youeither tapped your card
so it knows who you are.
And it says,
"Hey Christina, shall we havethe same like your favorites?"
Or something like that.
So it automatically, even foryou, kind of sort, oh yeah,
I don't need to go through thepain of repeating everything.
It already knows and itsuggests, and as Sal mentioned,
(19:33):
maybe it can actuallyfocus on maybe upsell.
Say, "Hey, how about would youlike to try some new product?
Do you want to experiment?"
Or ultimately there is even the option of
detecting the facial expression,
and pretty much trying to drive,
a happy customer is a good customer,
is ultimately buying more.
(19:54):
- Yeah, absolutely.
To your point too, if themachine can recognize who you are
and what your order has been,
and there was maybe a limited time offer
or a new menu item that came out
that is similar to what you ordered,
they can also give thosepersonalized recommendations.
Would you like to try this?
So this all sounds reallygreat and interesting.
Salwa, I'm curious, do youhave any customer examples
(20:15):
or use cases of this actually an action
that you can share with us?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So we've been working with Oliver's,
which is an Australian brand.
They've got over 200 stores,
both in-stores and drive-throughs.
And we've deployed theconversation voice AI
in their in-store kiosks andalso at the drive-through.
It's actually been really,
(20:35):
really exciting working with Oliver's,
because they were on a completely new
digital transformation journey.
So we've been with them along that way,
including their digital signage.
And what was reallycool about Oliver's is,
although it's English,
we've been able to create thepersona of the AI assistant
(20:57):
to be very Australian.
And he's got his ownpersonality, he's called Ollie.
And he understandsAustralian, the slang words,
he'll sort of greet you with"G'day, mate!" and "Cheers!"
And just in a very naturalway to the local customers.
And that's been really, really cool.
(21:17):
The other great thingabout working with Oliver's
was their requirements, their KPI,
was quite different toworking with let's say, KFC,
who we also work with.
They actually, because theyare a healthy fast food chain,
they know their customers are interested
to know ingredients lists,
(21:38):
they want to know caloriecount and product,
like Stevan mentioned,
protein information and things like that.
So we were able to integrate with Prep It,
which is their nutritional database,
to provide that information for customers,
in a very quick, accurate and fast manner.
And that's something elsethat's, it's really cool.
(22:00):
Again, I mentioned, so working with KFC.
We've been working withKFC in the MENA region,
specifically in more locations to come.
But we've got deploymentsin Pakistan and Saudi
and across the UAE inthe different languages.
And their sort ofrequirements were different.
They were more focused on speed of service
(22:21):
and improving order accuracy.
And again,
with conversational voiceAI at the drive-through,
we were able to achieve that for them.
And it's going well.
- So Sal, I don't know if that's a public,
well technically, it's not,
but it's also looking intowhere else, how to expand.
And ultimately it's not just QSR industry,
(22:44):
but it's every place where there is need
for either information,
either core communicationor any discussion, any Q&A.
Like we at the moment, working together
with one of the world'slargest football clubs,
where effectively, westarted conversational,
(23:07):
which very quickly gotvery positive reception
on all the different touchpoints where conversational AI
or Sodaclick solution can be integrated.
From entering the venue
to integrating in eitherrestaurants or museum,
(23:30):
trying to be very sensitiveto the name of the place.
There are multiple adjacents
in vertical industry opportunities
where conversationalshould be and could be,
they can do a lot more natural level.
- Absolutely.
It's all about engaging users
(23:51):
and creating really positive interactions,
memorable interactions actually, as well.
And I think we're in an age
where everyone has such high expectations.
They want hyper-personalization,
they want interactive experiences.
And it's almost a case ofbusinesses trying to think,
(24:11):
"How can I keep up? Whatinnovation can I bring in?"
And conversational voice AI is something
that is not just a trend.
It actually has a useand benefits as well.
But it is part of the trend.It is quite hot at the moment.
So yeah.
- Yeah, absolutely.
And that was going to be my next question.
Because I know in thepast we worked together,
(24:33):
insight.tech and Sodaclick.
And we've done an articleabout conversational AI.
But it was in a healthcare space,
being able to collectinformation and do things
that maybe a receptionist wouldhave done at a patient level
so that the doctor couldget the information faster,
the patient doesn't have towait online, anything like that.
(24:54):
So I was curious, fromyour perspective, Salwa,
what other opportunities oruse cases outside of the QSR
or what other industries doyou see voice AI coming to?
- Absolutely.
So other than healthcare,
I think definitely sortof wayfinding kiosks.
Airport concierge, for instance.
(25:14):
The benefits are that you can have
the conversation AI assistanton a kiosk 24 hours a day.
You don't need to have amember of staff manning that.
A customer can come in,or a user can come in,
and interact with it.
Even if you think aboutgovernment buildings.
Anywhere where there's a check-in,
just like Stevan was saying,
anywhere where you mightneed to ask a question,
(25:35):
or get information from, at stadiums,
where simple things likereducing queue times
by having these interactive touch points
where a customer can comein, scan their ticket,
ask it where they can get some food from,
or where directions towhere their seat is, or...
(25:56):
All of that information.
In an airport, askingwhere the bathrooms are.
Or again, where theycan get a coffee from,
or they forgot their headphones,
where can they buy someheadphones from in a busy airport.
This is really useful.
And I think there could be some
even more exciting opportunitiesin outside of these ones,
(26:16):
which we haven't explored yet.
It may be in FinTech as well.
And I think it's just acase of reaching out to,
and sort of seeingwherever there is a need
for these personalized interactions
for customers to use these too.
And also,
part of it is providingmore of an inclusive world.
(26:38):
Again, I go back and say this,
but I think it is partlyproviding a more inclusive world
with voice AI as anadditional option to touch.
So there's plenty of opportunities
to integrate very seamlessly and very...
It all needs to be donevery frictionlessly.
- So Sal, I'm sure you will agree,
because of the previous discussions.
(27:00):
It's interesting to seehow some technologies,
even looking outside,
how long does it take forcertain products, technologies,
experiences to actually penetrate?
We have number of examples of let's say,
certain technologies takingx number of years to reach,
(27:21):
let's say, 10 million subscribers.
But then as we kind of going more and more
with something which ismore, as Salwa mentioned,
inclusive, as more natural,
how that timeline actually shortens.
And I think with the conversational AI,
almost like at some interception point,
(27:42):
where effectively we need to drive people
to see and experience it.
The moment you learnit, if I just look at,
I still am having difficultieswith teaching my mom
how to open WhatsApp on the tablet.
But at the same time, when myyoungest daughter was born,
(28:03):
she was not even a year,she already took the phone
and she already knew how tomove and how to touch and how..
To the level that effectively,
once we get exposed to certainusage model experience,
or technology, then italmost becomes natural.
For my daughter, theinteraction, the touch screen,
(28:24):
is the starting point for her.
While for my mom, it's stilllike some alien technology.
So the moment you kindof experience something,
you kind of demand thatfrom other usage models.
Think about where else do you stand?
You stand in front of everyhotel when you go to check in.
Stand in the line and wait for...
(28:45):
All of that could be actuallydone through the simple kiosk,
where effectively, "Hey, this is me."
Passport check-ins at the,you can see at the airports.
There is a lot more nowthose self check-in lanes,
where effectively you don't need to queue.
You can just go through.
So if we start from QSR, moving to retail,
(29:07):
expand to hospitality, healthcare.
Ultimately, any vertical industry
that where there is any needfor either conversation,
or information-sharing.
Sal, you mentioned view-finding.
View-finding was great asinnovative kind of usage model.
However, if you suddenlyneed to figure out and touch
(29:30):
and the accuracy of thetouch, it can sometimes,
if you need to stand inthe queue and try to,
and you need to know what are you looking,
it takes so long to typein, rather than just say,
"Hey, where can I find coffee place?
Where can I find..."
So, suddenly, we are nottransforming the technology.
We're just bringing new usage model
(29:50):
to the existing technology.
And that is actually,
which can actually make thoseproducts, those usage models,
and those vertical industries
adopt certain technologies much faster.
And I think we are reallyat the kind of corner road
of these technologies thatonce people get exposed to,
(30:10):
but ultimately, once people get exposed
with certain usage modelsacross certain points,
they will expect same, similar,or even better experience
across other adjacent industries.
And I think it's just beginning of the AI,
and we are going tocertainly see a big boom
(30:32):
in this usage models and experiences.
- Yeah, that pain point with the parents
being able to use technology.
That is something thatresonates deeply with me.
But to your point, thetouchscreen and all these devices
and these applications that is,
something that maybe mygeneration grew up with,
but not my parents' generation.
Conversation, voice, talking.
(30:54):
That is something thatwe all have been doing
since we were born, since we can walk,
it's very natural to us.
So being able to implement these
across these different industries,
they're high technologicaladvancements and innovations,
but it's a much better user experience,
and much more accessibleto people who then,
a touchscreen or a kiosk.
(31:14):
So I think it's great,
and I can't wait to see whatelse comes out of all of this.
I know we are running alittle bit out of time,
so before we go, I just wantto throw it back to you.
Any final thoughts or key takeaways
you wanted to leave us with today?
Salwa, I'll start with you.
- I think actually just picking up on
what both you and Stevan were saying.
I think we're definitelyin the golden age of AI
(31:35):
and technology.
And it's not something thatwe're talking about anymore
that's in the near distant future.
It's here. It's now.
It's deployable, and it's very natural,
because again, like you say,
we've all been conversingsince we were babies.
And with the advent of phones
and everyone using sort of Alexa and Siri
(31:55):
in our homes and on our phones,
it's just the natural progression.
And because of the benefitsthat it has across industries,
not just in the QSR,
it's just something thatwe will be seeing more of.
And it almost, again,like Stevan was saying,
it's almost a case of whenone brand leads with it,
(32:18):
the others will followbecause they will all see
how much it is improving their business,
improving their customer experiences.
It's bringing a higher ROI to them.
So it's very much here and now.
And it's very excitingactually, to be a part of this.
(32:39):
So yeah, there's definitely a lot coming.
And again, I just wanted to,
for anyone who doeshave this misconception
that voice AI systems aregoing to take away jobs
and things like that,
I just really want to again,
reassure them that it'snot about taking away jobs,
but rather augmenting andhelping both the businesses
(33:00):
and the customers bystreamlining the operations
to meet those customer expectations
of faster, intuitive experiences.
And we can do that with conversation.
And just by repurposing members of staff.
So it is never about takingaway a human person's role,
but rather, giving thempurpose somewhere else.
(33:22):
- Yeah, and to that point,
what I would like people to remember
is not to do technologyfor the sake of technology.
But because of what it canbring, what it can enable,
what it can drive.
In Intel, there is a already long saying,
"It's not what we make,it's what we enable."
And this is one thingthat is becoming prevalent
(33:45):
and very important going forward.
Demand more. Technology is there.
Innovation is unstoppable.
And I think from theconversational AI where we started,
where we are going now,it's just beginning.
It's just kind of tip of the iceberg.
There is so much more
that if you connect theconversational AI, but ultimately,
(34:08):
if you connect it on the basic principles
of what Intel is doing, whichis security on every product,
connectivity, manageability.
So as long as all of those infrastructure,
those applications are safe,are manageable, are connected,
are something that is alsodriving sustainability,
(34:29):
ultimately all of these connections,
and all of these technologypoints of that people integrate,
collaborate, talk to, integrate.
Ultimately all of thiscan be actually driven
in a lot more sustainable way
across many vertical industries.
And this is just beginning for Sodaclick,
(34:50):
in my personal view.
- Absolutely.
I mean all of these core values resonate
with Sodaclick's values as well.
And we can pass those benefitson to the customer as well.
So like you say, it's just the beginning,
but it's definitely very exciting.
- Absolutely.
I can't wait to see what elseSodaclick does with Intel.
So I just want to thank you both again
(35:12):
for joining the conversation
and for the insightful thoughts.
And I invite our listeners tovisit Sodaclick, visit Intel,
see what they can do for you,
and how they can help youguys enhance your businesses.
So thank you guys again.
Until next time, this hasbeen the "insight.tech Talk."
(bright music)
(bright music)
(bright music continues)
- Hello and welcome tothe "insight.tech talk."
I'm your host, Christina Cardoza,
Editorial Director of insight.tech.
And some of our long-term listeners
(00:20):
probably have already pickedup that we've updated our name
from the IoT Chat to "insight.tech Talk,"
and that's because, as you know,
this technology space ismoving incredibly fast
and we wanted to reflect the conversations
that we will be having beyond IoT.
But don't worry, you'll still be getting
the same high-quality conversationsaround IoT technology,
trends and latest innovations.
(00:42):
This just allows us to keep up
with the pace of the industry.
So without further ado,
I want to get into today's conversation,
which we're going to betalking about voice AI
in quick-service restaurantswith Sodaclick and Intel.
So as always, before wejump into the conversation,
let's get to know our guests.
Salwa from Sodaclick, I'll start with you.
What can you tell us aboutyourself and Sodaclick?
(01:03):
- Hi, Christina. Thank you.
So I'm Salwa Al-Tahan,
Head of Marketing andResearch at Sodaclick.
Thank you for invitingme to join this podcast.
So Sodaclick is a London-based AI company.
We actually started, for thosethat don't know, in 2017,
as a digital content platform.
But AI was always part of their vision.
(01:24):
And in 2019, they actuallyopened up the AI division,
and that was primarilyfocusing on voice AI,
although that was quitelinear, it was command-driven.
And they always knew that itneeded to be more natural,
more human-like, more conversational,
(01:46):
so the co-founders are really hot
on being at the forefront of technology,
always innovating, alwayslooking to improve.
And with the advent of generative AI,
they started fine-tuning their LLM,
and that's where we are now.
Now we're a London-basedcompany with a global presence.
(02:06):
- Great! Looking forward todigging into some of that.
Especially making voice AI more natural
because I'm sure a lot ofpeople have had the displeasure
of those customerservice voice AI chatbots
that you're always screaming at the phone,
trying to get it to understand you,
or trying to get where you need to go
and trying to talk to a human.
So looking forward to
(02:26):
how that's not only being broughtinto the restaurant space,
but I know Sodaclick doesthings in many other industries.
So we'll dig into that alittle bit in our conversation.
But before we get there,Stevan, welcome to the show.
What can you tell us about yourself?
- That's interesting. So Stevan Dragas.
Why it's interesting is because
over the last 24 years in Intel,
(02:48):
I've done so manyexciting roles, positions.
And on the recent visit
where I had the pleasureof taking Sodaclick
to join Intel Vision in US, Ibrahim,
one of the founders of Sodaclick,
actually reminded methat at the time in 2019,
(03:08):
when they moved into the Voice,
that that was the first time he met me.
I kind of, unfortunately, forgot that.
But he reminded me thatthat time we met first time,
and I kind of gave themsome hints, advices,
what would work, what did not work.
And unfortunately, kind of have to say,
almost like glad that theylistened to me at that time.
(03:30):
Because with what we are doing,
what Sodaclick at the momentdoing, we cover both edge,
from the edge to the cloud,
and driving ultimatelythe new usage models,
driving user experience,
driving benefits from startingfrom the end user to retailer
to the operator of QSR.
(03:51):
But ultimately we driving newexperience in usage models
and benefits and changing the industries.
Now my role is basically to promote
and support Intel platformproducts, technologies, software,
across multiple vertical industries,
from which QSR is just oneof the vertical industries.
(04:12):
So I go horizontal, and Ihave number of companies
which are just as exciting as Sodaclick,
but they're one of my,let's say, crown jewels
that I am actually pleased and happy
that over the last couple of years,
we kind of really acceleratedand will continue.
Specifically because weare now looking into adding
some of the new products
(04:32):
that Intel actually brought to the market.
Not necessarily just the new products
that are for the cloud,
but also introducing for the first time
in the computing industry, to call it.
The new products which actuallyhave not just anymore CPU
and GPU but also NPU.
And in May, Sodaclickwill be demonstrating
(04:55):
and using their producton this new platform.
It used to be called Meteor Lake,
but it's actually IntelCore™ Ultra platform,
and really exciting to workacross all of these industries,
specifically with Sodaclick.
They have been so good,and I'm happy to also say
that we are looking to a lot more
than just the QSR type of restaurants
(05:18):
because many industries andvertical industries solutions
would benefit from some kindof conversational discussion
from asking a open question,
rather than pre-scripted, menu-driven,
type of conversation with the machine.
- Yeah, command-drivenis so linear and boring.
(05:39):
And like you say, frustratingto customers as well.
These natural interactions withthe conversational voice AI
is definitely the future,
and the way it is beingdeployed at the moment.
- Yeah, absolutely. So let'sget into that a little bit.
Specifically looking at thequick-service restaurants,
how it is being deployedand used in those areas.
(06:00):
Salwa, if you can giveus a little bit more
what Sodaclick is doing in this space?
And how you're seeing voice AI improve
or enhance the QSR experiences?
- There's two aspects to the QSR industry
which are benefiting fromthe integration of voice AI.
One is in-store, so we'reseeing a handful, I would say,
(06:23):
of QSR brands actuallyintegrating voice AI
into their in-store kiosk tomake them truly omnichannel.
The other aspect is at the drive-through.
So it becomes the firstinteraction for a customer
as they drive up tothe order-taking point.
You've got your conversationalvoice AI assistant there.
These are the two mainfocuses at the moment.
(06:48):
And to be honest,
each one comes with itsdifferent benefits, I would say.
And it's different benefits,
both to the business and to the customer.
So at the in-store kiosk, it's faster.
If you think about, if youknow exactly what you want,
going up to a kiosk, havingto scroll through the UI,
adding extra lettuce,or removing cheese, or,
(07:11):
these little things, no ice,
you actually have to scrollthrough and it takes time.
Whereas it's fasterfor you just to say it.
And that faster interaction means
that you can get a fasterthroughput as well.
You can serve morecustomers, reduce wait times.
Also, in in-store kiosks,it becomes more inclusive.
Having voice AI as an option to customers
(07:35):
means that any customers withsort of visual impairments,
physical impairments,sensory processing disorders,
even the elderly who struggle with
accurately touching thosetouch points to place an order,
it becomes much more inclusive to them.
They're able to use theirvoice for that interaction.
So these are some key benefits, obviously,
(07:58):
as well as upselling opportunities.
At the drive-through,
it's a completely different interaction.
It's again polite, it's friendly,
it's allowing businessesto unify their brand image
with excellent customer service.
It's improving that order accuracy.
(08:21):
I know from the QSR annualreport for their drive-throughs
in 2023, order accuracy improved by 1%.
It was 85% in 2022, itmoved up to 86% in 2023.
With voice AI,
we're actually able tobring that up to 96%-plus.
(08:42):
And that is because at the order point,
it's quite a repetitivetask for members of staff.
They're just constantlydoing the same thing.
That means that sometimes, unfortunately,
you're not getting thefriendly customer service,
you're not getting that bubbly person
at the end of their shift.
Humans are humans, though.
(09:02):
They might be having a bad day.
They might not have allthe product information
that you're after.
Whereas with theconversation voice AI model,
we're able to consistently give polite,
friendly customer service, awarm, human-like interaction.
(09:25):
We're actually able to bring in voices
that are neural voices,
which are so human-like, mostpeople wouldn't even know
that they're talking to an AI.
We're able to offer it in96 languages and variants,
which means that you are ableto serve a wider community,
within the area as well,
(09:45):
without any order inaccuraciesof mishearing something,
or asking them to repeat themselves.
Language is another really big factor,
both in-store and at the drive-through.
- Salwa, if I may add, it increases -
- Of course, please do.
- From working veryclosely with Sodaclick,
it also increases greatly the accuracy.
(10:09):
Removes the necessity from the operator
to necessarily kind of closelylisten and try to understand,
but the same time reducesthe time to delivery,
because the moment when you are already
having like three, fourarticles listed on the screen,
the operator can startalready making the order,
(10:31):
working on the product,
rather than listening for thecomplete order to be finished.
Because the technology is now stepping
between helping both sides.
- Absolutely, it'sstreamlining operations,
both for the businessand for the customer.
So you're absolutely right, Stevan,
that it's a benefit to both.
And also alleviating that pressure
(10:53):
on members of staff as well.
So it can all, like you say,it can be stressful as well,
inputting all of that information.
And although it is repetitive,it can be stressful,
especially if you've got a large queue.
People honking their horns and ...
They just want their food fast,
and that's what it is allabout in the QSR industry,
getting your food fast.
(11:13):
So by being able toimprove order accuracy,
it has that knock on effectof the other benefits.
Streamlining it for both thebusiness and the customer,
but also increasing speed of service
and quality of service as well.
And it allows members of staff
that from being takenaway from that position
(11:35):
at the order point,
we're not actuallyremoving a member of staff,
we're just repurposingthem into the kitchen
so that they can focus,exactly like you say,
on preparing the orders,
on other pressing tasks thatmight be needed in store.
And also improving thequality of customer service.
- Yeah, as a customer myself,
I guess in preparation to thisconversation a little bit,
(11:58):
I went through a drive-through,
quick service restaurant, last night.
And I used the app before I left the house
and ordered my food
and then went through thedrive-through to do it,
but I wanted a sandwich with pickles on it
and like you said, I didn'twant to go through the app
and figure out how to add pickles to it,
but then I also didn'twant to drive through
and talk to a employee, becausethen, just my own thing,
(12:20):
I feel embarrassed, or thatI'm being a difficult customer,
asking for these modificationsand customization.
So if it was an AI I was talking to,
I would've been much more comfortable
to order the sandwich that I wanted.
And to your point, it'sthat customer experience,
but I'm curious,
you talked a little biton the business level,
the benefits that they get
and how they can redistributetheir employees elsewhere.
(12:42):
How can we actuallyimplement this voice AI,
what is Sodaclick doing to add this on to
maybe the technologythat's already in there?
Or is there investmentsthat have to be made
to the infrastructure tostart bringing voice AI
to the business and to the customers?
- So actually if a QSRdoesn't already have this,
(13:03):
the technology already,we can work with them,
and integrate into theirexisting technology.
- So if I may add to that existing points,
customer interaction points,
where they either interactor make purchase orders
in existing stores, oreven if it's drive-through,
(13:26):
what Sodaclick from technology side brings
is the microphone, whichis cone microphone,
which focuses in very noisyenvironments to the person.
And it's actually doing that
with the new algorithmsdeveloped with Sodaclick,
driving very, very highpercent of the accuracy.
But not only accuracy of the person,
but also recognition on theaccents and different words.
(13:50):
In the same environment, therecould be multiple languages.
From the technology side, theyalso integrate with the APIs,
with the stock of the products,
directly integrate withthe products available,
but not only available,
they integrate with theanalyzing existing products.
For instance, are they protein-rich?
(14:11):
Are they rich in someother minerals or whatever?
Again, specificallynow talking about QSRs.
And from the technical side also,
they look into whatexisting infrastructure is.
Maybe existing infrastructure is enough.
Or maybe they need so-calleda little bit more horsepower,
in which case just computingpart needs to be up-leveled
(14:34):
to be able to process all the information
in order to drive this nearreal-time conversational
kind of usage model.
- Great, and Stevan, you mentioned,
some of the Intel technologiesthat are coming out
to help do this more,
because I'm assuming, like you mentioned,
there's a microphone,then we have cameras,
(14:54):
there's algorithms allhappening at the backend
to make sure that the softwarecan accurately understand
what the customer is saying andbe able to put that all down
and get their order right.
So what are some of thetechnological advancements coming
that make this so thatit's fast, it's accurate,
it's real-time, that it's natural?
(15:16):
How is Intel technologymaking this all possible
and helping companies likeSodaclick bring this to market?
- So there are a couple of things
that actually directly playon the technology side.
One is effectively physics.
In order to drive real-timeor near real-life experience,
(15:36):
conversational experience ofthe users, of the customers,
decision-making needsto be done at the edge.
Processing, running of those LLM models
need to be done at the source.
At the source, which isthe edge integration point,
communication point.
And Intel has recently introduced,
and this is industry first,
(15:57):
new processors which have now three cores.
And they are all in the same chip,
which is basically CPUas traditionally was,
GPU on top of it, and then NPU.
NPU is effectively narrow processing unit,
which effectively enablesAI decision-making
being done at the core, at the edge.
So Ultra Core platform products
(16:20):
are something that are coming out.
There are already number ofthem available in the market,
but will be even more spread
with driving this AI userexperience, conversational AI.
On the other hand, thereare a number of products
which are for the cloud, forthe edge, for the server,
but ultimately, when I said physics,
you literally have like latencybetween transmitting data
(16:43):
from the point where you make the order,
where you conversate, andyou don't really have time.
I don't know if others are like myself.
I am not very patient.
Sal, you are laughing because you know me.
But ultimately, if youneed to say something
and then wait for a couple of seconds
for that message to betransferred to the data center,
or to the cloud or somewhere away,
(17:05):
and then response need to come back,
normally I go without lunch ifthere is a queue in the line.
But that's simply maybe me.
But ultimately, if you wantto have a conversation,
conversational AI, that needs to be real.
As long as that processingis happening at the edge,
and this is what Intel is bringing.
(17:27):
Bringing not only products,
but also as Intel®Tiber™ or edge platform,
then OpenVINO™ framework,which Sodaclick are using.
So ultimately, not necessarilyjust do the technology
for the sake of technology,
but use the technologyto enable usage models,
to enable experience to drive the smile,
(17:48):
to drive the repeat return tothe either same environment,
or the similar environments.
To literally break out of the box
of traditional read the menuand repeat what is said.
Or if you don't read, I don't understand.
So this is where basicallySodaclick are coming in
with their software solution.
(18:09):
- Just like Stevan was mentioning,
I think what a lot of brands were doing
at the drive-through orderpoint was reducing their menus.
But with conversational voice AI,
you can actually still have that full menu
and have your customersinteract with that and choose,
(18:29):
even maybe new favorites withthe opportunities for upsells.
And it's a lot more intuitive as well.
And like Stevan was saying,sort of using OpenVINO,
it means that we're ableto create the solution
and then scale it across the brand.
- Even to add to that,
(18:50):
when I mentioned a couple oftimes all the user experience,
imagine if you arebasically return customer.
And maybe there is a loyalty program,
maybe, I don't know, some special.
And imagine you come back there,
and rather than having to go through
your three, four, five items,how about the sign says,
(19:10):
"Hey, welcome back, Christina!"
All clearly because youeither tapped your card
so it knows who you are.
And it says,
"Hey Christina, shall we havethe same like your favorites?"
Or something like that.
So it automatically, even foryou, kind of sort, oh yeah,
I don't need to go through thepain of repeating everything.
It already knows and itsuggests, and as Sal mentioned,
(19:33):
maybe it can actuallyfocus on maybe upsell.
Say, "Hey, how about would youlike to try some new product?
Do you want to experiment?"
Or ultimately there is even the option of
detecting the facial expression,
and pretty much trying to drive,
a happy customer is a good customer,
is ultimately buying more.
(19:54):
- Yeah, absolutely.
To your point too, if themachine can recognize who you are
and what your order has been,
and there was maybe a limited time offer
or a new menu item that came out
that is similar to what you ordered,
they can also give thosepersonalized recommendations.
Would you like to try this?
So this all sounds reallygreat and interesting.
Salwa, I'm curious, do youhave any customer examples
(20:15):
or use cases of this actually an action
that you can share with us?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So we've been working with Oliver's,
which is an Australian brand.
They've got over 200 stores,
both in-stores and drive-throughs.
And we've deployed theconversation voice AI
in their in-store kiosks andalso at the drive-through.
It's actually been really,
(20:35):
really exciting working with Oliver's,
because they were on a completely new
digital transformation journey.
So we've been with them along that way,
including their digital signage.
And what was reallycool about Oliver's is,
although it's English,
we've been able to create thepersona of the AI assistant
(20:57):
to be very Australian.
And he's got his ownpersonality, he's called Ollie.
And he understandsAustralian, the slang words,
he'll sort of greet you with"G'day, mate!" and "Cheers!"
And just in a very naturalway to the local customers.
And that's been really, really cool.
(21:17):
The other great thingabout working with Oliver's
was their requirements, their KPI,
was quite different toworking with let's say, KFC,
who we also work with.
They actually, because theyare a healthy fast food chain,
they know their customers are interested
to know ingredients lists,
(21:38):
they want to know caloriecount and product,
like Stevan mentioned,
protein information and things like that.
So we were able to integrate with Prep It,
which is their nutritional database,
to provide that information for customers,
in a very quick, accurate and fast manner.
And that's something elsethat's, it's really cool.
(22:00):
Again, I mentioned, so working with KFC.
We've been working withKFC in the MENA region,
specifically in more locations to come.
But we've got deploymentsin Pakistan and Saudi
and across the UAE inthe different languages.
And their sort ofrequirements were different.
They were more focused on speed of service
(22:21):
and improving order accuracy.
And again,
with conversational voiceAI at the drive-through,
we were able to achieve that for them.
And it's going well.
- So Sal, I don't know if that's a public,
well technically, it's not,
but it's also looking intowhere else, how to expand.
And ultimately it's not just QSR industry,
(22:44):
but it's every place where there is need
for either information,
either core communicationor any discussion, any Q&A.
Like we at the moment, working together
with one of the world'slargest football clubs,
where effectively, westarted conversational,
(23:07):
which very quickly gotvery positive reception
on all the different touchpoints where conversational AI
or Sodaclick solution can be integrated.
From entering the venue
to integrating in eitherrestaurants or museum,
(23:30):
trying to be very sensitiveto the name of the place.
There are multiple adjacents
in vertical industry opportunities
where conversationalshould be and could be,
they can do a lot more natural level.
- Absolutely.
It's all about engaging users
(23:51):
and creating really positive interactions,
memorable interactions actually, as well.
And I think we're in an age
where everyone has such high expectations.
They want hyper-personalization,
they want interactive experiences.
And it's almost a case ofbusinesses trying to think,
(24:11):
"How can I keep up? Whatinnovation can I bring in?"
And conversational voice AI is something
that is not just a trend.
It actually has a useand benefits as well.
But it is part of the trend.It is quite hot at the moment.
So yeah.
- Yeah, absolutely.
And that was going to be my next question.
Because I know in thepast we worked together,
(24:33):
insight.tech and Sodaclick.
And we've done an articleabout conversational AI.
But it was in a healthcare space,
being able to collectinformation and do things
that maybe a receptionist wouldhave done at a patient level
so that the doctor couldget the information faster,
the patient doesn't have towait online, anything like that.
(24:54):
So I was curious, fromyour perspective, Salwa,
what other opportunities oruse cases outside of the QSR
or what other industries doyou see voice AI coming to?
- Absolutely.
So other than healthcare,
I think definitely sortof wayfinding kiosks.
Airport concierge, for instance.
(25:14):
The benefits are that you can have
the conversation AI assistanton a kiosk 24 hours a day.
You don't need to have amember of staff manning that.
A customer can come in,or a user can come in,
and interact with it.
Even if you think aboutgovernment buildings.
Anywhere where there's a check-in,
just like Stevan was saying,
anywhere where you mightneed to ask a question,
(25:35):
or get information from, at stadiums,
where simple things likereducing queue times
by having these interactive touch points
where a customer can comein, scan their ticket,
ask it where they can get some food from,
or where directions towhere their seat is, or...
(25:56):
All of that information.
In an airport, askingwhere the bathrooms are.
Or again, where theycan get a coffee from,
or they forgot their headphones,
where can they buy someheadphones from in a busy airport.
This is really useful.
And I think there could be some
even more exciting opportunitiesin outside of these ones,
(26:16):
which we haven't explored yet.
It may be in FinTech as well.
And I think it's just acase of reaching out to,
and sort of seeingwherever there is a need
for these personalized interactions
for customers to use these too.
And also,
part of it is providingmore of an inclusive world.
(26:38):
Again, I go back and say this,
but I think it is partlyproviding a more inclusive world
with voice AI as anadditional option to touch.
So there's plenty of opportunities
to integrate very seamlessly and very...
It all needs to be donevery frictionlessly.
- So Sal, I'm sure you will agree,
because of the previous discussions.
(27:00):
It's interesting to seehow some technologies,
even looking outside,
how long does it take forcertain products, technologies,
experiences to actually penetrate?
We have number of examples of let's say,
certain technologies takingx number of years to reach,
(27:21):
let's say, 10 million subscribers.
But then as we kind of going more and more
with something which ismore, as Salwa mentioned,
inclusive, as more natural,
how that timeline actually shortens.
And I think with the conversational AI,
almost like at some interception point,
(27:42):
where effectively we need to drive people
to see and experience it.
The moment you learnit, if I just look at,
I still am having difficultieswith teaching my mom
how to open WhatsApp on the tablet.
But at the same time, when myyoungest daughter was born,
(28:03):
she was not even a year,she already took the phone
and she already knew how tomove and how to touch and how..
To the level that effectively,
once we get exposed to certainusage model experience,
or technology, then italmost becomes natural.
For my daughter, theinteraction, the touch screen,
(28:24):
is the starting point for her.
While for my mom, it's stilllike some alien technology.
So the moment you kindof experience something,
you kind of demand thatfrom other usage models.
Think about where else do you stand?
You stand in front of everyhotel when you go to check in.
Stand in the line and wait for...
(28:45):
All of that could be actuallydone through the simple kiosk,
where effectively, "Hey, this is me."
Passport check-ins at the,you can see at the airports.
There is a lot more nowthose self check-in lanes,
where effectively you don't need to queue.
You can just go through.
So if we start from QSR, moving to retail,
(29:07):
expand to hospitality, healthcare.
Ultimately, any vertical industry
that where there is any needfor either conversation,
or information-sharing.
Sal, you mentioned view-finding.
View-finding was great asinnovative kind of usage model.
However, if you suddenlyneed to figure out and touch
(29:30):
and the accuracy of thetouch, it can sometimes,
if you need to stand inthe queue and try to,
and you need to know what are you looking,
it takes so long to typein, rather than just say,
"Hey, where can I find coffee place?
Where can I find..."
So, suddenly, we are nottransforming the technology.
We're just bringing new usage model
(29:50):
to the existing technology.
And that is actually,
which can actually make thoseproducts, those usage models,
and those vertical industries
adopt certain technologies much faster.
And I think we are reallyat the kind of corner road
of these technologies thatonce people get exposed to,
(30:10):
but ultimately, once people get exposed
with certain usage modelsacross certain points,
they will expect same, similar,or even better experience
across other adjacent industries.
And I think it's just beginning of the AI,
and we are going tocertainly see a big boom
(30:32):
in this usage models and experiences.
- Yeah, that pain point with the parents
being able to use technology.
That is something thatresonates deeply with me.
But to your point, thetouchscreen and all these devices
and these applications that is,
something that maybe mygeneration grew up with,
but not my parents' generation.
Conversation, voice, talking.
(30:54):
That is something thatwe all have been doing
since we were born, since we can walk,
it's very natural to us.
So being able to implement these
across these different industries,
they're high technologicaladvancements and innovations,
but it's a much better user experience,
and much more accessibleto people who then,
a touchscreen or a kiosk.
(31:14):
So I think it's great,
and I can't wait to see whatelse comes out of all of this.
I know we are running alittle bit out of time,
so before we go, I just wantto throw it back to you.
Any final thoughts or key takeaways
you wanted to leave us with today?
Salwa, I'll start with you.
- I think actually just picking up on
what both you and Stevan were saying.
I think we're definitelyin the golden age of AI
(31:35):
and technology.
And it's not something thatwe're talking about anymore
that's in the near distant future.
It's here. It's now.
It's deployable, and it's very natural,
because again, like you say,
we've all been conversingsince we were babies.
And with the advent of phones
and everyone using sort of Alexa and Siri
(31:55):
in our homes and on our phones,
it's just the natural progression.
And because of the benefitsthat it has across industries,
not just in the QSR,
it's just something thatwe will be seeing more of.
And it almost, again,like Stevan was saying,
it's almost a case of whenone brand leads with it,
(32:18):
the others will followbecause they will all see
how much it is improving their business,
improving their customer experiences.
It's bringing a higher ROI to them.
So it's very much here and now.
And it's very excitingactually, to be a part of this.
(32:39):
So yeah, there's definitely a lot coming.
And again, I just wanted to,
for anyone who doeshave this misconception
that voice AI systems aregoing to take away jobs
and things like that,
I just really want to again,
reassure them that it'snot about taking away jobs,
but rather augmenting andhelping both the businesses
(33:00):
and the customers bystreamlining the operations
to meet those customer expectations
of faster, intuitive experiences.
And we can do that with conversation.
And just by repurposing members of staff.
So it is never about takingaway a human person's role,
but rather, giving thempurpose somewhere else.
(33:22):
- Yeah, and to that point,
what I would like people to remember
is not to do technologyfor the sake of technology.
But because of what it canbring, what it can enable,
what it can drive.
In Intel, there is a already long saying,
"It's not what we make,it's what we enable."
And this is one thingthat is becoming prevalent
(33:45):
and very important going forward.
Demand more. Technology is there.
Innovation is unstoppable.
And I think from theconversational AI where we started,
where we are going now,it's just beginning.
It's just kind of tip of the iceberg.
There is so much more
that if you connect theconversational AI, but ultimately,
(34:08):
if you connect it on the basic principles
of what Intel is doing, whichis security on every product,
connectivity, manageability.
So as long as all of those infrastructure,
those applications are safe,are manageable, are connected,
are something that is alsodriving sustainability,
(34:29):
ultimately all of these connections,
and all of these technologypoints of that people integrate,
collaborate, talk to, integrate.
Ultimately all of thiscan be actually driven
in a lot more sustainable way
across many vertical industries.
And this is just beginning for Sodaclick,
(34:50):
in my personal view.
- Absolutely.
I mean all of these core values resonate
with Sodaclick's values as well.
And we can pass those benefitson to the customer as well.
So like you say, it's just the beginning,
but it's definitely very exciting.
- Absolutely.
I can't wait to see what elseSodaclick does with Intel.
So I just want to thank you both again
(35:12):
for joining the conversation
and for the insightful thoughts.
And I invite our listeners tovisit Sodaclick, visit Intel,
see what they can do for you,
and how they can help youguys enhance your businesses.
So thank you guys again.
Until next time, this hasbeen the "insight.tech Talk."
(bright music)
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