The goal is not to replace employees, but to improve their performance, said Zayd Enam, co-founder and CEO of the company. Cresta’s offering, he said, is made possible by recent advances in the power and speed of AI software, which he described as “game-changing.”
Cresta has 200 employees, has raised more than $150 million in venture capital, and has several dozen corporate clients, including Verizon, Cox Communications and Porsche.
CarMax, the nation’s largest used car dealer, began testing the Cresta software in December. The AI experiment followed years of investment to shift the company’s computing business to more flexible, cloud-based systems, said Jim Lyski, executive vice president for strategy, marketing and products.
Customer inquiries to the CarMax contact centers often take a long time. Used cars include different years, models, features and driving history, and financing plans for what is a major purchase vary. The number of questions is virtually unlimited, Mr Lyski said, so purely automated communication is not an option.
But a computer assistant that could help sort through all the complexities in the automotive industry, with real-time suggestions and information, was appealing. Cresta first trained with the data from the CarMax contact center and the experiment began with its live chat agents, who text conversations with customers.
The experience was encouraging, said Mr. Lyski. There is an approximately 10 percent improvement in response time, conversion to sales, and shorter session time. And the system continues to learn and get better. The company has started a pilot project with agents handling voice calls, bringing the total number of agents using the AI technology to 200.
