
AI Adoption: Is AI the New Internet? Lessons from the 1990s Tech Boom for Today’s Business Leaders
The comparison is clear: today’s AI revolution is charting a course much like the internet revolution of the 1990s — only at warp speed.
Convenience is no longer simply a consumer request — it’s a requirement. Customers expect businesses across numerous industries to provide quick and secure service 24/7.
From something as simple as scoring the latest trend on Amazon to buying new wheels from a Carvana “car vending machine” or just checking their bank balance on their smartphone, today’s consumers want to do business with companies that meet their preferences for convenience and personalization. Digital tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) enable this level of service while allowing businesses to cost-effectively expand their target audience, conduct proactive customer outreach and personalize communications.
Take the restaurant industry, for example. Although restaurant operators encounter a bevy of challenges — staffing shortages, fluctuating food costs, labor law changes and reputation management to name a few — conversational AI enables them to enhance customer service without having to hire more employees. That’s especially beneficial in an industry in which the average annual restaurant industry turnover rate is 79.6%, and 27% of restaurant operators report having more than 20% below the necessary levels of staff.
More than 60% of restaurant leaders believe that AI offers a significant competitive advantage to eateries that adopt it. The technology allows dining establishments to implement 24/7 customer call answering, deliver personalized messaging at scale and perform routine and repetitive tasks, giving staff more time to focus on customer service that fosters loyalty.
The pros of this type of technology tool are also prevalent in the automotive repair industry. Combatting staffing and parts shortages, lengthy customer wait times and missed calls through conversational AI permits them to handle multiple calls simultaneously, proactively remind owners of recommended service schedules and effectively target and engage specific customer groups with exclusive offers.
By allowing automotive repair service employees to focus on vehicle repair and maintenance instead of tedious and time-consuming administrative tasks, conversational AI solutions reduce wait times, a big factor in increasing customer satisfaction. Such tools also promote convenience for customers because they can schedule automotive services at any time from anywhere.
Businesses in the automotive repair and restaurant industries can realize higher revenue and boosted customer satisfaction by meeting consumer preferences for communication through conversational AI. That doesn’t mean, however, that they’re exempt from calling and texting rules and regulations enacted and enforced by the United States government — specifically, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
Enacted by Congress in 1991, the purpose of the TCPA is to protect consumers from unwanted and unsolicited marketing calls and messages. It restricts the making of telemarketing calls and the use of automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS) and artificial or prerecorded voice messages, rules applicable to common carriers and other marketers.
The TCPA has undergone some changes since 1991. Businesses must now maintain an updated National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry list, provide an opt-out option for each call and procure prior express written consent from the individual being contacted.
Business-to-business (B2B) calls and texts are subject to the same TCPA wireless restrictions as business-to-consumer (B2C) ones. Some states adopt their own TCPA rules, typically referred to as “mini-TCPA laws,” and implement broader versions requiring consent for telephonic sales calls, texts and voicemails.
Collaborating with a conversational AI vendor that complies with relevant data protection regulations and industry-specific standards is crucial. It achieves better resource utilization, increased productivity, streamlined operations and fewer errors while ensuring communications are compliant with TCPA and the DNC Registry.
In addition to empowering restaurants, automotive repair businesses — and companies across multiple industries — to utilize real-time data for predictive analytics and providing their marketers with advanced insights, the technology offers a clearer understanding of customer sentiment. That’s a key component in any successful customer engagement strategy.
At Revmo, our voice-enabled conversational AI platform. Our commitment to compliance includes:
If you’re still unsure about how Revmo maintains compliance with TCPA and other industry rules and regulations while promoting operational efficiency for our customers, check out a couple of our case studies:
With locations in California, Idaho and Nevada, Land Ocean Restaurant Group offers its customers a delightful array of dishes crafted with the finest cuts of meat sourced from local farms and the freshest seafood delicacies. The restaurants’ operators adopted automation to procure customer reservations through Yelp but still faced peak-period service bottlenecks that forced their staff to miss customer calls — and opportunities for additional revenue. Through 24/7 reservation coverage and automated guest communication courtesy of the Revmo platform, Land Ocean Restaurant Group has already experienced a roughly 10% sales increase and zero missed calls across its seven establishments.
This Modesto, California-based business caters to the community’s automotive maintenance and repair needs at its 4,000 square foot facility. The company faced a high volume of service calls during peak hours, leaving its staff split between repairs and phone management. The AI-driven appointment and customer service management provided by Revmo produced an increase of 78 oil changes and $12,000 in sales in just the first month after implementation. Plus, SpeeDee’s number of missed calls dropped from 200 to zero.
Are you ready to transform your business’s operations? Book a demo today to discover how we can help you achieve TCPA compliance while assisting you in streamlining your customer communication and outreach, increasing your base of satisfied and loyal customers and driving growth and revenue.
Note: It is imperative to consult legal counsel to navigate TCPA rules and ensure full compliance.
The comparison is clear: today’s AI revolution is charting a course much like the internet revolution of the 1990s — only at warp speed.
Agentic AI offers a robust solution across industries because it learns from past interactions, autonomously executes tasks and frees human workers to focus on higher-value tasks.
Many restaurants are now turning to artificial intelligence to automate and optimize their waitlist processes. Such solutions are helping restaurants modernize how they manage guest flow – without sacrificing the human touch.
For busy restaurants striving to maintain satisfaction among customers in-house while providing an equally satisfactory experience for those who call in, an AI phone answering service becomes a game-changer.