EP 77 – Ravi Saraogi – Uniphore Software Systems – AI and Automation Are Upending Business Verticals

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Michael Waitze worked in Global Finance for more than 20 years, employed by firms like Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, primarily in Tokyo.  Michael lived and worked in Tokyo from February 1990 until December 2011.  Michael always maintained a particular focus on how technology could be used to make businesses more efficient and to drive P/L growth. Michael is a leader in the digital media space, building one of the biggest and fastest-growing podcast listener bases in the region.  His AsiaTechPodcast.com show has listeners in more than 170 countries and his company, Michael Waitze Media produces some of Asia’s most popular podcasts.

Guest
Ravi Saraogi

Ravi, Co-founder & President-APAC, leads Sales, Delivery, and Customer Success for Uniphore. His passion for mobile learning applications and technologies found traction when Uniphore was founded. Ravi and Umesh envisioned building solutions that give more power to human speech. He has vast experience in directing technology teams in initiatives spanning mobile theft security, wireless network development, and mobile learning applications. Ravi is currently an active member of the Mobile Payment Forum of India (MPFI). Ravi is an alumnus of Jaypee Institute of Information Technology.

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In this episode, we spoke to Ravi Saraogi, the co-founder and President of Asia at Uniphore Software Systems. Ravi is a software engineer by training and after graduation from university, Ravi and his co-Founder Umesh Sachdev entered an incubator program at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.  It was here that Uniphore, a company that aims to bridge the gap between humans and machines with conversational AI, was founded.

Ravi is a pure and classic entrepreneur.  Since his graduation from university, Ravi has only worked for and built Uniphore.  He notes that he is from an extremely entrepreneurial clan in India and that he and his co-Founder have always wanted to build a company from scratch.  Importantly, they both wanted to build something that not only could scale but one that also had longevity built in.

Ravi believes that customer experience is the most important product differentiator…even more important than product or pricing.  Providing a great customer experience is critical to the survival of your brand.  In order to provide world-class customer service, Ravi says that some of the must-have tools include conversational AI and Automation.  As necessities, AI and Automation are changing the way all verticals do business for good.

Ravi explains the importance of different user personas when developing conversational AI. If one considers three groups, millennials, middle-aged corporate employees and baby boomers, each group has very different needs and expectations.

Conversational AI can be utilized for customer communication but also to support customer agents. The AI can listen in on conversations between a customer and an agent and take notes or even make changes to the database when combined with robotic process automation.  

Ravi and Michael also joked about how much easier it is to start a company today than it was back in 2008.  Today, there is more access to capital, technology, and mentors as well.  However, one of the reasons why Ravi and Umesh chose the AI and Automation space to innovate was that they felt like it had a long runway and that no matter how much they learned and progressed, they would also be novices.  This is a super attitude to have when building an enterprise from scratch.

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To get in touch with the Uncharted team, email them at info@uncharted.global

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