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Advantages of Ethernet for Your Business
All About Ethernet： How, why and when businesses use it. In the beginning: The shared home network,Many American businesses take root at the kitchen table or in the garage. They put up a website, maybe add a phone line. They might also invest in a new laptop or tablet, an all-in-one printer and a new smart phone. When you're CEO of a home-based business, your network probably consists of a cable, DSL or wireless/Wi-Fi connection to the internet, a shared-internet account for your web hosting, and a router from a big box store. You probably piggy-back off of your home network your family uses for streaming TV, gaming and home security. This budget-friendly architecture could serve you well until you land your fourth, fifth or fifteenth account. Moving up and out: The copper, cable or Wi-Fi connection,By this time, you're adding staff. A few of your colleagues work remotely and travel to see clients or pursue new-business opportunities. You could be opening branches in different markets. Also by this time, you've learned that your free or low-cost apps for bookkeeping, file sharing, messaging and video conferencing aren't cutting it anymore. The broadband and shared IP that worked fine when it was just you in your garage has become painfully insufficient. As you grew, you and your clients experienced more frequent network issues, always at the worst possible times. You—like Amazon, Apple, Google, HP and many more—may have launched from a garage. You had a single copper-based link to the internet but you've now outgrown it. Like those industry behemoths, you faced a networking fork in the road, one that perplexes many a leader of a business in growth mode. When you're not as big as Mattel or Harley Davidson—both born of garage-based entrepreneurism--but no longer a mom-and-pop shop, how do you transform your network to support advanced business operations and communications?,What is Ethernet?,Ethernet is a protocol, or technology, used for connecting computers in a LAN, or local area network. A technology in wide use since the 1990s, Ethernet is widely installed, serving as a standard for data formatting and transmission. Ethernet, a packet-based technology (versus one, like TDM, that operates in time slots and circuit switching), is how countless people and businesses connect to the internet, a global packet-switching network. In buildings across the planet, companies and individuals connect to the internet via Ethernet technology and cables. Tech you can grow with: Ethernet is a connectivity high-achiever,When evaluating options for networking and internet connectivity, smart choices can be complicated by the many varying pros and cons of different media and technologies. For example, DSL (digital subscriber line), which is a fixed-wireline type of broadband, is widely available, as is Wi-Fi. Both are usually quick and easy to activate. Monthly recurring costs (MRC) also tend to be lower than for, say, fiber-optic connections. DSL is usually more reliable than Wi-Fi, but both have low reliability compared to cable and fiber. Businesses with a single small location and a small staff of office-based workers may be fine with DSL or Wi-Fi when their online activity is limited mostly to email. More businesses today are increasingly large consumers of data, and their bandwidth needs are beyond what DSL and Wi-Fi can deliver affordably to power daily operations. Growing businesses in sectors that include real estate, healthcare and entertainment, as well as professional services such as government affairs, communications and PR, law and HR, need major bandwidth for their heavy cloud-computing requirements. Highly mobile and collaborative teams depend on advanced applications for CRM, ERP, and more that are best delivered by cable or fiber-optic networks. A common technology for cable transmission is TDM (time division multiplexing) often with a PBX box. With fiber, Ethernet is the standard. For businesses that are on the move, the connectivity choice will often come down to TDM with cable—also referred to as T1 service--or Ethernet over fiber—also known as metro or carrier Ethernet. Where fiber is available, Ethernet excels on a number of fronts. Two key points are worth considering. Ethernet far exceeds what TDM can deliver. With Ethernet's high capacity over fiber, bandwidths of 10 Gbps are available on a single line. To reach these levels with TDM, additional circuits must be purchased at prices that become very steep very quickly. Ethernet is easily configured to accommodate class of service (CoS) for separating sensitive and bandwidth-heavy apps from, for example, email, social media and web surfing. A circuit-switched technology, TDM is out of sync, literally, with the packet-switched technologies that dominate cloud computing. Tech you can adopt: Moving from legacy networks to Ethernet,For those still relying on TDM, the pressure is building to update and upgrade. Fewer carriers now support the legacy technology and equipment, and advanced cloud-based services are beyond TDM's reach. The good news is that migrating to Ethernet needn't be complicated or costly. The move can be particularly painless for businesses with only a few sites. Ethernet equipment is widely available and prices are coming down. Ethernet switches, routers, cables and other gear is largely off-the-shelf and less likely to require a full retrofit down the line. The technology enables "plug-and-play" provisioning and scaling. TDM typically involves hardware reconfigurations. Moreover, Ethernet can act as a second network, allowing a TDM, DSL or other system to serve as a backup. Or vice versa. For a phased approach to Ethernet adoption, it's a simple matter to connect Ethernet for one purpose or device while using another technology, such as Wi-Fi or TDM, for others. Top service providers have numerous options for transitioning to . Verizon, for example, offers which is protocol transparent for any-to-any connectivity. Dedicated and switched services also are available across Verizon's Ethernet portfolio. What's in it for you?,Extending your ability to grow, and compete with advanced cloud-computing services, is simplified when Ethernet is your go-to technology. Performance on nearly every front—from reliability, speed, scalability and flexibility—is Ethernet's top credential. Simply put, it's the technology of the future. For many growing businesses, it's easily acquired today. Ethernet services from Verizon help you connect all your network services—easily and reliably. Let us manage your networking needs, so you can concentrate on business priorities. Switched E-LAN extends your LAN with a virtual connection. Tell us about your business, then meet with our professionals to ask questions, get advice, or obtain a quote. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. We use both third party and first party cookies for this purpose. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly. These cookies may be set through our site by Verizon and third parties. They are used to present Verizon advertising on third party sites that you may visit. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising from Verizon. BackClear Filters,All Consent Allowed
Learn moreFiber vs. Cable - Which is better?
We've got some great deals going on right now exclusively for our online customers... chat now to hear more! Fiber vs. Cable: Which is better?,Have you recently discovered that fiber is available in your neighborhood or office complex, and you're wondering what it's all about?,Maybe your niece is bragging about how much faster gaming is with fiber-optic internet. Maybe your own network chokes and lags when you try to send big files or stream the U.S. Open for your patrons. Or maybe your competitor always seems to be a step ahead of you, fast and ready with the latest digital offerings to delight their customers. Chances are that you already rely on the internet for your daily operations. And you probably like to stay on top of new technologies that can help grow your business. So already, fiber-optic internet sounds like a good thing. But how do you know it's better than the cable internet you already have? How do you know if it makes sense to switch? Let's break it down. What is fiber-optic internet?,Transmitted with flashes of light through strands of glass, fiber-optic internet is the most advanced broadband technology available. Because data can travel faster across greater distances with glass than with cable, the connection speed is much faster with a 100% fiber-optic network. That means fiber is able to handle a range of services such as bundled internet, telephone and television services, among others. That also means that it's particularly well-suited to,With Verizon, speeds begin at approximately 75 Mbps. That speed is likely best for businesses with one to four users who may require large file-sharing capacity and need moderate download speeds. At the top end, download speeds reach 940 Mbps. That's good for businesses needing fast uploads and downloads and extra bandwidth for the whole office. The nice thing with fiber is that businesses can start at the lower, easily affordable range and upgrade when more bandwidth is needed. How much you'll need depends on a number of considerations. These include how many devices you use and how many people connect to the internet throughout the day. They also include things like whether you share large files, access multiple cloud-based applications, or need fast streaming for video conferencing and high-definition video. How is fiber different from cable internet?,With cable, data is transferred via coaxial television cable, which is made of copper, aluminum and plastic and is designed to conduct electricity. This copper wiring is more susceptible to environmental conditions—like storms or electrical interference—than fiber-optic technology. That makes fiber a more reliable option. Download and upload speeds with cable are typically slower than with fiber, varying from 10 to 500 Mbps and 5 to 50 Mbps, respectively. What are the benefits of fiber-optic connectivity over cable?Achieving the digital dream at The Dental Family,Because they know that paperless, digital dentistry is more efficient and more precise, the team at family-oriented dental practice The Dental Family aims to be fully digital. They rely on Verizon for a bundled set of services. These include fiber-optic internet, television, and phone and wireless services. Doing so helps them provide the friendly, modern and reliable dental services they've become known for. Even better, it supports their continued growth. Like when they needed to triple their internet speed. And when they opened a second location. With Verizon fiber, uploading multigigabyte digital X-ray scans to their milling unit happens quickly. That translates to improved workflow for The Dental Family. Today, dental crowns can be fabricated for patients in just a couple of hours, a process that used to take days or weeks. Fiber internet reliability,Optical fiber already has a strong reputation for being incredibly reliable. Some providers use active optical networks to transmit fiber to customers. Verizon uses passive optical networks, which rely on light waves and are capable of delivering high volumes of upstream and downstream bandwidth that can be changed to suit the user's needs. That means fewer moving and electrical parts—and less chance of things going wrong. That's the kind of dependability you can build your business on. Cravings for Costa Rican cuisine is an online, all-the-time gig at Antojos Ticos. For the staff at Antojos Ticos, the reliability they get with Verizon fiber is what it takes to serve up their passion for Costa Rican cuisine every day. Antojos Ticos does everything online. They take orders from GrubHub®. They use their tablets to take orders at the table and transmit them to the kitchen. They even take payment and research new recipes and spices online. Between their multiple phone lines, streaming television and free Wi-Fi for customers, their network could easily get bogged down. But with bundled fiber-optic services from Verizon, they're ready and able to tackle it all. Fiber internet value,Dollar for dollar, the productivity gains that are achievable with fiber-optic internet make it the logical choice over cable for many small businesses. Bundling services makes fiber internet even more affordable. Plus, our flexible, scalable options mean you can modify your service as your needs change. Finding seasonal or limited-time offers designed to help you make the decision to switch from cable can make a nice impact on your spend as well. Businesses in buildings already wired for fiber optics may also find additional value from easy start-up and installation options. While fiber can be more expensive in some areas, the value that comes from faster speeds and greater reliability can help make it easier to get work done. Combined, these capabilities can also strengthen your ability to compete. Focus on quality over quantity leads Laundromutt to Fios by Verizon. Self-service dog spa and grooming salon Laundromutt turns flexible self-service and in-depth one-on-one attention into high value for its customers. Verizon fiber is there each day, helping the company thrive in a highly competitive industry. Now that they've switched to Verizon, all seven employees can use the network, all at the same time. Even when they're on their feet providing service or taking phone calls. Even when they're working from wherever they happen to be. That means they can quickly upload snaps of each perfectly groomed pup and share information on their recently expanded doggie daycare offerings. They can even check in on and support their customers from home. Best of all, setup was easy. Verizon came in and took care of everything. Fiber vs. cable: Ready for growth,Bottom line, when considering cable or fiber: Businesses that rely on the internet to serve their customers can consider fiber a strong choice. Businesses like yours put their trust in Verizon because of our proven ability to deliver fast, reliable and affordable fiber-optic technology. Isn't it time you put your business in line for growth, and get ready to face the competition with the best digital offerings you can provide?,See how and find out more about theThese cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. We use both third party and first party cookies for this purpose. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly. These cookies may be set through our site by Verizon and third parties. They are used to present Verizon advertising on third party sites that you may visit. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising from Verizon. BackClear Filters,All Consent Allowed
Learn moreThe Human Connection: Technology for Better Customer Experience
The Human Connection,Using technology to create a better customer experience,In the course of just a few years, the sophistication of brands' digital interactions with consumers has increased by leaps and bounds. This is thanks to companies' growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) to guide those interactions. As they crunch ever more data and "learn", with the help of machine learning and natural language processing, AI chatbots and other intelligent tools are becoming more responsive and taking on more human-like attributes. Digital interactions between consumers and brands are increasingly driven by such "machines", with limited involvement of human sales and other agents. How do consumers feel about this? Are they comfortable with the roles played by humans and machines in their online interactions with brands?,To find out, we surveyed 5,601 people in 16 countries. They told us that although they need human agents to remain accessible, they are increasingly comfortable with automated, digital-only interactions. As that comfort increases, brands will need to find the right balance between the technology and human elements in interactions. Ensuring transparency in how they use AI—and the consumer data it uses to learn—will help to build trust in automated interactions and strengthen their customer relationships. We surveyed 5,601 people in 16 countries. There is widescale consumer acceptance of automated interactions with brands, and that acceptance is growing: 56% of respondents are comfortable with fully automated interactions, and just 16% express discomfort. Almost half of the respondents (47%) have grown more positive about such interactions in the past two years. Today, AI is capable of managing entire customer journeys and providing a superior experience. But consumers want to be able to speak or chat with a human agent if they need to. In fact, 78% of respondents consider blended technology-human interactions a better experience than those that are human-only. Consumers are generally forgiving of technology malfunctions in interactions. Using personal data obtained from third parties, on the other hand, could have serious consequences for brands. Out of all the problems they might encounter in online interactions, this is by far the most likely reason for consumers to stop interacting with a company. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (65%) want companies to be honest about using AI-powered bots to guide interactions—a response that differs little by age group. Such transparency appears to be the norm, but 41% of respondents would reduce their involvement with a company if it were not forthcoming. Few consumers today consider a chatbot or other automated interaction to offer a "human connection", but younger respondents are more likely to than older respondents: 48% of those between the ages of 18 and 34 (and 41% overall) say it is entirely possible to have a human connection in a fully automated interaction. AI and machine learning (the branch of AI that crunches data and enables software to learn) are now ever present in our digital interactions with brands. These capabilities drive features of online experiences that people are familiar with, such as personalized ads and product offers and automated, end-to-end shopping and purchase transactions. AI also supports virtual assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and the interactive chatbots that "converse" with people online by offering responses based on the real-time analysis of personal and other data. The growing prevalence of these interactive technologies that display human characteristics has elicited angst from some consumers, partly because of potential privacy issues, partly because of poor functionality, and partly because of personal unease with the idea of human-like bots. In their dealings with brands, consumers prefer the involvement of humans to that of mainly or exclusively technology. In our survey, the preference for mostly human interactions is visible in five categories of goods and services, and it is particularly strong where healthcare services are involved. "AI can deliver excellent customer experiences, but I don't think you can build a sustainable relationship based solely on AI today," says Michał Szaniecki, Managing Director, SEAT & Cupra, at Volkswagen Group. "AI can deliver the message, the date, the facts and the figures. The human element is much more important when the interaction becomes complicated.","In our industry, most interactions with customers are very transactional and can be handled by technology," says Amy Shore, Chief of Customer Experience at Nationwide, a US insurance and financial services provider. "But our products also provide protection often at times of a major life change or tragedy when a human touch is really needed. We have to be very smart about which customer journeys to make wholly automated, wholly digital or a blend of both.",Share of respondents choosing between 1 and 4 ("mostly non-human") on a 10-point scale when asked the type of interaction they prefer to have with companies, and those choosing between 7 and 10 ("mostly human"). The scale ranged from 1 ("No human interaction") to 10 ("Frequent or regular human interaction"). Consumers are increasingly at ease with technology-only interactions, however. A majority of respondents—56%—say they are comfortable with a fully automated interaction in which the company demonstrates a good understanding of their preferences, attitudes or other personal attributes. Just 16% are uncomfortable with such interactions. Nearly half (47%) say that interacting with machines online is a more positive experience for them than it was two years ago. Michelle Batt, a US-based customer experience consultant, has seen consumer acceptance of AI chatbots grow considerably during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lockdowns may have forced many people to become more familiar with chatbots, but bot quality has also improved considerably, she says: "This is due partly to advances in the underlying technology and partly to the increased gathering and analysis of consumer data as people flocked to digital channels. The more data algorithms have, the more they learn and the better they perform.",Millie Gillon, Singapore-based Global Head of CX at Standard Chartered Bank, expects acceptance of fully automated interactions to become the norm. "Even older generations are much more accepting of it than they were two years ago," she says. "And machines are getting better at resolving complex issues such as credit card queries about doubtful purchases.",Share of respondents who agree or disagree that interacting with a machine online is a more positive experience for them than it was two years ago. Can a fully automated interaction offer what people could consider to be a human connection? Not according to most consumers in our survey. They define the human element in online interactions in the traditional way, as communication with a real person, whether in a real-time chat, an audio conversation or a video conversation. Anna Noakes Schulze, Head of Business Development at Women in CX, an online membership community, agrees with them: "As good as they've become, AI chatbots are not yet at the point of fostering a real sense of human connection." Share of respondents who consider different elements of an online interaction with a company to be a "human connection". A closer look at the survey results suggests this could change, however. The share of younger consumers defining automated interactions as human is much higher than it is for older consumers. For example, 25% of respondents in the 25–34 age group define a chatbot interaction as human, compared with just 10% of those in the 55–65 age group. And 41% overall (48% between the ages of 18 and 34) say that it is entirely possible to have a human connection in a fully automated interaction. Just 28% say that this is not possible. The experts we interviewed say that chatbot technology will eventually be able to understand nuance in conversation and offer empathy. However, consumers must never be tricked into thinking they are interacting with a human (see "Technology transparency"). Share of respondents who somewhat or strongly agree that it is entirely possible to have a human connection in a fully automated interaction. In many online interactions, technology takes consumers through their entire journey with a company, whether it involves just browsing or ends with the purchase of a product. And AI and other technologies often guide aspects of after-sales support interactions. Technology-only interactions are common when consumers shop for relatively low-value household products or clothing, but AI is also prevalent when more expensive items are involved. Volkswagen Group's Michał Szaniecki says that most of his firm's customers go through the entire online car purchase journey using only AI. "Whenever people are engaged in and knowledgeable about the category, they don't need to have a human interaction," he says. "The sales process typically lasts six weeks, after which we'll deliver the car to their door.",say that blended interactions are as or more satisfying than those that are human-only. However, our survey respondents' comfort levels are highest when machine communication is combined with genuine human communication: 78% say that blended interactions are as or more satisfying than those that are human-only. As in many other aspects of our research, age seems to matter here: fewer older respondents than younger ones (although still a majority) are likely to hold this view. In automated interactions, respondents want to be able to speak/chat to a human if they need to. This is top of their lists when we asked them the most important aspects of positive interactions with companies—it is even more important than speed of response. "A machine is more likely to ensure speed of response to many customer issues," says Standard Chartered's Millie Gillon. "But it needs to be capable of actually resolving the problem." When the machine cannot do that, the customer journey suffers. "AI is inferior to a human agent if a consumer requires trust," says Szaniecki. "Whenever AI asks for personal financial data need for car leasing, for example, 99% of consumers drop out of the journey. They do not trust anonymous machines to collect and send their financial data.",A connection with a human is particularly desirable in customer service situations. Most survey respondents (62%) would prefer a direct interaction with a human—voice, real-time chat or in-person—to a fully or partly automated interaction (37%) in order to resolve a customer service issue. The oldest respondents in the survey, 55–65-year-olds, are most emphatic about this (75% of them agree), but a majority of 18–24-year-olds (54%) also state this preference. Share of respondents who say that the combined automated/human interactions they've had with companies in the past 12 months have been as satisfying as or more satisfying than fully human interactions. would prefer a direct interaction with a human in order to resolve a customer service issue. Share of respondents specifying the type of interaction they would prefer to have with a company to resolve a customer service issue. Blended interactions may be better, but brands often struggle to get them right. "Companies in our industry are good at supporting human interactions with AI and other technologies but have difficulties making the transition from technology to human agents," says Amy Shore of Nationwide. A key constraint at many firms, she says, is the legacy technology systems and resulting back-end complexity that hampers the integration of newer technologies. Her company has invested heavily in platform modernization across its business lines in the past five years, says Shore, which has facilitated easier interfaces with AI in its customer-facing operations. Balancing bot and human elements involves allowing for a quick resolution of routine customer requests while letting customers to decide when human intervention is needed, says Anna Noakes Schulze. One of the keys to improving the transition, she says, is getting the bot to recognize when frustration is mounting. Companies are putting sentiment analysis to work on this, efforts that are being facilitated by advances in natural language processing (NLP). "NLP is doing so much more to enhance AI," says Shore. "We can do voice-guided chatbot now, and we have tools that listen to and analyze every call that comes into all of our call centers every day. The tools analyze the key issues our customers are facing and what's driving their negative as well as their positive sentiments. It's a game-changer to have these capabilities at our disposal.",The balancing act between human and machine in online interactions has direct implications for the bottom line. "Bringing a human agent into an interaction with consumers is an expensive proposition compared with keeping it fully automated," says Michelle Emerson-Russell, Director and Global Lead, Workplace and Customer Experience Sales at Verizon. So there is an ROI decision to be made about the balance between the AI and human elements, says Szaniecki. "I cannot deploy both fully for every interaction—it makes no financial sense," he says. "I need to incentivize customers to stay within the AI channel, and only transfer them to humans when absolutely needed. If more than 5% of an online interaction involves a human, it becomes uneconomic.",Of course, there are also negative financial consequences if companies lose customers because of poor online interactions, including those in which accessing a human agent proves difficult. "It's not just a cost equation," says Gillon. "It's about building and maintaining trust with customers.",Where are consumers most accepting of AI-led interactions with brands? The survey results suggest that acceptance is higher among US consumers than elsewhere. For example:,Attitudes toward automated interactions appear to be changing faster, however, in Asia-Pacific, where 55% of respondents say this is a more positive experience than it was two years ago. Consumers in Asia are generally comfortable interacting with bots, says Millie Gillon. But she says the picture is more complex in financial services. "When engaging in many types of banking, people in this part of the world need a relationship with a human in order to build trust," she says. "That need for high-touch will diminish, though, as Millennials and Generation Z form a larger part of the banking market." Share of respondents who express agreement with a range of statements about automated interactions with companies. Few online interactions between consumers and brands are problem-free—even if they have a positive outcome. When consumers have what they deem to be a negative interaction, there are two common sources of annoyance:,Consumers are growing increasingly impatient with such problems in online interactions, observes Michelle Batt. "The digital quality of interactions may be improving, but consumers want brands' responses to be extremely fast and relevant," she says,Consumer expectations about the quality of online interactions in her industry are growing, says Nationwide's Amy Shore, partly due to the superior experiences they are having with other types of firms (such as e-commerce companies). However, she adds, it usually takes a lot to lead a customer to switch brands. That holds true for our survey sample. When the above types of issues occur, consumers are generally forgiving. Most of those in the survey will either continue with the interaction, in some cases all the way through to a purchase, or they will shop around before returning to the company's website. A small percentage—20% in the case of delayed response time and 27% if they are unable to speak to an agent—would stop interacting with the company altogether. Only 13% of respondents say that a company obtaining information about them from a third party is a factor in a negative interaction. But this is the top reason for consumers to cease interacting with a brand completely: 34% of respondents (and 52% of those aged between 55 and 65), say they have done this. This is consistent with a finding in our earlier study on consumer trust in data practices, in which 32% of consumers said they would cease interacting with a company if they learned it had shared their personal data without their consent. "When people believe that their data hasn't been cared for, the distrust engendered by it will often lead people to leave and not return," says Verizon's Michelle Emerson-Russell. Companies' use of third-party data is on the way out, according to Volkswagen Group's Michał Szaniecki. "Now they need to focus the journey on their first-party or zero-party data," he says, "which are more transparent and provide a better foundation for the customer relationship." Share of respondents saying they have ceased interacting with a company due to different problems encountered in online interactions. There is another aspect of online interactions that will lead many consumers to rethink their association with a brand: lack of transparency about the role of AI. About two-thirds of respondents (65%) say it is important for companies to indicate, in an interaction, that they are communicating with an AI-powered bot and not a human being. This attitude does not vary much by age. Fortunately, that kind of transparency is more the norm than the exception: 53% of respondents say that in the past 12 months they have been given the option (sometimes or often) to decline the use of AI. Should such an indication not be forthcoming, however, 41% would reduce their interaction with a company (17% ending the association entirely). "The biggest mistake with early chatbot implementation was bots pretending they were real humans," says Anna Noakes Schulze. "What was meant to seem friendly to people made them feel deceived.",Instead, she says, brands should practice radical transparency: "Tell customers that the chatbot wants to help but sometimes makes mistakes. Enlist customers as allies to help the chatbot learn and do better. People can be very generous and forgiving when you tell the truth and ask for their help.",Only 13% of respondents say that a company obtaining information about them from a third party is a factor in a negative interaction. Our survey shows that a continuing role for human sales, marketing or customer service staff in online interactions is assured for now. Consumers are happy for technology to handle most of the interactions they have with brands, but they want a human agent to be available if an interaction becomes complicated or problematic. The business reality is that brands cannot afford for human agents to comprise a large part of interactions that are designed to be fully or mostly automated. There is an obvious takeaway here for brands. They need to ensure that their chatbots and other intelligent tools continuously become better at handling not just the basic issues that users of their product typically have, but also the more complex ones. By doing this, they can reduce the need for human intervention. The good news is that AI and machine learning are becoming capable of this. As the tools that AI and machine learning power become better at understanding nuance and sentiment, automated interactions will take on more human-like characteristics. Many of our youngest survey respondents already see these as human connections, and their number is likely to increase. If brands don't try to pretend these are real human-to-human experiences, they will profit from the improved customer experiences they create. The analysis in this report is based on a survey of 5,601 consumers conducted in June 2021. The survey was carried out by Longitude, a Financial Times company, on behalf of Verizon. The respondents live in 16 countries and territories, are aged between 18 and 65 and are evenly split between males and females. Survey respondents by country. Survey respondents by age group. Survey respondents by gender. Survey respondents by education (highest level reached). 2021. Choose your country to view contact details. Existing customers, to your business account or . If you are already a Verizon customer, we have several options to help you get the support you need. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. We use both third party and first party cookies for this purpose. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly. These cookies may be set through our site by Verizon and third parties. They are used to present Verizon advertising on third party sites that you may visit. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising from Verizon. BackClear Filters,All Consent Allowed
Learn moreCase Studies related to "what is a good connection speed for gaming"
Fast connectivity at remote jobsites with wireless internet
Learn how LTE Business Internet helps Appalachian Pipeline Contractors connect their construction job sites to aid in their construction efforts.
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