Interview: Lindsay Brown, LogMeIn

Which technologies or innovations do you think will be game changers or reach maturity in 2018?

Artificial intelligence has taken the technology industry by storm this year and will be taking its next big step in adoption and technology maturity in 2018. In customer engagement, for example, we’re seeing more companies launching successful AI projects that will provide a clearer path to success for other companies to jump on board. From a technology perspective, we’ll see reactive automation move to proactive use cases that will help turn service engagements into sales opportunities and see deeper contact centre integrations.

At LogMeIn, we recognised the impact AI would have on customer engagement, and for that reason acquired an innovative AI and digital customer service company, Nanorep, earlier in 2017. Now part of our Customer Engagement and Support portfolio, Nanorep harnesses AI and patented natural language processing technologies to create solutions that make self-service — across engagement channels — more personalised and intuitive.

How are AI, robotics and cyber threats changing your industry sector?

Cyber threats aren’t slowing down and our customers are looking for every way possible to ensure their organisations and customers are protected. The devastation caused by global cybersecurity incidents, particularly ransomware attacks, has led to widespread concern and the establishment of legislation, such as Australia’s incoming Notifiable Data Breaches Act, to encourage companies to be more transparent with the safety of business data and to beef up their security practices.

As human factors and passwords are the weakest links in the cybersecurity chain, password management tools are increasingly sought after as a fundamental first line of defence against cyber threats. LastPass’ recent Password Expose research revealed that the average 250-employee company manages around 47,750 passwords across their organisation, correlating to the same number of possible breach points that must be secured. Aligned with this reality, our customers have also expressed a desire for new ways to authenticate themselves and further protect their passwords and other valuable information.

Which ICT innovations or disruptions are your customers telling you they are most worried or enthusiastic about in the year ahead?

Particularly in the customer engagement landscape, our customers are excited about all the possibilities AI can bring to their business, including the ability to provide exceptional support at scale without overburdening the contact centre or shattering budgets. As with any new technology, there are always questions about onboarding and ROI, but modern AI technologies, like Nanorep, can get up and running and provide real results in weeks, rather than years. We have a number of customers in a range of industries, from retail to travel to financial services, using AI to help make their customer experience better and more efficient.

And for those worried about AI eliminating jobs, don’t be. Exceptional customer engagement depends on delivering the right balance of people, process and technology. There will always be a need for human-to-human interactions, though roles may change and become more challenging. For many companies, AI is taking the burden of repetitive queries taken off the plates of customer service agents, who are then freed up to concentrate on higher value customer interactions.

Lindsay Brown joined LogMeIn in January 2014, leading the business to become the fastest growing region globally for 2015. He brings more than 19 years of sales and executive management experience to the company, with a successful track record in growing and scaling both emerging and established multinational technology firms.

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