AI Stealing Jobs? Not a Concern for Sales, Customer Service Workers, Dialpad Says

Dialpad, the AI-powered customer intelligence platform, finds that customer service workers across industries do not fear AI stealing jobs. That’s according to the company’s brand-new research, “The State of AI at Work Report,” where 76% of respondents stated that they previously didn’t use artificial intelligence but will now consider it after using ChatGPT.

Dialpad also found that sales and customer service professionals were breaking down barriers to adoption – including lack of budget and developing ethical guidelines – to enhance accessibility.

Dialpad’s Dan O’Connell

Dan O’Connell, chief AI and strategy officer at Dialpad, said a takeaway from the report is that it is critical that companies keep up with the rapidly changing pace of AI to harness its potential.

“AI has created an all-new technological frontier that is compressing the pace of innovation at a rate we never thought possible,” O’Connell said. “As AI continues to be embedded throughout enterprise workflows, it’s crucial to focus on new opportunities created by this transformation — the potential that it possesses is a must for every business.”

Dialpad surveyed more than 1,000 customer service and sales representatives across a range of industries, including media, retail, manufacturing, finance, energy, defense and other fields.

They found that 79% of sales and customer service professionals using AI tools at work have experienced a positive impact on their performance. Media, entertainment, defense, software and chemical/pharmaceutical make up the top five industries that have actively integrated AI into their customer service and/or sales day-to-day operations, Dialpad said.

AI Stealing Jobs? More Like Supporting Growth

A majority of sales and customer service professionals surveyed don’t believe that AI will take their jobs in the future. In addition, the state of the economy raises a new point for 84% of sales managers who think that AI tools are crucial to support their company’s growth objectives.

However, 37% of respondents said lack of budget was the reason AI tools aren’t being used at work. The report also found that addressing ethical concerns, developing robust policies, privacy and improving accessibility to ensure that AI is deployed in a responsible, fair and inclusive manner remain additional barriers to wider adoption, Dialpad said.

Dialpad’s Craig Walker

Craig Walker, CEO and founder of Dialpad, said organizations need to respond faster to the desires of their workers regarding AI.

“The findings of Dialpad’s ‘The State of AI at Work Report’ further establishes the business imperative for real-time insights that lead to actionable outcomes to enhance experiences and enable the future of work,” Walker said. “Dialpad has been a responsible leader in the development of AI technology over the last five years, and we’re proud to be the only comprehensive platform with native, proprietary AI across all channels. We’re only at the beginning of this transformative moment for the enterprise.”

Despite a strong interest in AI, many of the respondents felt their companies were not prepared to respond to ethical considerations posed by AI. Eighty-four percent said their company doesn’t have an organization-wide AI policy. Many firms lack the understanding of how to accomplish it.

Finally, the report found that 30% of companies with fewer than 50 employees are skeptical of AI tools.