In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Thomas Kunjappu sits down with Marlene Cosain, HR Director at Abby Connect, to explore what it really looks like when a human-centered company introduces AI into the core of its business without eroding trust or displacing its people.

Drawing on her journey from receptionist to HR Director, Marlene shares how Abby Connect navigated the launch of an AI receptionist inside a company built on human connection. She explains why transparency, early communication, and sustained trust were essential in helping employees move from fear to engagement during a major strategic shift.

Marlene breaks down how HR led AI adoption by raising AI literacy through low-stakes experimentation, empowering early adopters, and enabling receptionists to transition into AI-adjacent roles. She explains why domain expertise became the foundation for new positions like AI technicians and QA specialists, and how human-in-the-loop design emerged as both a cultural anchor and a market differentiator.

Topics Discussed:

1. Human-first AI adoption in a people-driven business
2. Building trust during AI-driven change
3. Raising AI literacy through practical experimentation
4. Promoting from within during transformation
5. Creating AI-adjacent roles from frontline expertise
6. Human-in-the-loop design as a competitive advantage
7. HR’s role as the glue during strategic shifts
8. Supporting middle managers through uncertainty

If you are an HR leader navigating AI adoption, workforce trust, or large-scale change that affects both the business model and the work itself, this episode offers a grounded, real-world perspective on how HR can lead transformation without losing its people.

Additional Resources:

1. Cleary’s AI-powered HR Chatbot
2. Future Proof HR Community
3. Connect with Marlene Cosain on LinkedIn

I remember our CEO coming into a leadership meeting and he's we're

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going to build an AI receptionist.

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And I'm like, what?

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I was like, what do you mean?

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What does that mean?

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We're human first.

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Humans are so important to us.

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Like, how are we going to

build an AI receptionist?

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Are they going to

replace our receptionist?

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Thomas Kunjappu: They keep

telling us that it's all over.

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For HR, the age of AI is upon

us, and that means HR should

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be prepared to be decimated.

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We reject that message.

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The future of HR won't be handed to us.

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Instead, it'll be defined by those

ready to experiment, adopt, and adapt.

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Future Proof HR invites these builders to

share what they're trying, how it's going,

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what they've learned, and what's next.

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We are committed to arming HR

with the AI insights to not

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just survive, but to thrive.

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Thomas: Hello and welcome to the Future

Proof HR podcast, where we explore how

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forward thinking HR leaders are preparing

for disruption and redefining what it

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means to lead people in a changing world.

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I'm your host, Thomas

Kunjappu, CEO of Cleary.

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Now today's guest is Marlene Cosain,

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HR Director at Abby Connect, a 20 year

leader in live reception services that

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has now launched an AI receptionist

while counter-intuitively doubling down

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on human receptionists at the same time.

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Marlene builds workplaces where people

want to stay and where humans and AI

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get along with a practical playbook for

capability, building trust and change.

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And we have a lot to talk about Marlene.

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So welcome to the show.

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Marlene: Thank you.

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I'm excited.

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Thomas: So I think what you have

gone through in the last few years

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is such an interesting story.

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And I think is a bit of a harbinger

for many other companies as they're

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going through the concept of putting

out AI products, but also what it

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means for the workplace that they

have created and the company strategy

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and it all connects together.

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So I'm really excited to go into that.

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But when maybe a great place

to start is tell me about your

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first role at the company.

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Marlene: Wow.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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I started as a receptionist.

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This fun fact is actually my first and

only company that I've ever worked for.

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So I came straight out of high school.

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Pretty much no experience, just really

hopeful, no experience, a whole lot

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of determination, a whole lot of

grit, and a whole lot of dedication.

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I really wanted to prove myself

that I could do something.

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That I could be a good worker,

and that I could contribute

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and add value to a company.

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Even though it was a little difficult

at first for me to understand

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just the workplace and navigate

the job and do all those things.

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I think I always had that determination

of I'm gonna do really well at this.

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Plus I really love the company, so I

need to figure out a way to stay here.

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Thomas: And boy did you, Because

now you are the HR director many

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years later and there have been

multiple transitions in between.

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And I think it's important because

I think you were telling me a little

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bit beforehand about how there's

a lot of promotion within, right?

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And a lot of growth over many years

for several folks in the leadership

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team with and alongside you,

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Marlene: Yeah, definitely.

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I've seen the company and when I

started, there was like five of us

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and we were all in a little bullpen.

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And then to getting our

office that came after that to

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growing to a hundred employees.

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We had some things happen where

we had to go down a little bit.

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But just going from seeing the office

spaces expand, new people come on

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board like that has always been a

really exciting part of the journey.

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And I think figuring out how do you

carry that culture through every

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evolution of the company is so important.

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Thomas: Tell us a little

bit about what you guys do.

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Marlene: Yeah, so Abby Connect,

we are a receptionist service.

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So we provide phone solutions

to different business owners.

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Think doctors, lawyers,

even home services.

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So maybe plumbers that are out on the

field or electricians that don't have

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the ability to answer their phones.

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Or maybe they do have the staff and

they want their staff to elevate

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and to work on other things.

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take care of the customer

service for them.

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So we would do that through virtual

receptionist and we do that through

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our AI receptionist as well.

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Thomas: So the AI receptionist

now that is a new product, right?

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Relatively new.

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Tell me about What was that journey to

get to the point of introducing this AI

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receptionist as part of the brand promise.

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Marlene: Yeah, absolutely.

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So about two years ago, we were

spinning our wheels and we're

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like, we're an innovative company.

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How are we going to innovate?

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We saw a little bit of the market change.

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We saw the human receptionist

service not growing as much.

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We were a little bit stagnant.

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So we're like, what are we going to do?

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And I remember our CEO coming into

a leadership meeting and he's we're

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going to build an AI receptionist.

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And I'm like, what?

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I was like, what do you mean?

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What does that mean?

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We're human first.

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Humans are so important to us.

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Like, how are we going to

build an AI receptionist?

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Are they going to

replace our receptionist?

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All my little bells started to go.

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And I'm like, where's the market research?

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Where's the validation?

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Like, I wanted the stats.

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I'm a very like stats and numbers person.

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So I wanted that.

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And he's I'm just telling you this

is going to be the next thing.

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Like AI is like the internet.

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It's inevitable.

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And he just had such a big

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conviction that this was going to

be what took us to the next level.

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That there was no

denying getting on board.

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Like from there, I'm like, okay,

like I may not see the path yet, but

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I really do believe this is going

to be the next step of the company.

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Thomas: So you're probably not the only

person who was going through like all

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of these questions and concerns, right?

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When you have a fundamental value

proposition, which involves having a

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whole cadre of human receptionists.

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including your first role

as you came into company.

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The employee base across the board,

probably and leadership team, everyone

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had a similar set of questions, right?

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So what were some of those like

early reactions and that process.

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Especially when you're in those

times where it's just an idea and you

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haven't actually launched anything?

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Marlene: Yeah.

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I think two years ago, we made the

conscious decision of we're going to tell

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the staff because when people feel like

you're withholding information, that's

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when they don't start trusting you.

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And I think trust is so important,

especially in moments of change.

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So back then we made the conscious

decision of we're going to bring the

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employees along the journey and we're

going to show them little by little that

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this isn't something to be fearful of.

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This is just the new way of work.

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And we might not be able to see

what exactly that looks like.

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And we were very careful too.

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Like we weren't saying have prompt

engineer jobs and your role is going

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to be exactly this or exactly that.

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We had guesstimates and visions

told a story through that way.

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but we were really mindful of

making sure that people knew

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that our humans are our lifeline.

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That's what has always made Abby special.

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That's always what has

been our differentiator,

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what has made us stand out.

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So no matter what we wanted them

to hold on to the fact that this

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is still our story of growing

people from within, bringing them

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along the journey on the next step.

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And no, we're not gonna replace you.

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And it's interesting because two

years ago we actually did say, we're

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like, two years from now, once we

launch this, like the receptionist,

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department and the receptionist

product is naturally going to grow

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as the AI receptionist grows as well.

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And I'm really happy that came true.

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Thomas: Wow.

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Before we go fast forward to how it's

happened, let's stay in that moment.

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This is a, and I want to belabor this a

little bit because I think there's some

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version of this is something that HR

leaders and leaders across the board,

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they're struggling through because on

one hand that change is inevitable in

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your market and your strategy and the

product needs to shift meet the moment.

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And the other hand, I think in your case,

it's so obviously front and center, right?

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There's a general underlying concern

that some combination of different

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AI tools eventually, or AGI might

replace like all knowledge work.

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But in this case, if you're a receptionist

and you're launching an AI receptionist,

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it's like pretty easy for everyone to put

the two together and really be afraid for

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their jobs and what it means that moment.

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How do you go about convincing

people to stick along with you

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and go on this ride together.

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Marlene: Yeah, for sure.

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I think at the foundation is trust and

the trust that we had built throughout

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so many years of letting people know

like this, we do promote from within.

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When you look at our leadership, when

you look at our staff makeup, 90 % of

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the staff has been promoted from within.

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We've only brought on external elevated

roles within the last five years, maybe.

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So it is something that's

very important to us.

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So I think people genuinely believe

like we are a caring company.

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That's something that they have seen.

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We are a human first company, which is

something that they had experienced.

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I think the missing

piece was just education.

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And I think knowledge is power.

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And the more that people know and the more

that you enable them, the more that the

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guard can start to come down and then you

can start impacting them a little more.

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Thomas: That's interesting.

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Those are some values that you've had for

several years that I think a lot of people

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talk about, but you've actually done it

in practice and you see that outcome.

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And because you're able to

leverage that in these moments

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of big shifts and changes.

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All that said, were there people

who, who left and said like this,

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I'm not going to be around anymore.

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I don't believe it.

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Like what you're saying is that

expected even with all this

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history within the company.

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Like how do you think about

that decision, which was

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pretty pivotal where you said we're

going to share this out early, right?

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Before saying, hey, this has happened as

opposed to this is going to and it's going

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to take several quarters and years even.

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Marlene: Definitely.

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You had no one left, but we did

have, we were met with some comments.

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told us this before we had launched

other things or we said we were

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going to launch things in the past.

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That's gonna be the next thing,

that's what's gonna grow us,

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we're gonna open up new positions.

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So there were those people

that are like, I've heard this

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before, it's just another thing.

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yeah, okay.

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And I think that happens with anything.

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I think you have early

adopters, the people that are

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really excited about things,.

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People that are gonna come along a

little later, they need to see other

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people use it and embrace it first.

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And then you're gonna have the

small groups that are never going

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to want to change or adopt or

be part of that and that's okay.

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We're not really talking to that group.

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We're not trying to convince the group

that doesn't want to be convinced.

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We're looking at the other two buckets

of people and really what you want to do

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is take the early adopters and especially

if they have influencer personalities and

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have them influence the rest of the staff.

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Because it's not only are people

believing us but they're going

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to believe their co-worker.

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They're going to believe the

person that they sit next to.

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And if we can impact the person that

they sit next to and that person can

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then permeate throughout the staff, what

they've seen, what they've experienced,

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then that's how you create positivity

and people getting on board all around.

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Thomas: So transparency was first up.

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And then I think you also told me

you did a lot of education, right?

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What did that look like?

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Marlene: Yeah, yeah, so we're

like, where do we start?

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We definitely need to raise our AI

literacy, especially if we're a tech

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forward company and we're coming out with

an AI receptionist and all these things.

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So we started with something that

was low stakes, which was helping

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people use AI in their personal life.

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So we didn't try to implement it into

their processes or their workflows

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or anything like that at first.

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We're like, what can put

the guard down a little bit?

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So we started talking to people

in every chance that we could in

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huddles and meetings and one-on-ones.

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Asking people like, did

you use AI for that?

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Or my gosh, they were telling me, someone

was telling me about their meal plan

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and how they're trying to get more fit.

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And then I would say something like,

my gosh, have you tried ChatGPT?

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I just tried it the other day and it

made a whole meal plan for me and a whole

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workout plan based off of what I did.

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And it's like those little moments that

add up and you'd start teaching people

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how to use that in their personal life.

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Thomas: And then did you go from

there into graduating to the

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point where that was AI was being

used in their work lives as well?

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And was there education

associated with that?

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Marlene: Yeah, for sure.

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Then the next step was to get

an LLM that they could use.

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That way we can figure out how they can

use AI at a small scale within their work.

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So for example, we do receptions work.

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Let's say we answer

for a lot of attorneys.

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So let's say a receptionist was

on a call and sometimes it's

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just really hard to figure out.

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Is that a criminal case

or is that a civil case?

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They don't really know.

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We do training, but sometimes

they do have to guess.

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So instead we empowered them to

use Copilot through Microsoft.

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And to type in this is the

situation, is this criminal or civil?

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And try to have them do things

that are very low stakes.

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And if anything, help them do their

job better and help them feel more

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confident about the job that they do,

then them feeling like the job, the

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AI is replacing their job altogether.

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Thomas: So how does it come together

such that you have your human

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receptionist and then you have your

AI receptionist coming on alongside?

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How does it work together?

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And what does that mean day to day

in terms of the activities that your

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receptionists are doing day to day?

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Marlene: I think AI has

allowed us to say yes.

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So a little backstory on Abby,

we used to say yes to pretty much

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every client and that would put

a lot of strain on the staff.

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Because they take different phone

calls for different industries before

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we used to have to learn different

medical systems like dentrics or

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like whatever your dentist would use

or your medical office would use.

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We would have to log into those and

learn the system and do that for

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pretty much every account that we

had, which was really difficult.

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So we took scheduling away

altogether a few years into our

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journey because we're like, we're

really good at customer service.

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We can't provide good service

when we do scheduling like this.

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It just doesn't work with our model.

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So for a long time, we said

no to all scheduling clients.

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Now our AI receptionist schedules.

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So AI allows us to say yes, so

our receptionist can focus on

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creating those great connections,

doing the things that our clients

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have loved for the past 20 years.

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While our AI receptionist can

take care of the scheduling, it

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could integrate with the system.

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It could do all those cool things.

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Or sometimes it's difficult to

hire bilingual speakers and our

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clients want Spanish speakers.

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Our AI receptionist is fluent in Spanish,

so it could take the Spanish call.

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So we found a way to do humans.

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Plus AI.

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They don't really substitute

each other, but they really, each

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of them have their limitations.

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Each of them have our strengths.

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We try to figure out where's

the balance between both.

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Thomas: Got it.

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So actually it improved or actually

expanded your market that you're

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able to actually address and that

you had to say no to beforehand.

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And in that process from the skill, the

capacity of the, your employees, looking

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at it from that perspective where people's

day-to-days being very significantly

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different and or do you have new types

of roles that were coming in or type of

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hybrid roles which didn't exist before?

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Marlene: Yeah, for the receptionist

department, will say their jobs didn't

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change too much because if anything, the

AI does everything in the background.

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So for example, the receptionist will

handle the call flawlessly, then the

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AI will produce a color sentiment

score to our client in their portal

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so they could see if the interaction

was positive, negative, if someone

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is upset, that way they can call them

quicker if that's what they choose.

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So it did some things in addition

to what the receptionist does.

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But for other roles, yeah, it created

AI technicians, it created AI QA

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specialist, it created different positions

that we were able to take people that

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had started off as receptionist and

then elevate them into those roles.

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Thomas: This is fascinating

because the company strategy, a

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new product, the company strategy

shifted dramatically with AI.

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A new product was introduced and

the product directly competes

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slash complements the current

services product, which is

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representative of the majority of the

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employees.

324

All of those things coming together

is quite an accelerated shift compared

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to I think most people out there.

326

There's some versions that like one or two

of these things are coming together where

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you might have a new AI product, but that

doesn't necessarily mean that it's going

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to change a lot of the day to day for

employees, or there's some new trainings

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and upskills that it's upskilling that

you're doing just to be more efficient.

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But in your case, you're doing it

all together from an HR perspective

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through this transformation.

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What do you think has been

your role and your team's role?

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And has it been any

different than in the past?

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Marlene: Yeah, I think as an

HR team, it's really important.

335

think HR is the glue.

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think especially in moments of change,

HR needs to think through those things

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on how are people going to react?

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And that's information

that's powerful to have.

339

Who's going to be upset?

340

What are they going to be upset about?

341

What are they fearful about?

342

And I think HR is that key because if

you think CEO, we're thinking product.

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How do we build the product?

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Marketing is thinking, how

do we launch the product?

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Sales is

346

thinking, how do we sell the product?

347

Operations is thinking, how do we keep

the current product that we have going?

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So HR is really that person that

needs to be cognizant of that.

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Like how are people going to feel?

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And I think the more that HR is

mindful of that, then you can start

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thinking like, how can I build

culture activities around this?

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How can I build recognition around this?

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How can I build moments of talking

points and conversations around this?

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So we did many different things.

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And I think it's important

to also know that.

356

motivation and inspiration

are different things.

357

And at some point you're

going to need both.

358

So we went through at the beginning,

we had to motivate people to use AI.

359

They weren't necessarily

inspired just yet.

360

So we created an AI bingo, which all

of our courses were on the bingo and

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whoever completed it, they either

got, I think it was like $500 cash.

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You got four hours in PTO, you

got swag, you got a lot of cool

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things and we had multiple winners.

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So that was like a fun way

to push people to do it.

365

And then the more as time went on and the

more little interactions and moments we

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had, people all of a sudden felt pulled

toward the cause and were inspired by it.

367

This has been a fantastic

conversation so far.

368

If you haven't already done so,

make sure to join our community.

369

We are building a network of the

most forward-thinking, HR and

370

people, operational professionals

who are defining the future.

371

I will personally be sharing

news and ideas around how we

372

can all thrive in the age of ai.

373

You can find it at go cleary.com/cleary

374

community.

375

Now back to the show.

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Thomas: I love those ideas to end that

separation of motivation and inspiration.

377

Need equal parts both as you're

going through a big transformation.

378

I think maybe this was, not sure about

the timeline, but proceeding or leading

379

up to this, there's also been downturns

or every business kind of goes up

380

and down depending on the market and

381

where you're exactly situated.

382

When you've done headcount

reductions in the past,

383

how do you retain trust, which then

you still seem to have later on

384

when you're doing other changes,

for example, the strategic shift?

385

Marlene: Yeah, I think really to maintain

trust in those moments is to stay visible.

386

The worst thing you could do is hide.

387

The worst thing you can do as leadership

is make these decisions, have everyone

388

feel upset, scared, all these things

and then do nothing about it and be

389

like, okay, that was the decision.

390

No, have round tables,

have open discussions.

391

I constantly do people advocates, which

is where I just pull random members

392

through the staff and just ask them

what's working, what's not working,

393

what is causing you to feel that way?

394

How can we improve?

395

And just getting insights from everyone

has really helped us throughout the

396

years because it's not just leadership

at the top making all these decisions.

397

It's really bringing people

in to those decisions.

398

And I think in those moments also

empowering your middle managers,

399

because a lot of times your middle

managers are the closest people

400

to the people that are affected.

401

So a lot of times leaders or the

higher ups try to be the ones that are

402

influencing and telling people to feel

better or telling people that it's

403

going to turn around and this and that.

404

But once you have your middle

managers believe that they're the

405

closest in relation to that person.

406

So they really do have more

influence and more power to make

407

people feel ease and to make people

feel more calm and stay on board.

408

Thomas: That population set

specifically has been under attack

409

and been squeezed from all sides in

the broader labor market, I would say.

410

So yeah, that's interesting that

you focus in on middle managers.

411

How did you go about empowering them

further in these times of big shifts?

412

Marlene: Yeah, think holding conversations

between myself, the VP, we're just

413

a very transparent, open company.

414

So anyone can talk to anyone really.

415

And we like to be

forward-facing at all times.

416

So as a leadership group, we make

the decisions and then we do what's

417

called cascading information.

418

So then we cascade all those

decisions down to middle

419

management and we explain why.

420

We allow them to ask questions.

421

We allow them to debate us and come up

with other ideas and other solutions.

422

We allow them to anticipate how

their teams are going to respond

423

and how we can help them navigate

through those conversations.

424

And we also have a really good pulse

on our staff, like who is more likely

425

to be on board, who's more likely to be

a little skeptical, things like that.

426

So we can have tailored conversations

with the middle managers and help them

427

navigate those conversations better.

428

Thomas: So a theme I'm sensing from your

own career journey at the organization

429

to how you're talking about the majority

of leaders have been promoted from

430

within and started as receptionists.

431

It seems like there's a big culture of

not just promoting from within, but also

432

just finding new opportunities for people

and it might be lateral moves as well.

433

And now that you have all these new

titles, new roles coming in, are there

434

possibilities for example, a receptionist

to go into more AI adjacent roles or...

435

because I think that's one of

the core questions with the

436

economy moving towards AI.

437

It's like, there are these new jobs

that are going to be created and there

438

are shifts in what you need in terms of

skillsets to be able to take them on.

439

the question is, can we enable

at scale anyone pretty much

440

to move into those roles.

441

Marlene: Yeah, absolutely.

442

And for us, we found that the

receptionists are the perfect people

443

because they know customer service.

444

They understand how customers respond,

what they want to hear, what they want to

445

see, how they value those interactions.

446

So they come in with the perfect

mindset to transition to AI technician,

447

for example, where they're QA-ing

how the AI is handling the call.

448

Instead of them taking the calls, the

AI is taking the call and now they're

449

reviewing the calls that the AI is taking.

450

And they come in with a fresh set

of maybe they should have been a

451

little more empathetic or maybe

the AI missed the mark here.

452

They're the perfect people for that.

453

Thomas: That's great to hear because

I think that really what you're

454

talking about is domain knowledge.

455

And I think that's so important

and that's so useful in so many

456

different arenas where there is an

entrance of AI into the workplace.

457

Let's talk a little bit

about the HR function itself.

458

So there's been this massive

transformation with the company,

459

receptionist, products, and everything

you're doing to enable the whole

460

organization to future-proof yourselves.

461

Tell me a little bit

about the HR function.

462

How have you evolved, if

at all, also in this era?

463

Marlene: Yeah, this is a great question.

464

That's actually one of my focuses for

this quarter is how do we improve hiring,

465

for example, or our hiring process?

466

How do we make it more efficient?

467

How do I let my talent acquisition

specialist do what she does best,

468

which is having those conversations,

being able to vet people.

469

She's really good at that.

470

Giving tours around the

office, doing all those things.

471

We have a big bottleneck

when it comes to resumes.

472

Like going through resumes, get, gosh,

like 600, 700 resumes every few weeks.

473

And to go through those

manually is almost impossible.

474

I'm surprised she could do it.

475

So it's so difficult.

476

And then making all those first

phone calls, and then we have a

477

pretty extensive hiring process.

478

So figuring out what are those

bottlenecks and what are those tasks

479

that can be automated so she could

focus on the people person aspect of it.

480

So that's one of the

things that I'm looking at.

481

Thomas: Exciting.

482

So then are there other areas, if you just

think about these like bottlenecks, if you

483

just imagine more broadly for HR teams,

what are the big opportunities you think

484

which can really help us both do more and

be more efficient and be future-proofed?

485

Marlene: Yeah, for sure.

486

I think in L&D and training,

there's a huge aspect to it.

487

Like, I'm not a big believer

in typing ChatGP and ask it to

488

create a whole lesson plan for

you and that's what you implement.

489

I think it takes balance, right?

490

You need to curate it

for your own company.

491

But that alone saves so much time on

having ChatGPT or whatever tool create a

492

course for you, create an outline for you.

493

We implemented an LMS throughout

this journey and having

494

an LMS system that has...

495

I forgot what it's called, but

basically it has some sort of co-pilot

496

where it automatically

makes courses for you.

497

You tell it how many modules you want,

how many do you want videos, do you want

498

it to speak in British, do you want it to

speak in comic book, like it has so many

499

options and boom, within five minutes,

it can create a whole lesson for you

500

that then you can go in there and tweak.

501

So that has been really helpful and

just overall, sometimes if you're

502

questioning your judgment, I like

to pop in there and I like to ask

503

ChatGPT to challenge my thinking.

504

Am I really right?

505

Are you telling me that I'm right?

506

What am I not thinking about?

507

What can people say to this or what

reactions could people have to this?

508

And I have it be my

little devil's advocate.

509

Thomas: These are great use cases.

510

And then if you were to project ahead for

your team at Abby Connect, what do you

511

think an AI enabled HR team two to three

years down the line looks like for you?

512

Marlene: Yeah, I am so excited.

513

I think having those tools more

than anything right now, that is

514

something that we're working on.

515

don't necessarily have too many tools.

516

So that's what I'm looking at

seeing identifying those bottlenecks

517

and I oversee hiring, training,

learning and development culture.

518

So it could be as simple as how do

you write this culture email to as

519

complex as creating those lesson plans.

520

Challenging our hiring process,

doing benchmarks for pay and seeing

521

what the competitive benchmarks are.

522

As we expand from local hiring to

global hiring, what resources do I need?

523

Like an EOR system, like ChatGPT is

giving me that information, right?

524

You can only learn so much in school,

you can only learn so much in the job.

525

Sometimes you just, the company is growing

and there's just things that maybe I

526

haven't encountered how to do yet or how

to take the company to the next level.

527

Chat is the first place

that I'm going to go.

528

I'm not going to believe everything

it says, but it's going to give

529

me enough to run with that.

530

Then I can figure out what those

future hires are, what those future

531

legalities are that we have to look

out for and all those cool things.

532

Thomas: You think given that future,

you might have some recommendations for

533

someone who's new and looking to get

into HR coming out of high school or

534

college and is interested in the field?

535

What can they be doing to have

the skills and be ready to make

536

an impact in the next few years.

537

Marlene: Yeah, I think especially

with AI is using it in your

538

everyday in any way that you can.

539

And that's something that we look for

now in all new candidates that we hire

540

for elevated positions, not so much

for the receptionist position just yet.

541

But for example, I'm hiring a

full stack developer right now.

542

And one of the requirements is for them

to use some sort of AI tool like Claude,

543

for example, or we're looking for a social

media manager that we just hired me for

544

them to have some sort of maybe they

don't know the tool exactly, but maybe

545

they're at least on the thought of I'm

going to find a better way to do this.

546

So I'm going to find a more efficient

way to do this through an AI tool.

547

So I think really for any job,

not just HR, it's finding out what

548

those bottlenecks are for you.

549

What are those frustrations

for you in the day to day?

550

And how can you find tools to make

that quicker and more efficient?

551

That way you can do all the cool

things that you really like to do.

552

You can spend more time there, selfishly.

553

Thomas: That is the big promise.

554

This has been a pretty wide

ranging conversation, but really

555

focusing on your efforts on the

enabling the entire organization.

556

think what's really unique about

from what I'm hearing about

557

what's happening at Abby Connect.

558

So there's such a confluence of

different factors that has made a giant

559

transformation where the organization just

looks so different from two years ago.

560

And also it was proactive planning

and it didn't happen to you.

561

You picked a direction and got

everyone moving in, that world.

562

Maybe we can close out on what I think

is a little bit of a helpful note.

563

So you mentioned a while ago,

but I said, let's hold off on it.

564

Come back to that.

565

So now you've released this AI

receptionist product, but then now

566

you're seeing there's more demand

than ever for human receptionists.

567

How does that happen?

568

Tell me about this, how you realized

this success and the job's never done.

569

It's always ongoing, but how did you

get to this particular place, which

570

is the promise a couple of years ago?

571

Marlene: Yeah, the promise come

true is what's really exciting.

572

We actually just had an AI

round table with our CEO came.

573

He's here in the office, but we made a

round table where employees can come in.

574

They can get an update on where

we're at with the company.

575

We just went to market with AI

receptionists not too many months ago.

576

So they want to know like,

how many clients do we have?

577

Have we grown?

578

How's this going to impact us?

579

And yeah, he said a really neat fact,

which was the fact that the more AI

580

receptionist clients that we get, the

more human receptionists that we get.

581

Because our AI is backed by humans

and that's our brand differentiator.

582

That's something that our clients have

actually really been gravitating towards.

583

AI companies are popping up left and

right when you take a company that has

584

20 years of experience and delivers

with the human backed at the behind it.

585

It's really meaningful to clients to

know like the AI is not just gonna

586

run off and do whatever it wants.

587

The AI is not gonna do all these things.

588

We have our AI technician who

QA's 100 % of the calls that is

589

taken by the AI receptionist.

590

But clients like to know like if

their caller doesn't want to speak to

591

the AI, can they divert to a human?

592

Yes, you can.

593

If the AI is struggling to understand

for some reason or the client's really

594

frustrated, the AI can pick up on that

and then reroute the call to the human.

595

Thomas: So that combination with the human

being in the loop is a key differentiator.

596

And yeah, it's funny.

597

I see that being the case for so

many different domains at this

598

moment, because it's a tool that can

help us make things more efficient.

599

But depending on the domain and

the kind of problems being solved,

600

you don't want to get it wrong.

601

And you want to escalate to a human

or get the thing resolved quickly.

602

In

603

your domain, people can call for

a million types of things, right?

604

It's really hard to focus it down.

605

It's really helpful to be able to escalate

to a trained person who can deal with

606

that situation live in that moment.

607

So I can see how that

is a key differentiator.

608

And it's, I think a very hopeful

note for how there's a combination of

609

people and AI can actually get to more

productivity and better outcomes faster.

610

So both for your clients

and for your organization.

611

This has been such an awesome

conversation, Marlene.

612

Thank you for talking through this

big transformation that you've done.

613

And I think you've, like I said

many times, addressed a confluence

614

of factors that is impacting all of

us out there in a very direct way.

615

And I think there's so many

ways that people can compare

616

their own experience, right?

617

What are they coming up against and

how can you go after it proactively,

618

whether it's within their own function

with the product or in terms of

619

reskilling and upskilling and change

management and communication, you're

620

doing all of the above and did it fast.

621

So thank you for sharing

your experience and for.

622

Thank you.

623

And then for everyone out there

who is following along and future

624

proofing your own organizations and

your own HR functions, good luck.

625

Hope you took some great nuggets

of insight from this one and

626

I'll catch you on the next one.

627

Bye now.

628

Thanks for joining us on this

episode of Future Proof HR.

629

If you like the discussion, make

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630

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631

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632

See you next time as we keep our pulse on

how we can all thrive in the age on AI.