Conduent’s Mandy Huckaby talks AI, customer experience, navigating change

Conduent is leaning into artificial intelligence to help clients navigate budget constraints, improve service quality and streamline operations, according to Mandy Huckaby, vice president and general manager of customer experience management.

Speaking on Fierce Healthcare’s Podnosis podcast, Huckaby said the company is focused on helping clients “do more with less” by integrating AI across customer-facing and back-office functions. She emphasized that AI is not new to Conduent, which has used the technology for more than a decade.

“AI is literally just having technology augment an interaction,” Huckaby said. “We’ve been doing technology augmentation with chat, digital landscaping and other services for a long time.”

Conduent’s AI strategy targets three areas: pre-engagement automation to help customers self-serve, agent support tools to improve response speed and quality, and back-office enhancements such as document processing and legal text analysis.

In healthcare, Huckaby said AI is being used to support nurses and HR representatives, among others. The company also partners with vendors like Microsoft to deliver sentiment analysis and quality audits.

Huckaby said clients are increasingly looking for creative problem-solving and authentic customer advocacy. “It can’t just be reading off a script,” she said. “Our customers are looking for empathy and understanding.”

As industries face rapid technological change, Huckaby said Conduent encourages its teams to remain agile and forward-thinking. “Change is inevitable,” she said. “It’s our ability to be flexible and agile through that change.”

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