At the forefront of an organisation’s relationship with its customers, the customer service department is not only critical in leading that engagement but also in driving business efficiency and effectiveness. With Michael Mullings, the CEO of ChatFlow, a Software as a Service company providing sentiment-aware customer support, Michael discusses, among other things: how he got from BPO to becoming a tech entrepreneur; the problem ChatFlow is trying to solve; the factors that contribute to customer satisfaction; and the advice he would give his younger self.

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music!!

It is almost inevitable. At some point, we all need to call an organisation and speak with its customer care department. Often, it can be a stressful interaction since the reason why we are contacting them is to seek a remedy for a problem being experienced.

However, although the Caribbean region is known for its friendly people and is a longstanding tourism destination, paradoxically, the customer care experience in many Caribbean organisations can leave a lot to be desired, and can range from exceedingly long wait times to speak with an agent, to agents being rude or dismissive of a customer’s issue.

In this podcast episode, we are chatting with an entrepreneur who hopes to improve the customer support experience in the region using artificial intelligence.

 

Introducing our guest

Michael Mullings

With a career spanning over a decade across the business process outsourcing (BPO) and bespoke software development industry, Michael Mullings is an accomplished Data Scientist and Engineer. He began his journey in the BPO sector, working his way up from a call centre agent to account manager roles. His pivot into the software development space was driven by the impact of COVID-19, reigniting his passion for building enterprise-level software solutions that address business challenges across multiple sectors, including fintech, telemedicine, retail, and tourism.

In 2023, Michael identified a critical gap in customer service for startups and its impact on brand reputation. This led to the founding of ChatFlow in 2024. ChatFlow is an AI-driven customer support platform designed to revolutionise customer service.

It provides an all-in-one solution for deploying, managing, and optimising customer support through advanced sentiment analysis and natural language processing. The platform ensures personalised and effective interactions, overcoming integration complexities and scalability issues.

Under Michael’s leadership, ChatFlow is on a mission to break the stigma associated with customer support in Jamaica and beyond, setting new standards for efficiency and effectiveness in the industry.

 

Insights into our conversation

Coming from the BPO industry, Michael had the opportunity to observe and experience customer support from the inside out and across various roles, and was thus able to compare the world-class service that was being delivered internationally with that provided in Jamaica. The disparity was wide, but fixable, and ripe for a solution.

In our conversation, it is readily evident that Michael is data-centric. He uses data to contextualise the problem ChatFlow is trying to solve, and of course, to measure performance.  However, metrics have also been developed so that clients can adjust their operations almost in real time, which suggests a near-clinical approach to improving customer support, and he is in the process of registering patents on the process that has been created.

Below are some of the questions posed to Michael during our conversation.

  1. Tell us about ChatFlow. Why did you set it up, and what services does it offer?
  2. Okay, let’s step back a bit. Tell us a bit of your entrepreneurship story.
  3. How do you determine whether a prospective customer is a good fit for using a product like ChatFlow?
  4. How do you measure a chatbot’s effectiveness and performance? 
  5. What have you learned about the factors that contribute to user satisfaction?
  6. You were part of a trade mission to Guyana. What takeaways, if any, did you have from that experience?
  7. What is it like being an entrepreneur in Jamaica? What do you think about the country’s start-up environment/ start-up culture?
  8. What has been the biggest lesson you have had to learn in launching startups and running your own business?
  9. What is the best piece of advice you would give to a young tech start-up?
  10. Where would you like to see ChatFlow in the next 3 to 5 years?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise might be useful.

 

 

Images credit:   M Mullings;  ChatFlow;  Freepik;  Gerd Altmann (Pixabay)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez