AllYouCanTech

Your Phone Carrier’s Customer Support Could Be Undergoing Major Changes Soon – Here’s Why

The FCC is turning its focus back to wireless carriers, intending to overhaul customer support processes. In early March, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr declared that the agency would tackle how phone, internet, and cable companies outsource to overseas call centers, asserting it generates “confusing service, delayed support, and even security risks.” Nearly a month later, the FCC revealed its proposal, categorizing America’s customer service challenges into three main areas.

First, it looks to limit the rise of offshore call centers, likely introducing caps on the fraction of calls that may be handled overseas. Second, it strives to enhance customer experiences by implementing language proficiency and training standards. To address security issues, the proposal seeks to restrict the types of interactions that can occur abroad, potentially limiting whether passwords, financial transactions, or personal information can be shared with foreign call centers. In addition, the FCC aims to restrict the locations where companies can set up their customer service operations. Lastly, it plans to tackle the surge of robocalls and fraudulent customer service scams affecting constituents.

Moving ahead, the FCC will seek input from the industry and regulators regarding these proposed rules. However, the proposal notably provides limited details on how it will enforce its new regulations. It does, however, clarify the direction the FCC intends to push the nation’s customer service sector. Coupled with the continuing shift of customer service roles toward AI-driven systems, the proposal indicates an impending transformation in America’s customer service landscape that likely raises more queries than it answers.

The proposal: a detailed examination

The FCC’s main goal is to motivate companies to bring back domestic call centers. The proposal does not suggest a complete prohibition, but it does recommend a cap on the “fraction of calls that may be routed to international call centers.” To further promote domestic customer service functions, the agency aims to require companies to disclose the locations of their call centers, both as a collective and on a per-call basis.

The FCC posits that its proposal will “enhance the customer service and security of interactions between an American and any call center that remains overseas” by “mandating workers at call centers to be proficient in American Standard English and properly trained for resolving issues with U.S. customers.” Companies must also provide customers with the option to “transfer a call to a U.S.-based customer service representative” upon request. It seeks to address perceived privacy and security issues. According to the announcement, this may necessitate that calls involving “passwords, multi-factor authentication details, social security numbers, and bank or credit card details, or any combination thereof” be processed domestically.

Additionally, this will prohibit companies from utilizing call centers in “foreign adversary” countries, where they “are vulnerable to exploitation, influence, or control by foreign adversary governments.” The agency also aims to combat “scam calls” by establishing financial obstacles that “can eliminate the profitability of those operations.” However, specifics of such a system remain unclear, as the commission continues to explore guidance on how scammers should be identified and penalized.

An unclear future

It’s challenging to predict how the proposal will affect the average American, as the extent and nature of these regulations remain uncertain. The primary concern will likely be costs. According to estimates mentioned in the proposal, the average salary of a customer service representative in the U.S. can be up to 23 times higher than in India. To mitigate expenses, companies will probably turn to AI. Gartner forecasts that 80% of customer service inquiries will be automated by 2029.

However, Gartner warns that such measures are unlikely to lower costs, as another of its studies indicates that generative AI may become more expensive than offshore call centers by 2030. In fact, it anticipates that 10% of Fortune 500 companies will increase their customer service spending significantly through this practice. One counterargument suggests that increased customer satisfaction potential will counterbalance those financial outlays. According to Qualtrics XM Institute, poor customer service results in $3.7 trillion in losses for companies each year. However, initial findings show widespread dissatisfaction with AI-automated customer service features, casting doubt on those claims. Another critical concern is security.

Similar to the FCC’s ban on foreign-manufactured routers, it’s uncertain whether the proposal effectively addresses the underlying causes of these criminal activities. The National Consumer Law Center discovered that robocall scams cost Americans up to $30 billion in 2021 alone. On the surface, it’s unclear whether relocating U.S. customer service operations will sufficiently eliminate the technical framework enabling these scams. Naturally, the FCC’s suggested fees and data limitations could make an impact, but further information is required to assess whether the anticipated security benefits will ultimately justify the costs.

a more seamless Android experience (the higher the frames per second, the less noticeable it is when one is dropped). Therefore, if you’ve also sensed that things aren’t always as fluid as they ought to be in the Android realm, you are not alone.

Specifically, Android’s messaging functionality has been a longstanding issue for Google, but that doesn’t imply you can’t enhance it with a few simple adjustments to your settings — assuming you know where to find them. Instead of enduring a frustrating texting experience on your Android device, isn’t it time you took action?

By eliminating a few extraneous features cluttering Gboard and accelerating animations while adopting a more elegant, intentional typing method, along with some collaboration from your close contacts to alleviate communication obstacles, you can significantly enhance your texting experience on Android with these four suggestions. Rest assured, dedicating some time to fine-tune a few settings on your Android device will enable you to text with assurance and ease while steering clear of the more frustrating overcorrections frequently integrated into commercial software meant for wide use.

impact on the environment and on cognition.

U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) put forward legislation aimed at regulating the government’s application of artificial intelligence. This legislation is partly a reaction to a recent public confrontation between AI firm Anthropic and the Department of Defense concerning defense contracts. Executives at Anthropic expressed worries about how the U.S. government was utilizing its technology, especially in relation to domestic surveillance and autonomous weaponry.

The Pentagon asserted that it already has restrictions in effect that prevent the use of AI for enabling mass surveillance by the military or for making autonomous kill decisions. Anthropic continued to doubt that the current policies were free of loopholes that the administration might take advantage of. In response, the Pentagon labeled the company as a supply chain risk, terminated its contract, and directed all federal agencies to sever associations with Anthropic. The company is presently pursuing legal action regarding this classification.

In Season 6 of Shark Tank, which aired in 2014, Sway Motorsports garnered attention as a potentially transformative player in the realm of dependable and secure urban transport. The offering was an electric three-wheeled scooter. A participant on the show, one of the “sharks,” expressed enough interest to propose a deal. However, that arrangement never materialized post-show. This can occur when a deal fails to pass a follow-up due diligence phase, wherein both sides assess their mutual understanding and weigh the risks against the benefits. The reasons behind the deal’s failure to close are unclear, but it appeared to signal the demise of Sway Motorsports. These scooters never entered production.

What distinguished Sway Motorsports was its unique three-wheel vehicle design. The episode claimed that this configuration rendered them safer than conventional two-wheeled scooters, such as the all-terrain electric scooter from Segway. The scooters were capable of traveling up to 60 miles on a single battery charge and could reach speeds of 60 mph. Their ability to carry bags and allow the rider to remain stationary without the need for balance made them seem perfect for urban commuting. The “sway” in the name derived from the fact that riders could lean to steer the scooter.

Details of the Sway Motorsports Shark Tank deal

Sway Motorsports was showcased on Shark Tank by founder Joe Wilcox, who aimed to transform urban transport similarly to how RocketSkates sought to in Season 7. Wilcox had already manufactured and presold some of these scooters and could demonstrate their functionality. He aimed to sell them via dealerships for $7,999 each. He requested $300,000 from the panel of potential investors in exchange for a 10% equity stake in the company. The purpose of the funding was to assist Sway Motorsports with its manufacturing processes.

The sharks were largely doubtful. Many felt that Sway Motorsports was unlikely to achieve successful production, although they found the concept quite intriguing. When Mark Cuban expressed a desire to see the company expand further, Wilcox successfully persuaded him to invest now for a larger percentage: 20%. Despite Cuban’s agreement, the deal ultimately fell apart after the show.

Sometimes entrepreneurs on Shark Tank who do not secure a deal still manage to find success. For instance, the creator of RocketSkates received no deal, decided to abandon the skates, and has since continued to develop other urban transport innovations. In the case of Sway Motorsports, however, the outcome has clearly been unfavorable. From what is visible, the company seems to no longer operate.

Does Sway Motorsports have a future?

Upon investigating whether Sway Motorsports has any intentions of bringing these scooters to production in the future, we encountered rather bleak information. Sway Motorsports’ website seems to be entirely nonfunctional — the page fails to load. The company’s last post on Facebook dates back to 2017, promoting an event featuring the brand. The final Instagram post and the most recent YouTube uploads are also from 2017. Throughout the years, numerous commenters on these social media platforms have inquired about purchasing the electric scooters and the company’s operational status. None of these queries have received a response.

Joe Wilcox maintains a professional profile on LinkedIn. His career history is notable, with experience as an industrial designer for NASA and MIT, as well as time spent as a toy inventor and designer at IDEO. Sway Motorsports is detailed in his career history, indicating he served as the Founder and CEO from 2013 to 2018. There is no LinkedIn business page for Sway Motorsports, suggesting it is unlikely that the company has undergone any ownership transitions.

The shortage of urban transport options is a persistent challenge in many cities, paired with the difficulty and cost of finding parking. This issue has driven Elon Musk’s Boring Company to develop underground tunnels for personal public transportation between major city landmarks. It appears that Sway Motorsports will not be part of this initiative.

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