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  1. The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX
  2. #785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI
#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX · Dec 17, 2025

Avaya CTO David Funk discusses Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a way to give AI persistent memory, ending fragmented customer experiences.

Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) Standardizes How Disparate AIs Share Information

MCP acts as a universal translator, allowing different AI models and platforms to share context and data. This prevents "AI amnesia" where customer interactions start from scratch, creating a continuous, intelligent experience by giving AI a persistent, shared memory.

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI thumbnail

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX·5 months ago

Avaya's "Tandem Care" Model Frames AI as a Partner to Elevate Human Empathy

Instead of replacing humans, AI should handle repetitive, routine tasks. This frees human agents to focus on complex issues requiring empathy, listening, and critical thinking. This partnership, termed "Tandem Care," enhances both efficiency and the quality of the customer experience by combining the best of both worlds.

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI thumbnail

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX·5 months ago

Enterprise AI's Future Is Smaller, Cost-Effective Models Trained on Specific Domains

Instead of relying solely on massive, expensive, general-purpose LLMs, the trend is toward creating smaller, focused models trained on specific business data. These "niche" models are more cost-effective to run, less likely to hallucinate, and far more effective at performing specific, defined tasks for the enterprise.

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI thumbnail

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX·5 months ago

De-Risk Enterprise AI Rollouts by First Assisting Human Agents Before Customer-Facing Deployment

To mitigate risks like AI hallucinations and high operational costs, enterprises should first deploy new AI tools internally to support human agents. This "agent-assist" model allows for monitoring, testing, and refinement in a controlled environment before exposing the technology directly to customers.

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI thumbnail

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX·5 months ago

Contact Centers Are Ideal Labs for Measuring AI ROI Due to Their Constrained, Data-Rich Environments

Unlike other business areas, contact centers have highly sophisticated, pre-existing metrics (like average handle time). This allows businesses to apply the same measurement tools to AI agents, enabling a direct and precise comparison of performance, cost, and overall effectiveness against human counterparts.

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI thumbnail

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX·5 months ago

Agentic AI Creates Adaptive Customer Journeys, Ending Prescriptive "Phone Tree" Logic

Unlike traditional systems built on pre-defined paths, agentic AI can react and tailor its response to a customer's specific, evolving needs. It enables a genuine dialogue, moving away from the rigid, frustrating experience of being forced down a path that was pre-designed by a system administrator.

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI thumbnail

#785: Avaya CTO David Funck on building persistent memory of the customer with AI

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX·5 months ago