Smarter Call Center Training: How AI Is Changing the Learning Experience

What happens when classic instructional design models meet cutting-edge AI tools? In this episode of Powered by Learning, Transcarent's Director of Learning and Development Sheldon Thomas talks about applying the ADDIE model to a modern healthcare call center environment, from multi-stage onboarding to AI-enabled simulations. Learn how his team balances speed, personalization, and strong design to deliver training that actually changes performance. 

Show Notes:

Transcarent's Director of Learning and Development Sheldon Thomas shares how his team uses AI-driven role plays, performance coaching, and thoughtful design to prepare team members for complex member conversations. His key takeaways include:

• Align L&D to business outcomes. Sheldon shares how Transcarent’s learning strategy mirrors the company’s mission to improve member health outcomes—using the ADDIE model to connect learner needs, performance metrics, and measurable impact.
• Design a multi-layered onboarding journey. New Performance Development Coaches move through a blended learning experience that combines instructor-led training, self-paced eLearning, performance development coaches, and a “cocooning” phase with supervisors to build both competence and confidence.
• Use AI role plays to make practice realistic and scalable. AI-driven simulations on Udemy’s platform allow health guides to practice complex conversations, demonstrate empathy, and navigate systems in a realistic, time-bound environment—without pulling live agents off the phones.
• Balance interactivity with meaningful design. While AI tools in Storyline and Rise accelerate development, Sheldon emphasizes that true design goes beyond uploading content—it’s about curating experiences that are both Interactive and genuinely engaging.
• Look ahead to real-time, personalized performance support. Sheldon envisions AI delivering just-in-time coaching immediately after calls and targeting specific skill gaps, moving beyond one-size-fits-all training to truly personalized learning in the flow of work.

Powered by Learning earned Awards of Distinction in the Podcast/Audio and Business Podcast categories from The Communicator Awards and a Gold and Silver Davey Award. The podcast is also named to Feedspot's Top 40 L&D podcasts and Training Industry’s Ultimate L&D Podcast Guide.

Learn more about d'Vinci at www.dvinci.com.
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Transcript

Susan Cort: [00:00:00] Artificial intelligence can help L&D teams create engaging and impactful training once you determine how and when to use it. 

Sheldon Thomas: It's been such a challenge for us to really figure out what is that sweet spot of leveraging all these various tools that we have now available to us, but still stay true to what design really is and the importance of design.

Susan Cort: That's Sheldon Thomas, Director of Learning and Development at Transcarent, a healthcare experience company. From a multi-stage onboarding journey to AI driven role plays and real-time coaching. Sheldon explains how thoughtful design translates into better performance and better member experiences. Next on Powered by Learning.

Announcer: Powered by Learning is brought to you by d’Vinci Interactive. d’Vinci's approach to learning is grounded in 30 years of innovation and expertise. We use proven strategies and leading technology to develop solutions that empower [00:01:00] learners to improve quality and boost performance. Learn more at dvinci.com.

Susan Cort: Joining me now is d’Vinci Learning Experience Director Jenny Fedullo and our guest, Sheldon Thomas. Sheldon is Director of Learning and Development at Healthcare Experience Company Accolade, which is now a part of Transcarent. Hi Jenny, and welcome to Powered by Learning, Sheldon. 

Jenny Fedullo: Hi, Susan. Great to see you, Sheldon.

Sheldon Thomas: Thank you so much for having me. It's good to see you guys as well. 

Susan Cort: Sheldon, start things off by telling us a little bit about your company, your role, and a bit about your career journey. 

Sheldon Thomas: Sure, sure. So as you stated, I am the Director of learning Development with, uh, Accolade, which is now again, Trascarerent, and I've been with the company now about a year, about nine months.

Uh, but I've been in the learning and development space for, goodness. I don't wanna say exactly how long, but let's just say 20 plus years. Um, I originally started my career for any dinosaurs that may be listening to this, uh, as one of those kind of standup trainers in a computer learning center type environment.

So I would be tasked to train Microsoft [00:02:00] Office in Vorhees, New Jersey one day, I could be teaching web design in Delaware the next day. And so I would just travel from place to place, uh, teaching those different software products. And just eventually over time, uh, worked my way into a more standard corporate environment, doing new hire training, new hire onboarding, e-learning development.

And just eventually over time, worked my way up to being, uh, a leader within the learning and development organizations. So, uh, that's a little bit about me and, uh, how I got to where I am today. 

Susan Cort: Tell us, tell us a little bit more about your company. What do you do? 

Sheldon Thomas: So Transcarent is really, really focused on helping members, and this is what we call our customers.

We call them members, get more clarity around their healthcare journey. And what I mean by that is, as you guys are well aware, when it comes to your benefits, the care that you go through, uh. In network, out of network claims benefits. This is such a, a universe of different issues and challenges that a person could have in their healthcare journey.

And so what our company is really focused on is that, uh, we work with different [00:03:00] clients, different employers that, uh, contract with us to help their employees. Understand their benefits, understand what they have available to them. And in addition to that, making them of, uh, sure they're available to partner with various vendors that we have partnered with us.

So it could be an expert, second medical opinion, it could be experts in cancer care, it could be experts in musculoskeletal situation. So we really are that bridge and that connector to make sure, uh, that members get the care that they need to make their healthcare journey as smooth and easy and painless as possible.

Jenny Fedullo: Wonderful. Yeah. Sheldon, I have the same 20 plus years background as well. And I also have a similar, um, in my prior role I worked for Coventry Healthcare, which was then acquired by Aetna. But I, under being in that role or at that company, I understand how important what you are doing, what your company is doing to.

Mm-hmm. To really act as advocates for members is so critical. 'cause it's just not easy to navigate. [00:04:00] Absolutely. It's not space at all. Very helpful. Yeah. 

Susan Cort: Very confusing. So, mm-hmm. We, we appreciate what you and your company do. 

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah. So, I know you shared a, you know, the background of accolade now, Transcarent.

But tell me a little bit more about how your learning and development strategy supports the company's mission to improve the healthcare experience. I know at d’Vinci in the upfront planning and discovery with clients, we, we really. Purposefully wanna connect that training directly to the business impact.

So I'm curious how you, how you approach that. 

Sheldon Thomas: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, what's far very interesting about it is that our approach from a learning and development strategy very closely aligns to the strategy of the overall business. And I'll explain a little bit more what I mean by that. Yeah, so as I said a few seconds ago, that Transcarent is really focused in simplest terms in driving member outcomes.

Making sure they have the healthiest lives they can possibly live. And so for us from a learning and a development perspective, we have a very similar need to try to drive learner outcomes, making sure that our learners get the outcomes that they need and [00:05:00] that they're looking for and hit the performance metrics, uh, that they're looking to attain.

And so. For me, I actually go back again. I keep calling myself a dinosaur to the ADDIE model, and that ADDIE model for me still works, right? And it actually applies not only to our business, but also to what we do by learning and development. So I'll give you an example. So when you think about the ADDIE model, starting off with analysis from a business perspective, that's really our first and most important step in working with our members.

Understanding what they're going through, what doctors have they seen, what test results have they seen come through, and then from there using that information to really start to figure out what's gonna be the best plan of care for that specific member. From a learning and development perspective, it's no different.

As you guys know, analysis is probably the most important part of what we do from learning and development. Mm-hmm. What are the needs that the people have? What skills do they already have? And using that information to really help us to go into the next part of the ADDIE model, the design and develop.

Right? Right. So designing and developing a learning program that really [00:06:00] matches the needs, and then whatever plan we need to put together to make sure it achieves those goals and meets those needs. No different than for our members from a healthcare perspective where you have to design and develop. An actual plan of care for them to make sure that they get to the healthcare outcomes that they're reaching for.

And then from there, you have your implementation. Let's go ahead and start this plan of care for our members, making sure that they're seeing the right doctors, that they're getting the right medications, that they're doing all the things they need to do to be health. The same thing for our learners.

Let's implement our learning plan and making sure that they're getting everything that they need to perform on the job, and they have the skills and knowledge to perform the job well. And then lastly, let's evaluate, right? Mm-hmm. So from an evaluation perspective, did the plan of care that we put forward for our member, did it really achieve the goal that they were looking for in terms of.

Being healthy and living the healthiest life they can. Same thing for our learners. Did we really hit the mark? Are they really getting to those goals that we establish for them from a performance perspective? So, I know that was a pretty long answer, but the, the added model, in a [00:07:00] strange way, really does align very well to the overall company's strategy and what it is that we're trying to do.

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah. It's so interesting because the Addie model truly has transcended time, right? I mean, it, it works. I just love models that are simple. They work, they make sense. And for us, I know we kind of have a hybrid model we call our analysis phase discovery. Mm-hmm. And again, it's, it's so important to start there and spend, spend.

Time really analyzing the learner, the need, the organization, all of it. Absolutely. 

Susan Cort: Absolutely. 

Jenny Fedullo: So I know you lead both onboarding and ongoing development for your health guides. Mm-hmm. Which is no small feat in a fast-changing environment. What, what does that journey look like? What is the overall structure of the program?

Sheldon Thomas: Sure. Absolutely. So it is no small feat as you stated. Right? And so let's start with the onboarding piece. So the learning journey actually uses a, a blend of learning approaches, which I'm sure a lot of people use today. So we have instructor-led training and depending upon what level of health guide you are, you might be [00:08:00] 10 days, 15 days, 20 days.

It just really depends during that instructor-led period, we also use self-paced e-learning, so you may. Live instruction, let's say for an hour or two. But then you'll have a small segment that is about 20 minutes or so of an e-learning. And then you'd come back to your live instruction. So then after you've gone through your 10 or 20 days, let's say, of this kind of classroom environment, which is peppered in with some self-paced e-learning, then you move on to work with a separate team in which we call our PDCs, which stands for Performance Development Coaches.

And so you can think of this almost like a little incubation phase where they work with a dedicated team of about two or three performance development coaches, and from there they use what's called tethered and an untethered phases of support and training. So all that simply means is that for the first, let's say five days or so after you've come out of the classroom training, you work with these performance development coaches.

They listen to you on the phone and they actually can. Be on mute, but listening to how you're performing, how you're doing, and if the [00:09:00] person is really struggling, they can mute themselves. Ask a question of that performance development coach. The coach will give them some guidance, some help, and they can go back to the call.

So that's during that tethered phase. Then in the untethered phase, they would actually go through the call on their own, the agent or the health guide, and then after the call is over, that's when the performance development coach would give you more feedback and more coaching on what you did well and what you could do better in the future.

Then on top of that, we also have a newer thing that we've tried over this last year and we're, it doesn't have a formal name, but we almost call it like a cocooning phase. So that's after you've gone through classroom training with our facilitators, and then after you've gone through this performance development coaching sessions, uh, with our PDCs, then you go with.

Through a cocooning phase with your actual supervisor, where they are now actually listening to you take calls and they're giving you feedback and giving you, uh, the coaching that you may need as you start the role. So it really is a lot of different layers and a lot of different opportunity to really get the new hire into competency and [00:10:00] confidence and in a, in a nice smooth way.

So, they have a very smooth ramp up as opposed to just dropping them out there and say, all right, good luck. Right. Uh, and see how you do. So, we really do take a lot of time and a lot of, uh, patience to really make sure we get the folks to where they need to be. 

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah. I, I love that you've kept the human element through, through, you know, this shadowing process.

With the PDCs. That's something that, that many of our clients value as well. But the one thing is the consistency. So how do you maintain, 'cause you never. You know, it could be a different experience depending on who they're, they're sitting with or who, who is their, you know, their PDC. How do you maintain that consistency in, in those experiences?

Sheldon Thomas: Absolutely, absolutely. So the PDCs, they actually have a, they're a separate team from my team, but I work very closely with their team. And what they do, they actually do calibrations. And so they really sit down and evaluate across that very small team to figure out, all right, how we actually wanna grade a, how someone performed in this situation or in this call.

Did they show the right empathy? And so that calibration exercise [00:11:00] is the most important part of what they do. To make sure, to your point, that they are all aligned. That if I'm evaluating student A, you're evaluating student B, that we're evaluating them the same way. And so it's that calibration exercise that they do on a regular basis that really makes sure, make sure that they maintain that consistency across the board.

Jenny Fedullo: Right. I love that. Yeah. So I know you had mentioned when we talked, uh, we talked a little bit about, um, role play. And we know it's great for practice, but it often lacks the realism and consistency. So you should bridge that gap, right? From when they're, when they're in the learning environment to when they're.

They're starting to be, well, you have the tethered and untethered, but mm-hmm. I know for d’Vinci, we were with clients on really creating simulated experiences to close that gap. What challenges led you, I know you've mentioned that you're looking or using Udemy's platform. So I'm curious what, what brought you to there and what's your experience been? 

Sheldon Thomas: Awesome question. So I would say it's been two things. Number one, it really has been an imperative [00:12:00] by the company to continue to drive all of our different departments and teams to look for ways to leverage ai, to help us to work smarter, to work faster and more efficiently.

So there was just this overall kind of, uh, imperative at the, at the highest of the organization. Um, because one of the things that we are focused on is leveraging AI and how we support our members today. So, for example, we have. At our app where you can go onto the app and you can ask a question and it'll give you a response to say, uh, I wanna find out if this doctor is in network or out of network.

You can just type that in and get a response right there and then, so our overall kind of mantra or overall philosophy really is heavily focused on ai. So then to transition to how or why we started to use it, uh, in our learning and development space because. As you guys all know, the biggest challenge is time, getting time to get people off the phones to actually practice with a live person.

It is really a barrier for us to, to be efficient, to making sure they have the skills and knowledge to do the job. Secondly, I would say. [00:13:00] We do a lot of our role play today, or what we call peer practice with new hires. And when you're have one new hire doing a peer practice with another new hire, they may not necessarily have all the rights responses, have the right knowledge to really make it a truly engaging and interactive discussion.

And so in some cases, some of those peer practice role plays that you do with you know, one new hire with another one, they can fall a little flat sometimes because they just don't have enough. Sure. You know, source information to really have a good conversation. And the third thing I would say is because our processes evolve so much and there's so much nuance to what we do, role plays can be a bit challenging.

Uh, when you're talking person to person. So then why did we go to AI? Because number one, let's speak to the time issue. It allows us to create a scenario or situation literally within 10 to 15 minutes, right? So I can plug in a very specific scenario, a profile or persona. I can then specify all the specific things a person should [00:14:00] say, uh, within that interaction, and not just what they should say, but how they should say it. And so the AI has the ability to evaluate, did the person use the right words to express empathy, to share their concern, and to really let that member know that they really want what's best for them out of the various solutions that we may be offering to them.

Susan Cort: That's fascinating. 

It's, it's really, really awesome. Stuff and, and just kind of mind blowing to a degree. I'll give you a quick example. Uh, I created an AI role play, and let's say I gave the AI role play a name, Sally. And we went in and we hit the start button and we went through the role play and I accidentally called the AI by a different name.

I said like, I don't know, Joan or something, and the AI actually said, my name is not Joan. My name is Sally. And I, it just kind of shook for a second, like, oh my God, it's. So adaptive and so reactive, it knows that that's not the name that it was that's supposed to have. Um, and the other great thing about it, to my point about new hires not necessarily having, uh, you know, enough experience to really [00:15:00] have a fruitful discussion.

Another example with the AI that we've seen is that it has the ability to fill in gaps and almost like the backstory. And what I mean by that is in the one scenario, we wanted to have health guides engage with the AI and probe to understand how this per particular person, had this particular injury.

And so all we told the AI was that you have a back, back issue or back situation. But then as we engaged in the role play, we asked our health guides to actually ask, well, how did you, how did you injure your back? And it filled in a whole backstory that we did not pre-program into Wow. The program. It just automatically said, oh, I was moving some boxes and I hurt myself.

And so it really, really is transformative in the way that it could adapt to what the person is saying. And give a real-life experience, even though it's a simulated experience. 

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah. It's so interesting. So back, oh gosh, is it late nineties, early two thousands when I was in call center training? We, uh, [00:16:00] used this tool called Star Trainer.

It was a company called Symtrex. What it did was allow the agents to, you know, record themselves and follow a script. Right? But it was so prescriptive, right? There was no, none of that adaptive and it couldn't react, and it literally was like, you have to stick with the script, so, right. I'm almost, I'm jealous of, of, of, wow, if we could have only had those tools way back when, 

Susan Cort: You're, you're really setting your team members up for success to make that patient experience so much better too. 

Jenny Fedullo: Absolutely.

Sheldon Thomas: Absolutely. Yeah. 

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah. So what, what results are you seeing? Are you, are you, you know, you're saying it's quicker on the creation side of the house. Mm-hmm. But are you, are you seeing results yet on the, with the, with the health guides? And are you able to measure the impact or are you just a little too early in the game yet?

Sheldon Thomas: Absolutely. So we are in some ways, and so very specifically, we work with some, uh, employers that have very specific, very nuanced rules and processes around, you know, the benefits and the care [00:17:00] that their employees have. And so what they will do a lot of times with our organization is that they will engage in audits of how well our health guides can respond.

And answer questions around their very specific rules, processes, and protocols. And so over this last few months, we've actually, with one of our clients, created several AI role play, uh, modules that were very specific to this very specific employer. And so we had them go through at least three to five different role plays and they had to answer very specific questions around the specific client.

So then a week or two after we finished those trainings, the audit was begun by the client, and what we found is that we've had some of the highest scores we've ever seen in our audits. And so they were able to go back and look over the last number of years and how we typically scored in our audits, which has always been very high.

But it even got to the point where some of our health guides were getting a hundred percent scores on those audits, and so. I don't wanna sit here and say that it's [00:18:00] all because of the AI role play that we've introduced, but I would be, I, I really feel pretty strongly that it was a contributing factor in terms of people being able to perform at such a high level when it came to the audits that we, we had just had a couple months ago. So that's the first way we're really starting to see some movement in terms of the use of the AI. And then lastly, I would say we also implemented it within the last couple months in perforation for open enrollment.

So open enrollment is obviously that period of time when everybody has an opportunity to make their elections for their benefits. And so we do a lot of work and take a lot of time to make sure our, our health guides are prepared to answer those questions, guide people through those thoughts that they are decisions they need to make.

Obviously not making the decisions for them, but just making sure they have all the data and information to make an informed decision. And so within our administration system, there are a lot of tools that we have that allow you to compare, you know, one plan versus another plan and making sure our folks are comfortable with that.

And so through the AI role play, not [00:19:00] only did we train them on how to have that conversation during open enrollment, but then really how to multitask. So you have the AI role play on one side, but you also still have to use our admin system to navigate to different screens and different tabs. And long story short, we found through some confidence estimate surveys.

People really felt confident and comfortable using the tools to be able to give people the right answers. So just very simple surveys that we did that said, you know, based upon the training that you took, how confident that you feel that you could do A, B, C, and D, and people really did score fairly high on their confidence level on how well they would be able to perform those tasks.

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah, I know when we, back to my Star Trainer days, we had, when we went live with it, we did a control, the whole scientific method, right? We did a control and an intervention group and measured, you know, standard call center numbers. You know, how quickly were they able to get to the number of calls answered in a day.

Um, you know, things like that. But it really [00:20:00] did make a, make a difference when they could truly. You know, practice in, in, in that type of 

Sheldon Thomas: Absolutely, absolutely. 

Jenny Fedullo: Environment. Yep. 

Sheldon Thomas: And the other interesting thing I would say about it too, at least the way that Udemy uses it today, is there's actually a time limit on that simulation or in that role play.

And so not only does it teach you to how to have the conversation, how to demonstrate the appropriate empathy, but you can't stay on the phone for 45 minutes. Right? 

Jenny Fedullo: Right. 

Sheldon Thomas: So it does have a clock that's kind of ticking off to the right that. Yes, we want you to show the right empathy. We want you to resolve the member's issue, resolve whatever their need is, but at the same time, do it in an efficient manner so that you're not on the phone for 10 and fifteen, twenty five, thirty five minutes.

And so it does help us try to find that sweet spot of addressing the member's need, addressing the member's issue and being efficient at the same time. 

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah, that's good. So I know you've started using AI features in Storyline and rise development. And we've been exploring and piloting as well.

Have you noticed, you know, [00:21:00] how are the tools changing the way your team designed or, or updates your training? 

Sheldon Thomas: So it's, it's an interesting question. It's been such a challenge, um, for us to really figure out what is that sweet spot of leveraging all these various tools that we have now available to us, but still stay true to what design really is.

And the importance of design. Mm-hmm. For me, a lot of, in a lot of ways, some of these tools have almost made it too easy to create things and, and things don't feel as designed as they necessarily could have or should have been, or would've been, let's say in the past, right? Because what I struggle with is sometimes I'll look at a module and it, it really just feels like a glorified PowerPoint or a glorified PDF in some ways, where you can take content, copy it, and paste it into Rise, and then publish it and say, oh, we've designed a course well.

Again, I don't know if everybody would agree with me. I dunno if that's necessarily designed per se. Right. Uh, the best analogy I can give is, you know, if you think about, uh, a living room, right? Is the room decorated or is it [00:22:00] curated? Like, is there a very specific reason you put that chair in that corner, put that table in that spot, or put that lamp over there?

A room that really feels cohesive and really feels like it's been put together is because there's a very specific purpose for where it is and then how it's gonna be used. So for me, it's a similar from an e-learning perspective, that yes, we have all these great tools that can do a lot of great things and save us a lot of time.

Really being thoughtful on the design aspect because you can have something that's Interactive, but it's not necessarily engaging. 

Jenny Fedullo: Right. 

Sheldon Thomas: So, yeah, you made me click on some things, but I can still do it somewhat mindlessly. And so we're, for us, the real challenge has been how do you make it Interactive and engaging, uh, using all these AI tools.

So to get back to your, I guess your root question around storyline and Rise, what we really have tried to do is find that sweet spot. And where we've landed is in terms of trying to get things done quickly and efficiently, is using Rise as kind of like our foundation, right? Because it is easy to use, it is easy for our learners to navigate.

But then [00:23:00] how do we pepper in various engaging Interactive exercises or components within that overall rise framework, which could look like you may have a rise interaction or block for let's say section one, but then maybe section two is an actual storyline interaction of some sort that is a bit more engaging, that's got the voiceover, that has the audio, uh, that you engage in.

And then maybe it goes back to a different rise interaction. So finding that balance of bouncing back and forth between. Pieces that have audio pieces, that don't have audio pieces that are a bit more Interactive and some pieces that are just reading. Um, but I will say overall the AI has been extremely helpful in helping us to produce things quicker.

Um, as I keep saying, I feel like a dinosaur sometimes. 'cause in my head I kept thinking, well, if you're designing a course, it should be all Storyline. You know, you should be able to create your storyline course from start to finish. Well, as we all know, that can take a really long time, and god forbid you run into an error or an issue or something's not working the way you enter.

Ended [00:24:00] storyline can be a bit time consuming. So finding the sweet spot using the AI tools where you can do the voiceovers very quickly, you can create images very quickly. It really does help us get to market faster with a lot of the courses that we need to create. So it, it creates simplicity and it allows us to do things faster, but it does really also challenge us to really stay focused on not just our learning objectives, but what exactly.

Is the design and making sure there is design in what we produce and not just a, a cop or reproduction of some other thing like A PDF. 

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah. I, I, your journey I think is very similar to ours and we're in that same stage of finding that sweet spot. We are finding, you know, with Rise, how you can quickly, with the AI tool is, oh, let me see this in a carousel block, as opposed to, you know, a different type of block so we can kind of.

Lay things out quickly for you rather than having, you know, to build them. But yeah, interaction is not necessarily engagement. So that is, that [00:25:00] is a great lesson for everyone listening. Yeah. So looking ahead. Yeah. Where, what excites you the most about AI and how it is gonna help evolve the training that, that you're doing?

Or just in the indus industry in general? What, what are you seeing if you look in that in your magic ball? In my magic ball? 

Sheldon Thomas: So what excites me the most is, is the speed in, the speed and personalization, I'll put those two together. Right? What excites me is that I can very clearly see in the future there's gonna be the potential for real time performance interventions, and so from a call center health guide perspective, I can very easily see a world that, let's say I'm on the phone, I've just finished an interaction with a member, obviously that been recorded, and there's an AI in the background that's.

Listening into this conversation, and as soon as I hang up that phone, it can say, Hey, you did a really good job with X. You did a really good job with this. In the future, you may wanna do this, you may wanna do that, you may wanna do this. And so it's [00:26:00] that, that real time intervention. Real time, yeah, real time feedback in terms of how you're performing, because…

If you guys are familiar with some of Josh Bersin's work in terms of this learning and the flow of work is, one of the thoughts that have been coming over the last number of years about how people need to learn as they're working. 

Susan Cort: Yes. 

Sheldon Thomas: And it also kind of reminds me if you think about things like TikTok and YouTube, the way people learn today, they need it in real time.

They need it fast. Like I need to just type it in, hit search and, and it presents it to me. But again, what excites me about AI is just. The ability to not even have to search for it. It already knows what you need based upon how you've performed in a specific scenario and situation. So I think that speed and personalization is really what excites me the most.

And, and I'll talk a little bit more about personalization in the sense that. We can all fall into the trap sometimes of, let's say, if you know the organization, see, it says we need everybody to have more training on, let's say, customer service. And so then you'll roll out this blanket training for everybody on all aspects of customer service.

But most [00:27:00] likely you have a decent percentage of folks within your organization that are pretty good at asking questions, are pretty good at showing empathy, but maybe it's this one specific area of customer service that they could use a little bit more. Polish or a little bit more coaching. And so when you're able to do more personalized training, more personalized interventions, you can really hit more specific, that really sweet spot for that individual and what they need as opposed to making them go through, I don't know, a 30-minute training on all aspects of customer service spend.

Yeah. You know, they're good at doing the intro, they're good at doing the probing, but where maybe. They're not as good as summarizing next steps, and so how do I make sure that I get the focus training on what I need on how to best summarize next steps as opposed to taking a full on training. 

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah. 

Sheldon Thomas: If that makes sense.

Jenny Fedullo: I love it. That that's definitely exciting to see what's coming and what we can do. 

Sheldon Thomas: Absolutely. 

Susan Cort: Agreed. Well, I know the two of you have referred to yourselves as dinosaurs, but I, I say quite the opposite. I think that this is really exciting [00:28:00] stuff that you're talking about, and I love Sheldon, what you're doing and how you're being so thoughtful and using AI to, to not only meet the needs of, of the people in your, uh, call center, but also anticipating what they might need to help them develop in their own career journeys.

It's, uh, it's really fascinating stuff. 

Sheldon Thomas: It really, really is. And one other example I'll give you how we're leveraging it is that not just having folks engage in the AI by themselves. One of the things that we've actually started in the last couple of months is actually having supervisors observe their employees as they're engaging with the AI and as they're navigating in the admin system.

So that way the supervisors now have the knowledge. The view, the insight of how a person would act, actually interact in the real world. So again, they would watch their employee interact with the AI role play, giving responses, answering questions, but also navigating in our system. And so that supervisor now has that confidence that in the real world, that person should be able to perform accurately because they've actually seen it done in a [00:29:00] simulated environment.

So it really does open up a world of opportunity. 

Susan Cort: Yeah, for sure. Well, we wish you continued good success with all that you're doing. Yeah, absolutely. And thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today. 

Sheldon Thomas: No, my pleasure. My pleasure. It's always good talking to you. 

Jenny Fedullo: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Took me back.

Susan Cort: My thanks to d’Vinci Learning Experience Director Jenny Fedullor and our guest Sheldon Thomas from Transcarent for joining us today. If you have ideas for a topic or a guest, please reach out to us at PoweredbyLearning@ dvinci.com. And don't forget that you can subscribe to Powered By Learning wherever you listen to your podcasts.