Posts by Ian Dooley

AI can do incredible things. But without the right guardrails, it can also… Say the wrong thing, violate data privacy, fail regulatory compliance and damage your brand reputation. We design every Clear Virtual Assistant with smart safeguards: 👉 Controlled responses 👉 Role-specific rules 👉 Bespoke knowledge base 👉 Clear escalation paths 👉 Brand-consistent tone We…

RIGHT NOW… He’s under the sink, earning. But his phone line is fully covered… 3 calls answered, 2 bookings secured and zero missed opportunities. The benefits of Clear Virtual Assistant for small businesses are HUGE. Your business never stops – even when you’re flat out (literally). Our AI answers the calls, handles enquiries, takes bookings…

“Did not attend” appointments waste so much time in the health sector – but there is a solution. In 2023, over 513,000 outpatient appointments in Ireland ended in a DNA. That’s 14% of all bookings, or around 10,000 no-shows a week! The UK has a similar problem with over 8m no-shows in 2022. For hospitals…

Still forwarding office calls to your mobile? That might work in a pinch, but it doesn’t scale. Missed calls, no audit trail, no structure and no time to call everyone back. Clear Virtual Assistant picks up instantly, deals with many common call subjects, captures what’s needed and knows when to escalate to a you… even…

“Can I have the long card number please?”… Sound familiar? It should make your security senses tingle. In an age of data breaches and compliance crackdowns, saying your card details aloud over the phone just isn’t safe – or necessary. With Clear Ideas Agent Assisted Payments, your customers never have to say a single digit…

Let’s face it, asking customers to read out their card details while hoping no one’s listening isn’t exactly 2025 behaviour. That’s where Agent Assisted payments comes in… 📱 PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant 📱 Customer’s card data never enters your systems 📱 Your agents can stay on the call to guide and support 📱 You stay…

We’ve all experienced this. 60% of customers told HubSpot that repeating themselves is their biggest frustration with call centres. But only 1 in 5 businesses told Salesforce that they have a system that tracks caller history across interactions. That means a few things. Customers may not call back because they weren’t helped the first time.…

What are Ireland’s CEOs thinking? PwC Ireland have just shared their 2025 survey of Irish CEOs and the results are very revealing. Firstly, there is confidence. Around 3/4 expect Ireland’s economic growth to improve and almost all CEOs are confident that their company’s revenues will grow. But – there is a real recognition that change…

How often do you call a business, listen to their pre-recorded options and then think… “I don’t know which number I should press now”? The problem with creating automated call menus is that they’re trying to be all things to all callers – which often means they just confuse people. Wouldn’t it be better if…

How long would you wait on hold? This survey showed that 60% of people would hang up after only 1 minute. Almost 90% would have hung up by 5 minutes on hold. Think about it… Those are customers or potential customers, all wanting to talk to you, but giving up and probably going somewhere else.…