Throwback Thursday: Paving the Way for Siri

Happy Throwback Thursday!

     

     For this weeks Throwback Thursday, I wanted to shed a little bit of  light on the Virtual Agent industry...before there was even a name for this space! When Siri was still a far off, almost crazy idea and before IBM's Watson was able to be the winner of America's favorite QuizShow Jeopardy, Virtual Agents had already been on the market. noHold has been creating Virtual Agents since 1999 and saw a great deal of publicity in 2001 with the demand for these Artificial Intelligences only increasing. Back in 2001 as well, leading analyst firms did not know what to call such an industry. People were referring to Virtual Agents as self-service solutions, interactive knowledge platforms, service bots, etc. Whatever you wanted to call them, Virtual Agents were making their way to the spot light in the eyes of large PC manufacturers, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars in a short period of time on customer support. Check out the article to the left which states that in 2001, a Fortune 500 company saved $290,000 in less than 4 months during a pilot program using InstantSupport powered by noHold.

     With the advancement of technology, innovators are always finding ways to create the latest trends that can do pretty much anything you would ever want. But without Virtual Agents or Artificial Intelligence paving the way, there might never have been the creation of Siri or Watson. Being able to learn from the past is a powerful ability and is where most great ideas stem from. "The past is never where you think you left it." -Katherine Anne Porter

Cheers.

Laptop Magazine Tech Support Review

     The web is becoming one of the most popular channels for consumers to find answers to support questions about a product they just purchased. Over half of consumers will make their first attempt to solving their problems by looking online. “75% of surveyed consumers said they would prefer to use online support if it were reliable and provided accurate and complete information; 91% say they would use an online knowledgebase if it were available and tailored to their needs.” (http://www.customerthink.com/blog/12_take_note_online_customer_service_statistics_for_2012) Customers are expecting immediate answers to the questions they need answered. Laptop Magazine conducted a survey on many companies’ customer support methods and gave them a grade based on these surveys/tests. Virtual Agents are becoming more popular and more of the norm now because of their efficient capabilities to lead you to your solution, quickly.

Virtual Agent powered by noHold

     Laptop Magazine surveyed a large PC manufacturer that utilizes a Virtual Agent powered by noHold. This method of customer support helped this company receive such a high grade for web support.

     There are a variety of different strategies when it comes to customer support, especially on the web, but Virtual Agents are becoming the most effective channel for customer satisfaction and reduction of costs. Virtual Agents can provide answers within a few clicks. When end users are in need of fast answers, sometimes there is a ‘hold time’ associated with other channels. In the laptop review, Virtual Agents for customer support require ‘no hold’ (pun intended) and had the quickest and most accurate response. 

To read the whole article and find out how other companies did check out the Tech Support Showdown 2012 

 

Throwback Thursday: Customer Experience Action Plan

Happy Throwback Thursday!

     This Thursday I wanted to take some time to write about a webinar from 2011. This webinar comes from a leading analyst firm and is presented by well known analysts. "Build Your 2012 Customer Experience Action Plan Now" talks about exactly that... creating an effective action plan to increase positive customer experience. I can not emphasize enough the importance of happy customers. And it is not just the sales and customer service departments that make consumers happy, the whole company contributes to Customer Experience Management (CEM), from product design to IT and Call Centers. Even though this webinar is from a few years ago, I believe it still provides relevant/useful information to improve CEM. 

     Towards the middle of the presentation they start to explain how expensive live support is and suggest innovative alternatives to this costly option. One of these alternatives is a noHold solution, more specifically the Virtual Agents from a fortune 500 Telco and a leader in networking devices. Companies that utilize these self-service solutions decrease their expenses because customers will not have to connect with a live person; and also increase positive customer experience because they don't have to wait and speak with multiple representitives (which typically takes forever) that might not know the solution you are in need of.

     In the end, happy consumers = happy company. To check out the full webinar click here. If you do not have an account, you can register for one for free to watch on demand webinars. 

Have a great week!  

The Art of Managing a Tech Support Center presented by Bill Rose

  We all know the complications that come along with managing a tech support center. Staying current on all the service technologies and understanding which is the best fit for your company is only a small portion of the knowledge needed to run an effective tech support center. Join Bill Rose as he “unravels the mysteries of service technology” at his two day, hands on workshop, "The Art of Managing a Tech Support Center.” 

     He is currently in Toronto, Canada today and tomorrow presenting. If you missed your chance to register for this workshop there are going to be few more throughout the year in different locations. 

• Toronto, Canada May 15-16, 2013

• Boston, Massachusetts July 23-24, 2013

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Sept 18-19, 2013

• Santa Clara, California Nov 19-20, 2013                                                                                      

     Don't miss this great opportunity to expand your knowledge of managing a tech support center. This workshop is especially useful for "VP's, Directors, Managers, Supervisors, and Team Leads who have responsibility for technology services for either internal or external customers." Click here to register for any of the dates and locations mentioned above. 
Cheers! 

Throwback Thursday: Connected Virtual Agents

     For this week’s throwback Thursday, I wanted to bring your attention back to a blog written by Angela McIntyre, a research director from Gartner. Back in 2011, she wrote a blog titled "Human or Chatbot."  Angela discussed the advantages of Virtual Assistants, in particular the Virtual Assistants with the capability to pass the conversation on to a partner Virtual Agent. "Some providers of virtual assistant technology seamlessly link the virtual agent for the company that makes the device, with the virtual agent of the company that makes the connector box, with the virtual agent of the company that provides the software application, etc." noHold is the only corporation that utilizes this type of technology which we call Confederated Knowledge (CK). Since two out of three calls in the call center are related to third party products and services, it is advantageous to customer satisfaction (not to mention cost wise) to be able to direct your consumer immediately to the right solution.

     As always, I love to leave you with a quote, so here is a quote from Diego Ventura, the founder and CEO of noHold, Inc. "noHold is pleased to enhance the partnership between our customers through CK. However, the real winners here are the end users who can solve their problems quickly on their own terms without having to visit multiple sites." Click here for the full press release.

    Enjoy the rest of your week. Cheers!

Throwback Thursday: Customer Service via Facebook

Throwback Thursday!

     Forrester believes that Facebook matters to customer service. With such a vast audience on Facebook, and really all social media channels, it is important for companies to give their consumers what they really want...GREAT customer service! Back in 2011, Forrester analyst, Diane Clarkson, wrote a blog emphasizing the benefits of utilizing Facebook as another way to give great customer service, and in turn improve customer satisfaction. noHold was mentioned in this blog for promoting customer service on Facebook via our Virtual Agents. Diane's blog applied then, and with the Facebook audience only continuing to grow at rapid rates, it applies just as much now. 

     

     We have the same opinion, Facebook is an excellent way to promote online customer service and we provide innovative ways to implement these practices. In May of 2011, noHold became one of the first Virtual Agent providers to offer Facebook integration. Having the ability to implement your company’s Virtual Agent on Facebook not only offers more customer support to your consumers (who can complain about that?), but also allows you to analyze metrics in a way you could not do before. With this large audience, it is important to understand what types of questions are being asked. Knowing the answers to these questions gives you the power to create better products/services for your patrons. 

     "Since the very beginning, noHold has been all about empowering people to get the information they need, when they need it, and on their own terms. We share this goal with Facebook, so being able to integrate with their platform is a natural result of our strategy." - Diego Ventura, CEO, noHold, Inc.

Happy Throwback Thursday!