Throwback Thursday: This Time Last Year

Throwback Holiday Card - Circa 2011

2013

Hi all, 
As the end of the year is approaching, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at 2013.

Throughout 2013, noHold (with the influence of our customers) has focused on many different facets of the business. Towards the middle of the year, we officially launched the premiere of our updated website, www.nohold.com, and also announced our newest Knowledge Management platform, SICURA™, designed to augment our products portfolio. SICURA™ provides a better way to organize, store, and share information, securely. 

Our customers have expressed more interest in eCommerce, and focusing on ways to increase sales for companies in brick and mortar stores as well as online. eCommerce made quite an impression this year and is expected to continue to grow. SalesAdvisor™ makes it easier for companies to provide exceptional customer service, while providing support. Simple QR codes placed on the packaging of an item serve as a Virtual Agent that shows up on your smart phone and answers any questions you have regarding the product and ratings; and provides the end customer with limited time coupons and ability to share the experience via social media.  Virtual Agents enhance self-service and are quickly becoming a preferred interaction channel. 

This year, our customers have shown more interest in the integration of Virtual Agents to augment Salesforce.com. In particular, the Virtual Agent enhances Salesforce.com in five ways: 1) Integrates with Salesforce Knowledge, 2) Escalates to leads, 3) Pre-empts live chat, 4) Escalates to case, and 5) Provides personalized responses, all in an interactive and diagnostic experience. To get more information on augmenting Salesforce.com with a Virtual Agent  click here. 

Next year is going to be another busy year for noHold. Stay tuned for more details about how Virtual Agents play a role in the Internet of Everything (IoE) next year. 

Happy Holidays!

Throwback Thursday: Holiday Traditions

The smell of pine trees, the sound of sleigh bells all around, red and green decorations, and twinkling lights can only mean one thing... the holidays are here! The holiday season is a time of tradition no matter what you celebrate. Here at noHold we have a few holiday traditions of our own. Before the office closes for the holiday, all the employees gather around for a cup of hot chocolate and Pandoro (a traditional Italian sweet bread that is popular around the Christmas season). We participate in a small gift exchange game all while enjoying the holiday treats. 

eCommerce is no exception to holiday traditions! The traditional Cyber Monday, which occurs a few days after Black Friday, where you can find major savings online and avoid the holiday crowds. Another customer service holiday tradition is the "12 Days of Giveaways." This is a contest when different stores donate items to giveaway to lucky contestants! In fact, just this year Apple decided to join the tradition and bring the "12 Days of Gifts" to the United States. Apple will be giving away a free download for 12 days throughout the holiday season.  

With the abundance of holiday shoppers looking for those yearly discount, this is the busiest time of year for customer service and support representatives. A new holiday customer service tradition is the ability to ‘share’ purchases, support solutions, wish lists and more via social media. Today, Virtual Agents are capable of taking the load off of the contact center while increasing Customer Satisfaction. Check out the slideshare below as an example.

How to Increase Sales by providing a great Customer Experience that is easy to socialize. from noHold, Inc.

What are some of your holiday traditions?

Happy Throwback Thursday!

Throwback Thursday: Best Practices for Troubleshooting

Happy Throwback Thursday!

A recent deployment of a Virtual Agent integrating with a troubleshooter got me thinking about the progression of troubleshooting and how it has enhanced over the years.

Circa 2010, noHold created a modem troubleshooting Virtual Agent that  incorporated the knowledge from top modem providers...a sort of all in one Virtual Agent. It would be a place for consumers to go to find problems with any of their devices. This product was directed toward telecommunication companies by providing them with a way to support their consumers know matter what company their modem is from. For example, if someone is having a problem with their modem, they can type to the Virtual Agent, "I am having problems with my modem," and the Virtual Agent would respond with a list of modem brands for you to pick the correct model. This Modem Troubleshooter was made possible by Confederated Knowledge. Here is a screenshot of the modem troubleshooter powered by noHold.

In today's market, a global leader providing digital products, services and solutions, including industry-leading laptops, tablets, HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc™ and media streaming products and much more integrated Virtual Agent technology with their troubleshooting solution.  

The Challenge: The company built a flash troubleshooting solution, but noticed many users abandoned the tool, and they did not know why.

The Answer:  A Virtual Agent!  They added an “Other” option to the flash troubleshooter where end users can type in the issue in their own terms.  This launches the virtual agent, which can report on the user queries AND provide solutions.

Here's a sample of how the troubleshooter offers the Virtual Agent as an option.

Whether a Virtual Agent is being used as a troubleshooter or a compliment to leverage troubleshooting, it is a great asset to any company's customer support program. 

Cheers!