Virtual Agents Help Fight The Flu Season

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

I wanted to start off this week by addressing all the coughing, sniffling, and sneezing you have been hearing around lately. School started back up, seasons changed... and the dreaded flu season sneaks up on us again. Here is a short video from CNN's YouTube channel with some Do's and Don'ts for the flu season. 

During these peak seasons, an influx in call volume pours into the call center; including companies in the health care industry. "Should I get a flu shot?" "Where can I get a flu shot nearest to me?" "My young child has the flu, what should I do?" These are all typical questions that get asked during these times that can cause a lot of congestion in the call centers. Utilizing automated self-service, such as a Virtual Agent, allows patients to get answers to their questions quick and easy. Not only is it easier for patients, but it also benefits call center agents, who now have more time to answer complex questions that require human intervention.    

noHold has customers that come from a wide array of industries: from consumer electronics, health care, telecommunications, financial, security software, and more. The ability for companies to customize Virtual Agent content, as well as the style of the conversation makes these self-service applications the perfect solution for any business in any industry, especially during peak seasons.  

In the future, will Virtual Agents be able to interpret symptoms and make a diagnosis? Can a Virtual Agent act as an advice nurse during hours when a human is unavailable? Tell us what you think. 

www.nohold.com

The Internet of Everything Improves Cities

Smart phones, smart cars, smart homes, and now, smart trash cans. This video shows how Philadelphia is moving towards becoming a 'smart' city by installing solar-powered trash compactors for the public. 


Video Credit: cnn.com

As they mention in the video, "The big belly solar compactor automatically crushes down it's trash, allowing it to hold 5 times the amount of garbage as a standard waste basket. When it's full, it sends an alert to a website indicating it needs to be emptied. That little alert makes a big difference." With the capability to hold more garbage and send notifications when it is time for a trash bin to be emptied, the city becomes more efficient, while saving money.

Internet connected trash cans are just another example of how smart technology is impacting our lives. As more and more things become 'connected', people will start to interact with Virtual Agents(VA) on a daily basis as their primary source to manage all these devices.

Do you think VA's are going to play a big role in the Internet of Everything? Can you imagine a 'butler-style'  Virtual Agent that can communicate with all your devices and notify you when something needs to be done?
www.nohold.com

Throwback Thursday: Managing Crowded Cities with the Internet of Everything

Photo Credit: suspectphotography.com

City of Tomorrow video. 

Above is a link to a video from CNN.com about a company using traffic cameras and algorithms to reveal data about pedestrians; essentially, becoming a part of the Internet of Everything (IoE).

The video was set in New York City, one of the most crowded places in the United States, with millions of people walking around daily. The Department of Transportation would hire individuals twice a year to use umpire pitch counters and manually track the number of pedestrians walking by. Using this method is not always accurate, though. In today’s society, now that everything is connecting to the Internet, a startup called Placemeter is supporting this phenomenon. Using various cameras around the city, they can count the number of people outside and inside buildings and turn those camera feeds in useful data.

Capturing these numbers and turning them into actionable data that can be accessed by the public is just another way to stay connected through the Internet. As they mention in the video, “Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours a year waiting in lines.” This technology can help the public reduce the number of hours they spend waiting in line. 

Imagine a world where a Virtual Agent can augment this type of technology by organizing and communicating this information to humans. For example, a Virtual Agent might have access to this data and let users know how many people are at the grocery store so it can estimate how long it might take you to go shopping. Or the Virtual Agent might notify you that your favorite restaurant has a short wait time. The more information you have on a location, the better equipped you are to manage those areas.

How do you feel about the ability for cameras to count people and share this information with the public? Would a Virtual Agent help to provide the 'human element' to transform this data into loyalty and efficiency? 

www.nohold.com