The Next Web Interviews noHold's CEO for Insider Knowledge on What's Going on in the World of AI

Article of the week: The Next Web's Josiah Motley wrote an article about how AI is transforming customer service. He asked Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold, to share a few of his thoughts on the topic. He goes into the increase in consumer interaction with AI (whether we know it or not), and, the question that gets asked all the time, what does that mean for our jobs. 

"I see Virtual Assistants [VAs]  for one, as a way to primarily improve the customer experience and, two, augmenting the capabilities of existing employees – rather than simply taking their jobs. VAs help users find information more easily. Most of the VA users are people who were going to the Web to self-serve anyway, we are just making it easier for them to find what they are looking for and yes, prevent escalations to the call center."

Read the full article here: https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/06/07/ai-transforming-customer-service/#.tnw_TwuTok8B

Black Friday: 4 Tips to Avoiding a Customer Service Nightmare this Holiday Season

Ready or not, the 2015 holiday season is among us! While it may be the happiest time of the year for some, it can quickly turn into a nightmare for customer service professionals if the right measures aren't taken to ensure smooth sailing through the season. 

Some companies have been preparing for this rush since the end of summer, and rightfully so. 2015 is expected to be the "most connected holiday shopping season - ever. Almost half of holiday shopping occured online" (thinkwithgoogle.com). "In 2014, Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday set new (online) sales records with 1.33 billion and $2.4 billion spent. This number is only expected to rise for 2015" (shortstack.com) We can't forget about the growing trend of Cyber Monday either. Check out the infogrpahic below sharing 2014 Cyber Monday results.

Photo Credit: pfsweb.com

These couple months are the biggest time of year for businesses to see growth in every aspect of their company. "Ad impressions get a 50 percent boost, [Click-through rates] CTRs skyrocket 100 percent, direct traffic grows 150 percent, average order values rise 30 percent and conversion rates increase 60 percent" (Entrepreneur).

With the expected spike in traffic during this season, consumers already anticipate long wait times and rude people; and companies witness customer satisfaction scores drop. But what if there was a way to keep up with the increase in demand AND maintain customer satisfaction, though? World-class brands have accomplished it, and with the right recipe so can you. Here are some tips to help your company continue to hit top sales all season, while (doing the most important thing) keeping customers happy. 

Tip #1 Planning ahead- As mentioned earlier, it is always helpful to get a head start so you aren't frantically trying to get everything set up in a short amount of time.

Photo Credit: capitolmediasolutions.com

Tip #2 Hiring enough help- Making sure you are not under staff during the rush season has a few positive affects. (a) customers don't have to wait for busy agents, and (b) agents don't feel rushed and can help customers completely through their issues. It's a win-win situation. Happy employees = happy customers. 

Tip #3 Providing helpful resources-  With the influx in contact volume coupled with the increase in seasonal agents, proper tools and resources should be made available to agents. One resource many call centers are equipping their agents with is a Virtual Assistant, promoting efficiency and consistency to new and seasoned agents. 

Tip #4 Self-Service- As a common theme throughout this blog, mobile and eCommerce are playing a huge role in the way people are interacting with your company. Online support holds true as well. Intuitive/ diagnostic self-service options should be readily available and easily accessible to consumers via the web.

Example of Interactive self-service solution (Virtual Assistant)

How is your company preparing for the holidays? Are you taking a different approach this year to account for the web? 

For more information on how Virtual Assistants help to alleviate some of the stress during peak seasons, please read "How Stand Out Brands Weather the Storm During Critical Spikes in Traffic." 
www.nohold.com

4 Employee Engagement Trends That Every Company Should Adopt

In light of Customer Service Week coming to an end, I wanted to share the top four ways companies can increase employee adoption of new customer service tools. 

Photo Credit: upsidelearning.com

Weekly updates- Sharing current company news (such as new customer service resources) as they are presented, equips employees to fulfill their duties to the best of their abilities. Also, circulating any updates or new features to current resources to make sure employees are making the best use of the tools around them. 

Photo Credit: thetechreader.com

Gamification- "By 2018, the Global Gamification Market will reach $5.5Bn." (DigitalChalk) Gamification can be used to enhance employee engagement through adding game-like elements into the work environment;  such as earning points for specific tasks, displaying leaders by rank, and more. By implementing this method, brands help motivate employees to adopt new technologies, generate healthy competition, and boost customer loyalty while.

Photo Credit: elearninginfographic.com

Giving opportunity to provide feedback- Focusing on engaging employees with effective feedback is important, and similarly, allowing employees the opportunity to discuss issues or ideas with their superiors is important. The above infographic maps out different factors that contribute to effective communication. 

Photo Credit: outdoorsignsamerica.com

Offering Incentives- Who doesn't like getting free things? Offer incentives (gift cards, office perks, etc) to employees that show positive attitudes and behaviors. 

Change can be difficult. Employees might be stuck in their old ways and think, "I've done my job just fine without the use of this new tool, I don't need it." Using some of these strategies will help improve adoption, and increase employee satisfaction overall. In essence, employee engagement is what can take your brands customer service from good to exceptional. 
www.nohold.com 

How Stand-out Brands Weather the Storm during Critical Spikes in Customer Traffic

Photo Credit: business2community.com

What do the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight, back-to-school, severe weather and the holidays have in common? Urgency. And when there is a sense of panic or urgency, spikes in customer contact occur. Read how a leading brand weathered the storm during a major call center outage. Learn how the company was still able to manage over 500,000 customer conversations despite the 5 day power loss. 

Then, stay tuned in the coming weeks for our next edition to get: 

• Real metrics on the impact of customer contacts during outages, major holidays, and peaks in volume. 
• Advice from industry experts Bill Rose from Bill Rose, Inc. and David Hare, SVP of Customer Success, as both offer their own take on the biggest support related challenges, and recalling how each weathered the storm during critical events.  

Read now: How stand-out brands weather the storm during critical spikes in customer traffic

Customer Journey Mapping Toolkit: noHold's Experience

To wrap up our final post to the Customer Journey Mapping series, I wanted to share with you the experience a few of us here at noHold had doing the Customer Journey exercise using the "Jake" story. 

A few of us gathered in the board room to complete the customer journey map. It was helpful to have a group of people to bounce ideas back and forth, and get different perspectives.

Together, we went through the 11 steps to creating a successful Journey Mapping experience. Here are some photos sharing our experience: 

Step 4: Writing down the emotions the customer (Jake) might feel during each phase of his journey.

 Step 5: Vote for the moment that you feel is the most impactful, both negative and positive.

 Step 8: Write out the wins or needs of the customer during that specific, impact moment

Step 9/10: Determining the desired experience and ideas of how to achieve that desired experience.

After going through the steps, we concluded with step 11, proposing a new experience in a statement."This experience will address customers feeling frustrated waiting for live chat. We can accomplish this through improving agent resources, implementing a customer facing Virtual Agent, and scheduling a call back time. These changes will reduce wait times by 20% and increase customer satisfaction."

It was a great process to go through as a team to better understand what Customer Journey Mapping really is and how it enables us to better understand our customers. Let us know how your experience went in the comments below. What conclusions did you come up with? Did you face any challenges? 

For more information regarding customer journey mapping/customer care, please contact us. 

The Evolution of Virtual Customer Assistants

A look back at the advances Virtual Agents have made in the past 20 years.

Photo Credit: dailygalaxy.com

Virtual Agents have become a part of the mainstream culture now. Just take a look at Siri, Google Now, Cortana, and many other large brands are starting to follow suit and acquire Artificial Intelligence companies. As a company with over 15 years of experience working within the Virtual Agent space, noHold has constantly been advancing our technology to fit with the times. Here is a brief recap to show you how far Virtual Agents have evolved since their inception:

1. A Virtual Agent (VA) can get data only from its own database

2. VA can leverage content from other databases

3. VA can integrate with back office systems

4. VA can connect to external devices

5. VA leverages context intelligently by being super connected

As you can see, Virtual Agents have advanced tremendously.Going from only being able to retrieve data from their own database, to leveraging information intelligently from multiple sources is incredible. [Click here to read how noHold helped a global giant move from traditional support to leveraging a Virtual Agent for more complex issues.]

What do you think the next step will be in the evolution of Virtual Assistants? Is your company noticing the upward trend in Artificial Intelligence use and what are they doing about it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Cheers!

www.nohold.com

Trusted Retailers Innovate the Traditional Customer Service Approach by Adding Robots as Staff

Photo Credit: newsroom.cisco.com

Over the past few years, online sales have increased tremendously and are expected to continue to rise to 10% of all US retail sales (Fitting Room Robots and Smart Mirrors: Can Retail Tech Save Stores?) Brick and mortar stores are trying to pull shoppers into the store, and are using advanced technologies to entice them to do so. 

As everyone is in the middle of holiday shopping, companies have been incorporating new technologies to accommodate the increased volume of shoppers, while still being able to provide excellent customer service. Orchard Supply Hardware is one of the companies focusing on customer service and innovation, and plans to appeal to customers by integrating OSHbots with staff. OSHbots are robotic customer assistants that help customers locate products in the store and provide them with information on the product and current promotions. Not only can they find products, but they can connect with employees from other Orchard stores when human intervention is needed. Check out this video to see OSHbots in action: 

Amazon is also utilizing robots to make sure packages get delivered on time this holiday season. Kiva's [company Amazon purchased in 2012] robots bring shelves of goods out of storage and carry them to employees, allowing Amazon to retrieve more items for more customers simultaneously. Amazon began using these robots in July of this year, and there are now more than 15,000 of them in 10 of the company's warehouses." (Robots Shipping Your Order this Holiday Season)

Artificial Intelligence and robotics are working together to revolutionize how we look at customer service. Do you think other retailers are going to adopt robotic sales associates? If so, how do you think customers will react?
www.nohold.com

How Self-Service Can Increase Revenue and Customer Satisfaction this Holiday Season

Photo Credit: newyork.cbslocal,com

While the holidays are a time filled with love and joy, they can also be one of the most hectic times of the year. Yes, I am talking about the infamous holiday shopping experiences. No parking, long lines, and crazy crowds are something everyone can agree does not put cheer into the holiday season.

While shopping for consumers is hectic on its own, the companies are feeling the holiday pressure as well. Large and small businesses alike must strengthen customer service options to prepare for the increased volume of sales. Not just for the initial sale, but also for the customer service, care, support and overall customer engagement that follows.

According to an article from salesforce.com, one tip for your company’s customer service to conquer the holiday rush is to “improve self-service support.” Since companies can already predict the high volume of customer interactions (and the short fuses they have by the end of a long day), implementing a web-based, Virtual Customer Assistant (VCA) for consumers to find the answers to questions on their own terms will take some of the load off, while making consumers happy they didn't have to spend even more time waiting on hold or getting passed around to different representatives.

VCA’s aren't just useful for support questions though. For example, many electronics require product registration. The VCA can quickly offer guidance through the process, while answering any questions that may arise, and/or cross-sell other products/services when appropriate.

Mobile shopping is another major factor effecting companies this year. “If it wasn't official last year, it will be this year – holiday shoppers are eager to shop online for gifts and other needs. According to a survey, 56 percent plan to shop online, up from 51.5 percent last year and the most in the survey’s 13- year history. Additionally, the average person plans to do 44.4 percent of their shopping online, the most since NRF first asked to 2006.” (National Retail Federation) Providing customers with the tools they need to make the holiday shopping experience easier is key to increasing sales, but moreover, increasing loyalty.

How is your company enhancing self-service and engagement options this year? Does your strategy incorporate usability for mobile shoppers?

We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend. Enjoy!

www.nohold.com     

A Look Back at noHold's Top Stories of the Week: September 22nd-26th

1. Virtual Agents Help Fight the Flu Season 
Here is a video with some do's and don'ts for the coming flu season. 

During peak seasons, such as these, a Virtual Agent can help relieve some of the congestion in the call centers. Click on the blog above to find out how. 

2. Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: Virtual Agent for our Company's Community Forum

This week's Tuesday tip: Virtual Agents are a great asset to social media pages, community forums, or blogs. 

3. noHold CEO Travels to San Francisco for the Intelligent Virtual Assistants Conference Presented by Opus Research












"The time to differentiate is now," explains Dan Miller, lead analyst and founder of Opus Research. "Coke, Domino's and Hyatt are part of a leading-edge group of firms that employ human-like assistants for sales, customer care, technical support and answering questions. Within a few years, they will be virtually ubiquitous." (Opus Research's Intelligent Assistant Awards (IAAs) Recognize Hyatt, Domino's and the US Army for Human-Like Automated Assistance).

4. Throwback Thursday: Virtual Agents for Wearable Devices

When asking the community what they think about wearable devices, there has been an overwhelming lack of consensus on this technology. People have mixed feelings whether to embrace this disruptive tech, or reject it completely. With the announcement of the Apple Watch to come out in 2015, we'll see if wearable devices will gain a little more traction than before...

Please click on the link above to read the full  blog. 
________________________________________________________________
www.nohold.com

A Look Back at noHold's Top Stories of the Week: August 25th-31st +Intern Update!

Let's take a look at this week's exciting stories.

1. Trusted Brands Use Quick Videos to Introduce Virtual Agents to Call Center Agents, Employees, and Consumers. 

Here is an example of a demonstration video for Albert, noHold's Help Desk Virtual Agent. Utilizing short 'training' videos is a beneficial way to introduce Virtual Agents to Call Center agents, employees, and consumers alike. 

2. Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: What are the Components That Create a Stellar Self-Service Experience.

Based on our experience, we outlined 10 different features that work together to create an effective Virtual Agent.

• Natural Language Processor (NLP)
• Reporting Metrics
• Diagnostic and Interactive  

Click on the title above to find out what the other features make up a stellar self-service experience. 

3. The Leading Manufacturer and Provider of Visual Technology Celebrates Grand Opening

Kudos again ViewSonic on your grand opening of the new headquarters. It was a pleasure to attend the event!

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in Brea, CA

4. Throwback Thursday: Apple's New Release vs. Apple Five Years Ago
With the release of the iPhone 6 coming out, Apple is continually expanding their brand. Check out how they have changed in the past 5 years. 

_____________________________________________________________________

As we've mentioned before, our Interns were working hard creating their own Virtual Agent. On Wednesday, they gave a great presentation demonstrating what they came up with. So, before we head out the office for a long three day weekend, I wanted to share with you a brief description about their project...

As a team, they came up with the concept of a Virtual Agent that will aid individuals/ small businesses that are trying to build their brand on social media. In essence, it is an artificial social media expert! Here's an example of when it can be used. Say there is a star college football player that is trying to create his own brand. With little experience with social media, he decides to enlist in the help of "Mara." Mara is able to suggest if something is beneficial to post based on an analysis of up-to-date social media trends. Similarly, a small business with limited marketing budget may need assistance in setting up social media, connecting various channels, and advice on what to post and when. Mara can be updated automatically, pulling new software updates, changes, and information from the most popular social media channels - Thus, empowering a small business to stay on top of its social media game. 

They each contributed to a different aspect of the project, and ultimately came together to make this innovative idea come to life. Eleonora designed the avatar and the look and feel, Stefano took care of the content, Asraful was responsible for the technical and engineering part, and Victor came up with marketing strategies. They've worked extremely hard over the last month and we were very pleased with what they accomplished in such a short amount of time. We are sad to see them go, but know they will accomplish great things in life.    

I'll leave you with this picture of Stefano, Eleonora, Victor, and Asraful; and the avatar for their VA, Mara. 

2014 noHold Interns giving presentation on their Virtual Agent, Mara

Please have a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend! Cheers!

www.nohold.com

Call Center Virtual Agent is Reaching Ratings of 91% Effectiveness

Recently, a long-time, valued customer of noHold chose to broaden their self-service options and implement a Call Center Virtual Agent into another one of their Call Centers, over seas.  Within the first few weeks that it has been live, it is already receiving a 91% effectiveness rating. (Effectiveness is measured in terms of if the user voted the solution to be very helpful or not.)  They are getting great use out of their Virtual Agent and are benefiting from the advantages the Virtual Agent has to offer. 

Does your company use outsourced Call Centers? Also, how do you train your agents to be knowledgeable and efficient all at the same time?

I'll leave you with this business case about a leading security software provider surpassing their own expectations of reducing Average Handle Time (AHT), churn, and second tier escalation by adding a Virtual Agent in their Call Center. 

www.nohold.com

Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: Sharing Coupons, Promotions, and Hot Offers for Virtual Agent Users

We’ve mentioned before how Virtual Agents can educate, provide advice and offer opportunities to purchase complimentary products and services (cross-sell). Empowering your audience with self-service via a conversational Virtual Agent has proven to increase sales in stores, online, and in the Call Center.

Other benefits include:

   

Throughout the years, we have learned best practices to get the most out of your Virtual Agent. One of those best practices is to share coupons, promotions, or ‘hot offers’ through your Virtual Agent. The Virtual Agent uses logical reasoning and determines the appropriate promotion or coupon to encourage users to buy the product. Using limited-time coupons entices people to make the purchase right then and there as opposed to waiting for a better deal. This way, the company wins by locking in the sale, and the customer is happy from their great experience.

Here is an example of the Virtual Agent encouraging the user to buy the product with a coupon:

   

If you were on the fence about a product, would offering a limited time coupon sway you to buy it? What other self-service methods encourage online shoppers to make a purchase, instead of abandoning cart?

www.nohold.com

noHold Virtual Agent Recognized by Satisfied Customer

Take a look at these statistics.

1.    A dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. –White House Office of Consumer Affairs

2.    Happy customers who get their issue resolved tell about 4-6 people about their experience. –White House Office of Consumer Affair

Source: 15 Statistics That Should Change the Business World—But Haven’t

Knowing this, it is gratifying to hear positive feedback from users. Recently, a woman ran into an issue with her laptop battery. She used a Virtual Agent to troubleshoot her problem and shared her experience on Facebook…

As we mentioned before in this slideshare, sometimes happy customers become your best sales people. We'd love to hear about the experiences you have had with a Virtual Agent. Let us know by leaving a comment below. Cheers!

www.nohold.com

Virtual Agent Tips and Tricks: Leading Analyst Predicts Top Customer Service Trends for 2014

A few months back, Kate Leggett (Principal Analyst at Forrester) wrote a blog titled “Forrester’s Top Trends for Customer Service In 2014.” She suggested 12 new developments to adopt this year to keep customers satisfied and coming back to your business for more. Here are just a few of her tips that really hone in on how to provide over the top customer service.

“Trend 1: Customers Demand Omnichannel Services”
noHold's opinion:
People like to have multiple options when it comes to customer service. Although voice is still the most used channel of communication, it is still important to offer other preferred channels, such as self-service, to balance out the company’s support ecosystem.

“Trend 6: Knowledge Will Evolve from Purely Reactive to Giving Advice”
noHold's opinion:
It is going to be crucial for your company to invest in a knowledge management solution this year. “67% of consumers use web self-service to find answers to their questions” (Forrester's Top Trends for Customer Service in 2014). Since customers prefer self-service, it is important to have the company’s knowledge easily organized, shared, and analyzed so people can find the right solutions on their own time, quickly. Analysts foresee an increased use in Virtual Agents to support a more natural conversation. This will help create an enjoyable experience for the customer, instead of sending lengthy, irrelevant documents.

“Trend 7: Decisioning Will Power Offers, Actions and Connections”
noHold's opinion:
Predictive analytics is a growing trend this year. Brands are analyzing what you look at and your past purchases to try and predict what it is that you would want/ need. Predictive analytics is a great resource for cross-selling/ up-selling. For example, if someone buys something online and encounters  a problem, they can pull up the Virtual Agent, get the answer they need and the Virtual Agent will be able to provide them with the right content personalized for them.

“Trend 10: The Agent Experience is No Longer an Afterthought”
noHold's opinion:
Another top trend for this year is to increase Contact Center agent efficiency by simplifying their work space. One way to accomplish this is by implementing a Virtual Agent into the Contact Center directly. By doing this, your company will improve the Average Handle Time (AHT) per phone call, increase consistency, improve churn, and even new trainees can effectively give solutions to customers with the help of the Virtual Agent.

These are just a few of the top trends talked about in this article; there are many more predictions that can help your company exceed your customers expectations. To read the full blog, click here.  

How do you plan to keep customers satisfied and increase loyalty? 

Cheers!
www.nohold.com 

Enhance Your Social Media Platform by Adding a Virtual Agent

Social media is a great way to connect with your consumers and hear what they have to say about your products or services. Here is a video explaining how social media to enhance your business.

With nearly one in four people around the world connected to social media today (eMarketer), your company’s social channels are where a lot of people refer to when faced with support questions or to talk about a complaint. To handle some of the questions, companies opt to implement a Virtual Agent on their social sites (e.g. Facebook), so customers have the option to answer their own questions, on their own time. Companies are still engaging the customer via social media, but doing so in a more time efficient manner.

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!

Tell Us About Your Experience With a Virtual Agent/Virtual Assistant and Win a Free T-Shirt!

I hope everyone is having a great start to their week so far! Since Halloween just passed and the season of giving is upon us, we have decided it is time for another free giveaway contest! 

We want to know what your most memorable Virtual Agent experience is! This experience could be from a virtual personal assistants like Siri, or a company Virtual Agent geared towards customer service, support, or sales. It can be a funny moment or you can share about a time that you had exceptionally GREAT customer service via a Virtual Agent. For example, "I asked_______and the Virtual Agent answered _______."

Leave a comment with your most memorable moment on any of our social media channels...including this blog! Anyone can join 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noHold

Twitter: https://twitter.com/noHoldAI 

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/nohold-inc.

The contest will start today (11/4) and end the following Sunday (11/10) at 11:59 PM. Winners will be chosen at random and receive a complementary "Albert is Okay" t-shirt! The winners will be announced and receive a message declaring their victory by end of day Monday (11/11). We have only three t-shirts to give away, but since the winners are picked randomly, it is worth it to post something to try and win! 

Remember to like us on Facebook//follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn!  

Good Luck!

*Rules and Regulations do apply, only ships to US and Canada*
*T-shirt sizes include Medium, Large, and X-Large*

How to Turn Your Partner Program Into a Revenue Generator

Partners are an extension of your company, they add value to your offerings, and empower your brand. Providing them with 24x7 world-class service is equally as important as supporting your customers. 

Take a few minutes to see how one Virtual Agent created for your brand can be leveraged by all partners in your ecosystem.  Learn how one company in the medical field transformed a customer support Virtual Agent into a $5 Million return. 

Click Here to view the SlideShare Presentation: How to Turn Your Partner Program Into a Revenue Generator or view below. 

 

Copyright © noHold Inc.

Throwback Thursday: The Future of Search is...a Virtual Agent?

With the recent announcements of Google's Hummingbird as well as Facebook's Graph Search, it seems fitting to discuss the new role of Search. According to an article,  Amit Singhal, Google's VP of Search said, "Remember what it was like to search in 1998? You'd sit down and boot up your bulky computer, dial up on your squawky modem, type in some keywords, and get 10 blue links to websites that had those words, the world has changed so much since then: billions of people have come online, the Web has grown exponentially, and now you can ask any question on the powerful little device in your pocket."

Wikipedia states, "To celebrate their 15th birthday, Google launched a new 'Hummingbird' algorithm, claiming that Google search can be a more human way to interact with users and provide a more direct answer."

Since the role of a Virtual Agent is to create a more 'human way of interacting with users,' let's discuss Virtual Agents that have the added benefit of searching across clouds. For this weeks Throwback Thursday I want to re-introduce Search ++, code named 'Smart Search.' This series of algorithms was introduced to the world only a year ago in 2012, making it still fairly new. Search ++ is an enhancement to search engines and works collaboratively with Virtual Agents to provide more accurate rank results. 

One interesting component of Search ++ is the Federated Search ++ feature. This component allows results from multiple data sources to be pulled into the Virtual Agent and delivered to the end users. The latest version of Federated Search ++ not only pulls results from various data sources, but it can rank all results as a whole instead of separately ranking from each data source. 

Another advantage to Search ++ is its ability to preempt end users to find solutions before submitting a support case to any given business. Sometimes consumers have a hard time finding the solution to their problem and submitting an email or case to the vendor seems like the easiest way to get answers. This is not true though. Submitting cases can be time consuming, you might have to wait hours before getting in contact with a support agent. With Search ++ preemption forms, before you submit your question, Search ++ technology will analyze what you have written in the case form and supply you with relevant articles that could lead you to immediate solutions. This decreases the amount of emails or cases submitted to your company's contact center and in turn, increases ROI and customer satisfaction. 

As search engines aim to be more 'human-like', and our Smartphones come prepackaged with Virtual Assistants (equipped with personalities and names), what do you think about the future of search? Will we use Virtual Assistants for virtually everything? Do the lines between search and Virtual Assistants continue to blur?

Happy #TBT