A Look Back at Some Highlights of 2014

Photo Credit: theweeklyracer.com

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing holiday. Now that we are back in motion, I wanted to share a quick recap of some of the memorable moments of 2014. 

1. noHold kicked off our Virtual Volunteers initiative. We successfully implemented a Virtual Customer Assistant (VCA) for the non-profit organization, Family Giving Tree.   

Virtual Volunteer

2. The Internet of Everything (IoE) was, and is continuing to be a hot topic in the tech space. noHold Connect, the evolution of Confederated Knowledge™, is revolutionizing the way humans experience the IoE from a single user interface.

3. noHold's CEO, Diego Ventura, was published in an interview in Connect World Magazine, followed by a feature on the Peggy Smedley Show, the voice of M2M and connected devices. Alongside Diego was special guest Glenn Schleicher, Senior Director of Customer Service of Cisco. Together, they discussed the IoE, Artificial Intelligence, and how noHold fits into the equation. 

Diego Ventura featured in Connected World Magazine

Listed are only a few of the highlights of 2014. To see more click here. It was been a busy year for the team at noHold, and in the coming year we are excited to continue to modernize the way we look at the customers' experience. To keep up with noHold and industry news alike, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter: @noHoldAI. 

Cheers!

www.nohold.com

Throwback Thursday: Insider Interview with VP of Worldwide Customer Advocacy

Circa 2010, noHold had the privilege to get an exclusive interview about noHold Connect (formerly known as Confederated Knowledge) with Cisco's VP of Worldwide Customer Advocacy, D. Jay Pederson. Here is a snippet from the interview.  

"How do your customers feel about your support initiatives? 

According to our online survey, more customers perceive our online support initiatives very positively and are satisfied with the support options available to them online. 

Where do you see the industry heading, both in general, and specifically as it relates to support? 

Several industry indicators lead us to believe that there are more collaborative support efforts among key industry players, in areas such as inter-operability where support boundaries begin to blur. Also more companies have support presence in new social media channels such as Twitter, and Facebook, which are out of those companies’ domain. Social media dictates a new engagement model with customers and has a significant impact on brand image and equity."

To read the full document, please click here.  

Fast forward to today, I'm curious to see how these answers might have changed? Where do YOU see the industry heading, both in general, and specifically as it relates to support? 

www.nohold.com 

A Leading Provider of Home Phone, High Speed Internet, Wireless and Digital TV Services Leverages Partner Virtual Agents to Enhance the Customer Experience

Yesterday, we posted a blog on how to measure the ROI of a Virtual Agent. Today, we took a look at some of the value cards for the month of April and found that an expert in the telecommunications industry utilizing Virtual Agent technology received 170% ROI. They saw that weighted effectiveness was high, and calculated that the Virtual Agent would break-even (or pay for itself) at only 15% weighted effectiveness. As mentioned in previous blogs, weighted effectiveness represents the number of people who indicated that the solution the Virtual Agent presented them was very helpful. Currently, the Virtual Agent is reporting nearly 3 times that amount. ROI calculated through Virtual Agent effectiveness equates to savings that range from thousands of dollars, to hundreds of thousands of dollars on support costs each month.

There are a few noteworthy approaches this client takes to make sure they are getting the most out of their Virtual Agent. For one, this client utilized noHold Connect, allowing their Virtual Agent to connect with a partner company's Virtual Agent, making it easier for consumers to find their own answers to their problems. For example, if consumers are looking for an answer to a problem with their mobile phone and not necessarily their service, the Telco Virtual Agent can seamlessly in place activate the "connected" mobile device Virtual Agent via one user interface (UI). 

Also, the Virtual Agent begins the conversation to direct the user towards the correct product line, for faster resolution. The increase in completed sessions (completed conversations with the Virtual Agent) can be attributed to continuously monitoring the end user experience, and the ability to implement, test and adjust easily. 

Is your customer experience strategy designed to: implement, test and adjust easily? How do you monitor end user adoption of new self-service initiatives? 

www.nohold.com 

noHold Demonstrates How Virtual Agents Offer ‘Siri-like’ Experience for Communicating with Wearable Devices

May 6, 2014, Milpitas, California – noHold announces that it has been working with a number of popular manufacturers to prove that Virtual Agents augment the Internet of Everything (IoE). With a working version already able to communicate with wearable technology, noHold Connect will change the way that humans interact with the IoE.

According to a recent article published by Computerworld (Computerworld.com), “Analysts expect not only an explosion of wearable devices in the next three years, but an explosion of mobile apps of all kinds. Research firm Gartner last year predicted that wearable devices will drive half of all app interactions by 2017, a startling prediction, but one that Gartner believes was reinforced by the flurry of wearable devices shown at International CES.” One analyst mentioned that “virtually all vendors are choosing mobile apps to interact with the way we will use a wearable device.”

The scenario that noHold described in a Press Release about noHold Connect and the IoE, is coming to fruition. noHold Connect augmenting the IoE is about focusing on bringing the human element to the future of interconnected living, while making consumers less dependent on multiple apps. When the average consumer purchases a wearable fitness bracelet, he/she will expect to be able to interact with it from a conversational standpoint. Today, a conversation with noHold’s Virtual Butler sounds like this: The end customer asks, “Can I eat cake?” and gets a real response based on the data collected by the devices such as carbohydrate and glucose intake. The response from the Virtual Butler is, “Sorry! Based on your glucose level, you cannot eat the cake.”

Similarly, a wearable device capturing data about sleep patterns is now able to communicate with noHold’s butler. If asked, “How much deep sleep did I get,” the butler retrieves information about last night’s sleep quality, and interprets that data into a response such as, “You had 2 hours and 46 minutes of deep sleep last night.”

This is just the beginning; consumers will expect similar experiences when setting and managing appliances such as a coffee makers, thermostats, etc. as well as conducting common daily chores like checking the automobile’s oil level, making an appointment at the nearest auto shop, while scheduling the recording of a favorite TV program.

At an event this month, noHold’s butler will demonstrate how Virtual Agents can now bridge the gap between Internet connected ‘things’ and cognitive interaction without the need for managing hundreds of mobile apps.

“In the near future, communicating with technology and our surroundings [especially devices] will be the norm. Voice and text interaction with our environment is not just a marketing ploy; it’s happening. There is a real paradigm shift that’s taking place, and the technology has been validated by industry leaders such as IBM Watson™, Apple®, Cisco®, and more. I was recently asked where we get our inspiration for connecting new devices, and I definitely recommend attending the Cisco Live event which is taking place May 18-22 in San Francisco. You can register for the event here,” said Diego Ventura, CEO and Founder of noHold, Inc.

About noHold Inc.

noHold is a privately held company established in 1999 and is headquartered in Milpitas, CA, USA (Silicon Valley). noHold is the acknowledged leader in Web based Self-service solutions with a mission to deliver real answers to real questions - real fast. Simple to use, easy to implement and as close to human as you can get, noHold turns automated customer support into cognitive customer interaction. noHold customers include Toshiba, Lenovo, Cisco and a host of industry leaders. More information can be found at www.nohold.com.

Press Contact

Sarah Ramoz

Marketing Operations Manager

sramoz@nohold.com

408.946.9200 ext. 305

Copyright © 2014 noHold Inc. All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners.

Behind the Scenes: An Exclusive Preview of noHold's Virtual Butler

Augmenting the Internet of Everything     

     

     Lately, there has been a lot of talk in the news about the Internet of Everything (IoE). Just recently we announced the arrival of noHold Connect, the technology used to empower humans to experience the IoE from a single user interface. Diego Ventura, the CEO and founder of noHold, made a short video showing a raw, exclusive preview of the Virtual Butler for wearable devices.        

     According to a recent article published by Computerworld, “Analysts expect not only an explosion of wearable devices in the next three years, but an explosion of mobile apps of all kinds. Research firm Gartner last year predicted that wearable devices will drive half of all app interactions by 2017, a startling prediction, but one that Gartner believes was reinforced by the flurry of wearable devices shown at International CES.” One analyst mentioned that “virtually all vendors are choosing mobile apps to interact with the way we will use a wearable device.”(Computerworld.com)

     The scenario that noHold described in a Press Release about noHold Connect and the IoE, is coming to fruition. noHold connect augmenting the IoE is about focusing on bringing the human element to the future of interconnected living, while making consumers less dependent on multiple apps.     

     We are not stopping at wearable devices, though. Soon, multiple vendors from a variety of industries will connect to the Virtual Butler, encompassing all aspects of the IoE. These include companies in the telecommunications space, automobile industry, smart appliance manufacturers (i.e. coffee machines, refrigerators,etc.), and much, much more.

     As you can see from the preview above, the goal of the Virtual Butler is to simplify our lives. There are so many apps on our smartphones that control devices/services that are connected to the Internet. For example, mobile banking apps, apps that control your DVR, home security apps, etc. Having an individual app for each of these connected items can become a bit chaotic, but imagine a life with a Virtual Butler that can help you manage and get the most out of your devices, all through a single user interface (UI). It creates an enhanced interactive experience that users are demanding.      

     The best is yet to come for the Virtual Butler! For more information on the IoE and the Virtual Butler check out this slideshare presentation, Connecting the Internet of Everything to the Human Element. 

A Real-Life Example of the Internet of Everything

Happy Monday! Hope everyone is having a great start to their week. 

I came across this video that might bring a smile to your Monday morning. Cisco explains how the Internet of Everything can augment your life. 

If your life was connected to the Internet of Everything, what kinds of things would you want to happen automatically? How could the IoE simplify your life? 

noHold Announces noHold Connect to Empower Humans to Experience the Internet of Everything (IoE) From a Single User Interface (UI)

February 5, 2014, Milpitas California – noHold Connect will empower humans to experience the Internet of Everything. With much hype around the creation of a standardized platform for devices to ‘communicate’, companies such as Qualcomm & Linux have created the AllSeen Alliance, while others such as Logitech aim to educate and drive awareness with the Internet of Things Consortium. The goal is to advance the Internet of Everything. While these organizations aim to standardize awareness as well as the technological aspect, noHold aims to create the experience.

Cisco defines the Internet of Everything (IoE) as bringing together people, process, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before-turning information into actions that create new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses, individuals, and countries (Cisco.com, “Internet of Everything.”). Analyst firms and technology leaders agree that by 2020, over 30B devices will connect to the Internet. Although we are still in the preliminary stages of experiencing the IoE movement, history is being made with the standardized platforms.

Virtual Agents (also known as Virtual Assistants, Intelligent Virtual Agents, Chatbots, etc.) have been leveraged by trusted brands for years, saving millions of dollars and increasing revenue, while enhancing customer service and satisfaction. noHold Connect is the evolution of Confederated Knowledge™, which noHold announced in 2010. noHold Connect is the ability to:

1.   Allow multiple Virtual Agents to connect. For example, a consumer using Telecommunications services must deal with multiple vendors, not just the Telco itself. If Mary has an issue with her wireless device, she will likely have to contact the manufacturer, not her Telco. noHold Connect empowers Mary to start the conversation with her Telco provider, and ‘in place activate’ the Virtual Agent from her device manufacturer without changing websites, or starting her conversation from the beginning.

2.   Leverage a ‘butler’ style Virtual Agent to experience the Internet of Everything. Similar to the above scenario, Mary can interact with one Virtual Agent from her device to ‘talk’ to other Virtual Agents and accomplish specific tasks. Personal Virtual Assistants such as Siri® and Google Now™ are examples of personal digital assistants that leverage apps. For example: If an end user wants to reset his/her NEST thermostat, he will leverage one mobile application. A consumer interested in recording a program on his DVR will require yet another application. Virtual Agents, like noHold, can be leveraged as a virtual butler to ‘connect’ with other virtual agents and help humans experience the Internet of Everything from one single User Interface (UI). The difference is noHold Connect changes the experience and puts simplicity and interactivity back in the hands of the user.

For a visual example of how Virtual Agents enhance the Internet of Everything, please visit: Virtual Agents and The Internet of Everything 

With customers in pertinent industries such as Telecommunications, Consumer Electronics, PC and Devices, Security Software, Networking, and more, noHold Connect is the future of Smarter Self-Service™ and Consumer Interaction.

“I have 48 applications loaded on my iPhone. I had to learn a different paradigm to operate each. What drove us to create noHold Connect was the idea that it is time for machines to adjust to our way of living, rather than the other way around. We are embarking on a journey that will change the way we interact with everything. Having the smart technology to empower your customers today, is table stakes for a competitive customer experience, ” 
Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold.

About noHold Inc.
noHold is a privately held company established in 1999 and is headquartered in Milpitas, CA, USA (Silicon Valley). noHold is the acknowledged leader in Web based Self-service solutions with a mission to deliver real answers to real questions - real fast. Simple to use, easy to implement and as close to human as you can get, noHold turns automated customer support into cognitive customer interaction. noHold customers include Toshiba, Lenovo, Cisco and a host of industry leaders. More information can be found at www.nohold.com.


Press Contact 
Sarah Ramoz 
Marketing Operations Manager
sramoz@nohold.com 
408.946.9200 ext. 305

Copyright © 2014 noHold Inc. All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners.