Enjoy New Updates to Albert PRO

Hope everyone had a great holiday break! Now, lets get right into it.  The latest version of Albert is live, and PRO users are now able to enjoy a handful of new features described!  Albert's Advice New updates include: 1. Voting mechanisms can be put in place allowing users to vote on the effectiveness of a solution. You can enable this feature in the "Edit Dialog" page.  To view the rating of effectiveness, go to "view usage." As you can see in the photo below, within the widget on the right, the different color dots symbolize whether a solution was voted effective, needs improvement, or somewhere in between.  2.  Some other updates to the usage page include: The ability to view more metrics. Now, the date filter has many ranges to choose from, or you can specify a customer date range for which you would like metrics.  An extra widget titled Top Countries. This shows you where in the world users are coming from. An option to export data has been added.  3. Even personal accounts have included a new feature. Within the dialog settings page, you are now able to create a "help" button at the top of your bot. This button is an easy way for users to escalate to an alternate support resource in the case that they can not find the answer they need with Albert. This button can be labeled whatever you like, and be linked to wherever you want. If you need any help, or have any questions on the new updates, please feel free to contact us. Albert of the Month Congratulations to Centro39 on being named June's Albert of the Month. Centro 39 is the online destination fashion boutique for luxury Italian style. As a small business, they are using Albert as a 24/7 customer service sidekick. Check out their story below. We would love to hear from you, too. Feel free to send us how you are using Albert for a chance to be featured here.

Click here to upgrade to Albert PRO.

noHold Releases Next Generation of Albert

February 27, 2017, MILPITAS, CA – Last month, noHold announced SICURA™ QuickStart, the first platform designed to allow non-programmers to create a chatbot (Albert). Today, noHold is excited to introduce the next generation of Albert. There are many new features implemented to make creating a quality bot easy for anyone.

Here is a list of the new features offered on the platform:

• Phrases Digital Signature (PDS) – This is a new algorithm that allows Albert to no longer rely solely on the Headings to retrieve information. Now, Albert can analyze the entire document (headings and content) to determine what the end user is asking and provide the most accurate solution.
• Synonyms list – Directly within your document, you have the ability to create a list of synonyms for words that are specific to your business. For example whether Joe asks about “Droid settings”, or “Android settings”, Albert understands they are the same questions, because “Droid” and “Android” are set as synonyms.
• Albert Etiquette – This feature gives users the ability to add some personality to Albert. Simply add a few phrases and answers to your document that you would like Albert to answer in a certain way. For example, if someone asks Albert a silly question like “what is your favorite color?” or “why is the sky blue?” You can let Albert know exactly how you would want him to respond. This sort of one off phrase adds character to Albert.
•  Dialog configuration – Users can now manipulate the dialog settings. This includes changing greeting messages, escalation phrases when Albert does not know the answer, and escalation links for further assistance.

In addition to the new features mentioned above, noHold also introduces SICURA QuickStart PRO, making Albert available for commercial use. Features that are exclusive to PRO users include:

• Commercial Use – Companies are able to create and distribute business chatbots, either for external or internal use for little cost.
• Customization of the User Interface (UI) - The free version offers a standard UI that is not customizable. With PRO, account holders have the ability to easily change colors, add company logos, and more all without touching the HTML.
• Multiple Alberts – There are many advantages to having more than one Albert. For example, a company can leverage different Alberts to be knowledgeable about various business units. There can be one bot that knows all about support questions that is positioned on the website for external purposes. Then, another Albert can know about HR policies/company manuals used internally for employees.
• Key encrypted URLs – An extra level of security was added to ensure that Alberts that contain company sensitive information (particularly for internal use), stay private.

Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold says, “Companies are surprising us every day in how they are using Albert. A dealership uses Albert to train and onboard new employees. A technology company is connecting Albert to Near Field Communication (NFC) tags to activate Albert when a user phone gets close to a specific device. A design agency uses Albert to rapidly prototype new bots. We would have never thought about these applications if it weren’t for our customers.”

It is great to be able to offer a more dynamic option to users, still without needing programming skills, and for very little cost. To upgrade your personal account to PRO is as little as $100/month. To sign up for a PRO account, please click here.

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 interactions. noHold customers include Cisco, Dell, Intel and a host of industry leaders. More information can be found at http://www.nohold.com or subscribe to noHold’s vlog to hear more from CEO, Diego Ventura. 

noHold Announces Five New Features to Augment AI Platform, SICURA

June 28, 2016, MILPITAS, CA – As the acknowledged leader in web based self-service solutions; innovation is a top priority for noHold. Recently, five new features have been added to noHold’s AI platform (SICURA) to enrich the end user experience, as well as simplify administrative tasks in the back end. These new features include:

1)    Sentiment Analysis- a Natural Language Processing (NLP) task that measures user sentiments during an interaction with a Virtual Assistant. The Virtual Assistant scores the dialog as positive, negative or neutral and acts accordingly.  If the end user sounds frustrated, the Virtual Assistant can quickly provide access to a different channel and pass on the conversation log.

2)    Customer Behavior Reports- specific reports that look at multiple interactions to pinpoint where end users are most frequently getting stuck, abandoning the conversation, etc. These reports allow administrators to quickly and easily improve the Virtual Assistant.  

3)    Context Retention- allows the Virtual Assistant to retain context among different phrases within a conversation. For example, if the end user asks about the availability of a “flight to Paris” first, and then continues in a separate phrase with, “How much does it cost?” The Virtual Assistant understands that “it” refers to the “flight to Paris.”

4)    Offline Workflow- this feature provides administrative users the ability to edit published solutions without revealing the work in progress to the public. Once the content is ready, administrators can bring the offline instance, online, replacing the existing live content.

5)    KIC 846- enables a Virtual Assistant to intelligently parse users’ queries to extract all relevant information necessary to direct users to the correct solution. If only partial information is given, the Virtual Assistant proactively asks for the remainder of the information needed for that interaction. To keep with the traveling example, Joe tells the Virtual Assistant he needs a flight to Paris on Monday around noon. After analyzing Joe’s query, the Virtual Assistant knows to ask for the rest of the information needed to effectively provide the best results. (I.e. from what airport he will be leaving, and when he needs to return.)

According to a Bank of America report citing IDC Research, AI is “an industry that will grow to $70 billion by 2020 from just $8.2 billion in 2013.” (Fortune.com) Recognizing this rapid growth, CEO and Founder of noHold, Diego Ventura goes on to say, “noHold is focused on continuing to provide an innovative and reliable platform for companies who want to leverage the many aspects of Artificial Intelligence that can help resolve real business problems. We do it in a practical manner where results are easily measurable and can be achieved quickly.”

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 interactions. noHold customers include Cisco, Dell, Intel and a host of industry leaders. More information can be found at http://www.nohold.com or subscribe to noHold’s vlog to hear more from CEO, Diego Ventura. 

All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners.

Throwback Thursday: Apple's New Release vs. Apple Five Years Ago

Photo Credit: thisdayintechhistory.com

Happy Throwback Thursday!

Did you know that exactly five years ago today, Apple released their Mac OS X 'Snow Leopard'? Most people don't remember that operating system, but it was an important time for Apple, Inc. Due to Snow Leopard, they dropped the support for PowerPC-based Macs and shifted their attention to the Intel processor-based Macs. They also discontinued AppleTalk in Snow Leopard, one of the first and most widely used networking protocol in the World (ThisDayInTechHistory.com).

Fast forward 5 years; Apple is expected to release the iPhone 6 in the coming weeks. The details on the phone are very hush-hush, but everyone is anticipating a very technologically sophisticated phone, with elements that make it easier for users. Some speculations on new features of the iPhone 6 include a much larger screen (edge-to-edge display), a whopping 128 GB of storage, and a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip inside the phone (PCAdvisor.com). With the presence of an NFC chip, wireless charging is made possible, and it also puts Apple in the game of mobile payment systems. It is rumored that they will either use Bluetooth/Wi-Fi to create their own e-wallet platform (accessible from any iPhone, not just the 6), or they are using the NFC technology to include mobile payments, strictly for iPhone 6 users. Either way it looks like Google Wallet is facing some competition now (AppleInsider.com)    

These are only a few of the predictions made for the up and coming iPhone, but what about updates for Siri? With almost all major brands creating a Personal Virtual Assistant for their smartphones (Microsoft=Cortana, Android=GoogleNow, etc.), Apple needs to make sure Siri is maintaining the latest, cutting-edge technology. 

What sort of updates do you think Siri should or is going to get? Sources suggest that the new iPhone will have a heart rate monitor; do you think this means that Siri will be able to manage your health through a single user interface? 

www.nohold.com