noHold's AI Platform Complies with Top Industry Standards

November 29, 2018, MILPITAS, CA – Security and compliance are key components to any successful business. According to Gartner, "Through 2022, at least 95 percent of cloud security failures will be the fault of the organization." (Gartner) We've seen these huge data breaches from some of the most popular companies in the world. For noHold, it has always been a priority to provide the best user experience for our customers, this includes maintaining privacy and a high level of security around our platform.

noHold is proud to announce that we are compliant with the following standards:

• Cloud Controls Matrix – Provides fundamental security principles to guide cloud vendors and to assist cloud customers in assessing the overall security risk of a cloud provider. Some of the principle topics include Application & Interface Security, Datacenter Security, and much more. noHold has attested to all the control specifications put forth in the Cloud Controls Matrix.
• WCAG 2.0 – Accessibility is everything. If your audience cannot use your tool, it is useless. WCAG compliance ensures all users can interact with noHold virtual assistants, even if they use screen readers or need high-contrast views of information.
• SOC2 – A type 1 report, noHold has established controls based on the trust services criteria to ensure that we are doing everything we can do to keep information safe and user data private.
• GDPR & EU-US Privacy Shield – These standards protect data collected and stored from European users. With GDPR coming into full effect last May, more emphasis is being given to the way in which data is handled, not just the infrastructure around it.
• NIST SP800-53 – National Institute of Standards and Technology provides a control framework to ensure strict standards for Federal information systems. This provides an extra layer of scrutiny on our infrastructure design and practices.

In addition to the above standards, our hosting provider also complies with SSAE16, SOC2, SOC3, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001.

Francesco Ventura, noHold's Data Protection Officer, adds, "Data policy has never been more important. Between the geo-political landscape, technological advancements, and seemingly endless stream of data being collected, the whole ecosystem of providers, customers, and users should be paying much more attention to data policy. At noHold we are - and we actively implement policies and technology to combat any misuse or breach of information."

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, McAfee and a host of industry leaders. For more information: http://www.nohold.com.

Press Contact

Veronica Cech

Marketing Associate

vcech@nohold.com   

408.946.9200 ext. 356

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

noHold Advances Machine to Human Interaction by Creating a More Conversational Experience

April 30, 2018, MILPITAS, CA - Last year, noHold was recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in AI for Conversational Platforms. Today, noHold is excited to announce the SICURA® platform has new features that are changing the way Artificial Intelligence interacts with humans. The new generation of Virtual Assistants are designed to mimic the natural flow of a conversation.

To accomplish this goal, noHold enabled Virtual Assistants to be able to handle multi-turn interactions with expansions. Multi-turn interactions mean the back and forth that happens within a conversation. Expansions refer to the various ways conversation can turn. Below are examples of expansions.

• Opening: the Virtual Assistant can understand various greetings such as "how are you", "what is your name", etc. 
• Screen: the Virtual Assistant will be able to handle questions such as "what do you know about" as well as "do you know about routers?" 
• Closing: can determine various ending statements such as "bye" or "see ya." 
• Escape: when a user types "never mind" the Virtual Assistant will know that the end user wants to move on. 
• Repeat: the Virtual Assistant can repeat if end users ask things such as "can you say that again."
• Elicit: End users can elicit information from the Virtual Assistant. Agent: "What kind of router are you interested in?" User: "Well, what are my choices?"
• Paraphrase: End users can ask for more details. Agent: "Do you prefer a wired or wireless Router?" User: "What do you mean?"

Other features that help create a more dynamic Virtual Assistant include:

• Handling confirming questions
• Managing clarifying questions
• Change of subject
• Interruptions
• Inference
• Exception handling
• Context retention

"Incorporating these features into the SICURA® platform is important. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the average person has multiple interactions with AI daily. Providing end users with the most natural experience helps decrease frustration, and at the same time increase satisfaction," said Diego Ventura, CEO and Founder of noHold.

noHold's CEO Becomes Member of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM)

Artificial Intelligence has been impacting a wide variety of industries in the recent years. It has also been effecting various business units within those industries as well. AI is continuing to grow, and becoming so versatile, Gartner suggestions company leaders start laying down their organizations AI foundation now, before it's too late.

Photo Source: Content Science Review

Through research and experience, noHold developed an innovative way for the Appliance industry to leverage AI (Virtual Assistant technology) to better engage with their customers via QR codes. This past month, a press release regarding the exciting new things noHold is doing within the Appliances industry went out. If you missed that release, you can find it here.  

In line with these recent moves into the Appliances industry, noHold has become a member of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM). This year, Diego Ventura, CEO and Founder of noHold will be attending AHAM's annual member meeting called Expectations 2018. From April 19^th to the 21^st, noHold will be in Arizona meeting with leaders in this space to share how AI can help brands exceed customer expectations. By placing QR codes on appliances that will invoke a Virtual Assistant that is knowledgeable about that specific product, these brands are able to reduce Customer Effort Score (CES), provide assistance in multiple languages, 24/7, up sell, and capture metrics that can be used to spot product improvements or knowledge gaps.

If you would like more information on AI and Virtual Assistants, please contact us via the web, and we would love to help you out. To become a member of AHAM or register for the Expectations 2018, please click here.

www.nohold.com

Industry Stats that Every Business Leader Needs to Know

For a while, Virtual Assistants have been making a significant impact on business strategy. The role they are playing has expanded beyond the typical customer support paradigm, and moved into many different business units. Analyst firms and publications are agreeing that business leaders need to have a strategy for incorporating Virtual Assistants, whether it be for support, pre- and post-sales, internally, customer experience, etc. 

One of the benefits of deploying a Virtual Assistant is the decrease in call center interactions. “Organizations report a reduction of up to 70 percent in call, chat and/or email inquiries after implementing a VCA, according to Gartner research. They also report increased customer satisfaction and a 33 percent saving per voice engagement.” (Gartner) noHold has also looked at similar analytics from a Telco customer of ours. Before the Virtual Assistant was implemented 65% of people who went to the 'contact us' page ended up calling the company. After the Virtual Assistant, that percentage went down to 30%. Over half the calls were handled by the Virtual Assistant, and at a fraction of the cost. 

Gartner has made some positive predictions for the future of AI as well:

• According to Gartner, "25% of customer service and support operations will integrate virtual customer assistant (VCA) or chatbot technology across engagement channels by 2020."
• "By 2020, 30 percent of all B2B companies will employ AI to augment at least one of their primary sales processes."

Source: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3858564

Interested in learning more about Virtual Assistant technology? Feel free to send an email through our contact page and I would be happy to help you out. 

Cheers!

www.nohold.com 

noHold Recognized by Gartner as a 2017 Cool Vendor in AI for Conversational Platforms

June 20, 2017, MILPITAS, CA – noHold, a leader in web based self-service solutions, was named Cool Vendor in AI for Conversational Platforms, 2017 by Gartner. The Cool Vendor series is used to discover emerging innovative SMB vendors with interesting and highly original technology that impact their respective markets in a big way. This is the first year Gartner published a Cool Vendor report for this category.

According to the report, “The use of conversational platforms is a much-hyped topic, with chatbots, assistants, messaging platforms and other natural-language processing (NLP) uses vying for attention. The five Cool Vendors in this note show the breadth of offerings available and are representatives of the cutting-edge innovation in their respective fields.” (Cool Vendors for AI in Conversational Platforms, 2017, 30 May 2017) noHold’s latest platform, SICURA QuickStart, is an example of that type of revolutionary technology being put forward. This platform proves that interactive and diagnostic chatbots can be built directly using Microsoft Word or Google Docs, even if you are not a programmer.

The report goes on to discuss some of the features of SICURA QuickStart that are also outlined in a previous press release. noHold is proud to be part of a short list of companies that have demonstrated innovation in this category.

Furthermore, this is noHold’s second Cool Vendor recognition by Gartner, previously being acknowledged as a Cool Vendor in Business Process Services, 2015. It is a great honor to be accepting a Cool Vendor designation for a second year. noHold is proud to be a pioneer in the chatbot industry, and still continue to be known as a visionary in the space.

You can download the full report titled, “Cool Vendors in AI for Conversational Platforms, 2017” by clicking here.

By 2021, the Virtual Assistant Market will Reach $15.8 Billion Worldwide

Greetings!

2016 has gone by so fast, I can't believe we are already in November. Through the course of the year we have talked about the major growth we have seen within the Virtual Assistant space. Executives are recognizing the benefits a Virtual Assistant will bring to any company, tech giants are acquiring Artificial Intelligence companies at a rapid pace this year, and analyst firms are predicting continued adoption of Virtual Assistants in the coming years. 

Last year around this time, Gartner put out the top predictions to look out for. One of them being, "by 2020, smart agents will facilitate 40% of mobile interactions. This is based on the belief that the world is moving to a post-app era, where assistants such as Apple's Siri act as a type of universal interface." (ComputerWorld) 

This year, analysts from Gartner recently put out the top 10 strategic predictions for 2017. They start off the article with saying, "By 2020, the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and conversational user interfaces, we are increasingly likely to interact with a bot (and not know it) than ever before. The digital experience has become addictive by entering out lives through smartphones, tablets, virtual personal assistants (VPAs) or the entertainment systems in our homes and cars." (Gartner Predicts a Virtual World of Exponential Growth)

Another report from Research and Markets concluded that "by 2021, the Virtual Assistant market will reach $15.8 billion worldwide." 

Photo Credit

With adoption only expecting to increase, the democratization of AI, specifically Virtual Assistant is going to be key. Making it as easily accessible as possible will empower even more people to embrace the experience. If you would like more information on what noHold is doing to democratize AI, please contact us here.

Have a great weekend.
Cheers!

Gartner Identifies Autonomous Agents as Top Technology Trend to Watch for in 2016

Can you believe it is almost the end of the year? With the holidays fast approaching, the rest of 2015 is going to fly by. In fact, leading analysts have already started making predictions for 2016 top trends. Recently, Gartner went into detail about top technology trends at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2015 in Orlando. Check out what tech trends they think you should look out for in 2016 on the infographic below: 

Gartner, Smarter with Gartner, Top 10 Technology Trends Signal the Digital Mesh, October 7, 2015

http://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/top-ten-technology-trends-signal-the-digital-mesh/

We are excited (but not surprised) to see 'autonomous agents and things' as a top trend in the coming year according to Gartner. Virtual Personal Assistants (and Virtual Customer Assistants) have made major strides within the past couple years, and more companies are beginning to see the benefits of investing into this technology. Not just any static Artificial Intelligence (AI) will cut it though; consumers are demanding sophisticated, intelligent agents that can handle tasks seamlessly. "Over the next five years we will evolve to a postapp world with intelligent agents delivering dynamic and contextual actions and interfaces," said Mr. Cearley. "IT leaders should explore how they can use autonomous things and agents to augment human activity and free people for work that only people can do. However, they must recognize that smart agents and things are a long-term phenomenon that will continually evolve and expand their uses for the next 20 years." (Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016)

What is your opinion on autonomous agents and things? Thoughts about any of the other predicted trends for 2016? Let us know in the comments below. 
For more information on next generation Virtual Assistant technology for Enterprise and SMB, please contact noHold. 
www.nohold.com

National Small Business Week: Top 3 Benefits of Self-Service for the Small Business Owner

Photo Credit: auditionsfree.com

"Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners" (sba.gov). This year, May 4th through the 8th is the week dedicated to honoring small businesses in the US. As a small business our self, noHold appreciates the value our solution brings within enterprises, but also recognizes the benefits that it can produce for small businesses. Here are the top 3 advantages to making a Virtual Assistant apart of your small business team.

1. Implementing a Virtual Assistant is cost effective. As a small business, saving money where you can is important. By offer your customers with a web based self service solution to cater to their support needs, you empower them to find the answers to their own questions 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week, thus reducing support costs.  

Photo Credit: ncsbc.net

2. The Virtual Assistant reduces the volume of calls/emails to contact centers, decreasing the load that a live agent would need to tend to. 

3. The Virtual Assistant is designed to be easily maintained making it convenient for small businesses who do not have a lot of man power. 

Photo Credit: dekalbchamber.org

Those are just a few of the advantages that come from a Virtual Assistant for your small business. While most of our clientele are enterprise companies, we have successful implemented a number of Virtual Assistants for smaller companies and they have seen great results.    

In similar news, noHold was recognized by Gartner as a 'cool vendor' in business process services for 2015. These 'cool vendor' titles are specifically designed to recognize the innovations of small and medium sized businesses that normally would not be able to compete with large enterprises. To read the press release and find out more about Gartner's 'cool vendor' series, click here. 

www.nohold.com 

Gartner Recognizes noHold as a 2015 ‘Cool Vendor’ in Business Process Services

April 30, 2015, MILPITAS, CA – noHold, a leader in web based self-service solutions, was named ‘Cool Vendor’ in Business Process Services, 2015, published on April 13 2015. Similar to Gartner’s Magic Quadrants, the ‘Cool Vendor’ series is used to discover emerging innovative SMB vendors with interesting and highly original technology that impact their respective markets in a meaningful way.

Out of the five companies chosen as ‘Cool Vendors’ in the Business Process Services space, noHold was the only Virtual Assistant vendor selected. noHold offers unique capabilities as its platform provides:

• noHold Connect (NHC) – allows communication between multiple Virtual Assistants, making it possible for clients to leverage content from partners’ Virtual Assistants.
• Single Point of Search – the ability to search for content from a single repository, even if the solution resides in other systems (i.e. CRM, Knowledge Management, communities)
• Procedural Guidance – using noHold’s Natural Language Processor and Inference Engine to guide users through complex solutions without the creation of scripts.
• Device Connect – the ability to connect to physical devices to retrieve information or perform tasks on the device.

Customer Management BPO has primarily consisted of voice-based services, but according to the Vice President of Gartner Research, TJ Singh, “the adoption of nonvoice multichannel and automated services – such as Web chat, email, SMS, self-service, and social CRM services – is growing significantly.” (Competitive Landscape: Customer Management BPO, 2014 – Making a Difference with Size and Scale in Multichannel, Analytics and Automation, TJ Singh, 14 May 2014).  

To download the full Gartner report titled, “Cool Vendors in Business Process Services, 2015,” click here.

“You stop being ‘cool’ the moment you say you are ‘cool’, but since it is Gartner saying it, we gladly accept it,” said Diego Ventura, CEO and founder of noHold. “I think that Virtual Assistants can help BPO companies disrupt the typical linear growth associated with this type of business. Virtual Assistants can empower agents to be more efficient and customers help themselves while collecting valuable market insight.”

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 Toshiba, Cisco and a host of industry leaders. More information can be found at www.nohold.com.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Press Contact

Veronica Cech

Marketing Associate

vcech@nohold.com     

408.946.9200 ext. 356

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

Apple Watch Expected to Change the Smartwatch Industry

Photo Credit: mashable.com

Pre-orders for Apple's first new device on the market since Jobs, the Apple Watch, has officially begun late last week. It was reported that within hours of being available, some models of the Apple Watch were sold out. Whether it was because demand was high, or supply was low is still the question, but in either case, it looks like people are really starting to embrace the wearable device phenomenon now. According to an article from Yahoo! Tech, "Gartner expects 40 million smartwatches will be sold this year, quadruple the number it believes were sold last year. The Apple Watch may account for as many as half the number of smartwatches sold, Gartner said." (Apple Watch Preorders Kick Off, Some Models Quickly Sell Out). Other research firms such as Forrester and Morgan Stanley analysts agree that Apple Watch will make up a significant portion of the smartwatch sales this year.

With the smartwatch trend coming to fruition, Virtual Assistants (such as Siri and Google Now) will be even more accessible, being directly on your wrist.  How do you think Apple Watch reviews will be by the end of the year? Is it going to be a game changer like the iPhone or just a fad? How will other wearable devices compare? Let us know what you think in the comments below.  
www.nohold.com

The Most Disruptive Technology Trend in IT History... The Smart Machine Era

Earlier in the month, one of the top analyst firms in the industry posted their predictions of the top 10 strategic technology trends for the coming year. For example, being able to compute everywhere on mobile devices, embracing the Internet of Things, and 3D printing are just a few of the kinds of disruptive technologies we will be further immersed in as 2015 approaches. 

The smart machine era is another trend that is considered to be the most disruptive in IT history thus far. In this era of smart machines, they now have the capability to analyze the environment around them, learn from it, and make educated decisions on their own. Leading analysts agree that prototype self-driving cars, intelligent robots, and Virtual Personal Assistants (VPAs) will continue to develop at a fast pace. 

Similarly, Virtual Customer Assistants (VCA) are evolving rapidly. Using this type of disruptive technology will not only decrease support costs, but also improve the customer experience and increase revenue. According to a distinguished magazine publication, when consumers start a support interaction, they are 4x more likely to leave that interaction unsatisfied and stop shopping with your brand. The presence of a VCA allows users to find the answers to their own questions, on their own time – quickly.    

Companies that want to stay competitive need to start thinking about incorporating these strategic trends into their organization. Is your company already adopting some of these trends? If so, which ones and how? Does your eServices strategy emphasize the importance of self-service?     
www.nohold.com

A Look Back at noHold’s Top Stories of the Week: July 28-August 1

This week has been full of some great information; from blogs about the Internet of Everything to Virtual Realities, it has been an interest week. Here's a quick recap of the week's stories.

1. The Internet of Everything is taking city streets to a whole new level with Internet connected trash cans!

Photo Credit: govtech.com

2. Did you know, "35% of IT organizations will have 75% of IT service desk contacts from the business resolved by Virtual Assistants."

3. Flashy gimmicks are no longer the way to promote your company's new products or services. By using a Virtual Agent, it can provide the appropriate information, in the right context. Check out the blog, Leveraging a Virtual Agent to Cross-Sell Within the Right Context.

4. #TBT: Virtual reality is the new anesthesia? It seems so. Researchers are studying the effects of being immersed in a virtual reality while undergoing dental procedures. Studies are showing that the pain is significantly reduced when you distract a patient by immersing them into a virtual reality. Maybe one day, instead of being 'put under', all you'll have to do is put on a headset and drift into another reality. 
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Hope you all have a great weekend, cheers!
www.nohold.com

35% of IT Operations Organizations Will Have 75% of IT Service Desk Contacts from the Business Resolved by Virtual Assistants

In recent news, noHold announced last Thursday our partnership with a trusted provider of user-oriented IT solutions for systems, security, mobility, and ITSM challenges. In doing so, we are working together to introduce the next-generation Help Desk to IT organizations with the help of Virtual Assistants/Virtual Agents. Here is our stance on the topic.   

Typically, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction are prioritized on two different levels, and in a customer-centric world, companies often let employee satisfaction fall by the wayside. In fact, industry experts in IT Operations have said that in general, IT Service Management is five to six years behind consumer-facing Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Knowing this, companies are taking another look internally and starting to incorporate what experts call a ‘necessity’ to running an efficient Help Desk. Top research firm, Gartner, predicts, “By 2016, 35% of IT operations organizations will have 75% of IT service desk contacts from the business resolved by virtual assistants” (Source: Gartner Predicts 2014: Automation Brings Promise to IT Operations Management, but at What Cost? 12 December 2013. Authors: Greene, J., Colville, R., et al.).

Some companies are already embracing a more interactive Help Desk. For example, Fidelity, the world’s largest provider of financial services, used Apple’s Genius Bar as inspiration for constructing their Help Desk. By doing this, the company is providing a closer, more personal relationship between the business and their employees. Multiple universities are also following suit, creating Help Desks with a similar concept to the Genius Bar.

A ‘Genius Bar’ inspired Help Desk is a move in the right direction; but as for the near future, IT organizations seem to be getting more interactive, in addition to becoming automated. In fact, industry experts agree that most IT help desk tickets can be handled through self-service. It is increasingly important for IT to implement a quality self-service solution for their employees to ensure profitability and employee satisfaction.  

A revolutionized Help Desk will include leveraging a Virtual Assistant as a first point of contact. One way of making a Virtual Assistant easily accessible, is through QR codes. Simply scan the QR code and a Virtual Assistant will pop up to help you with questions regarding BYOD, company policies, email issues, and more. When a live agent is necessary, the Virtual Assistant can carry the conversation over to the live agent so they know the root of the issue and can take action quickly. Incorporating a Virtual Assistant into your IT strategy can support employees, while allowing the Help Desk to spend less time responding to issues that can be automated, and more time focusing on the business.

I'll leave you with this slideshare demonstrates how a Virtual Assistant empowers enterprise customers.

www.nohold.com

Gartner Predicts, "By 2016, 35% of IT Operations Organizations Will Have 75% of IT Service Desk Contacts From the Business Resolved by Virtual Assistants"

Hi all, I wanted to share with you a blog we posted for Albert written for IT professionals/CIO's, but it also gives great information for Virtual Agent enthusiasts as well. Enjoy!

     This year I have been talking a lot about the growing popularity of smart machines, the Internet of Everything (IoE), and Virtual Agents. I typically write about these topics from a customer support or customer service perspective in the PC market, though. I recently came across a document from Gartner explaining that similar trends hold true for the IT Service and Support Management (ITSSM) industry. Gartner predicts, “By 2016, 35% of IT operationsorganizations will have 75% of IT service desk contacts from the businessresolved by virtual assistants” (Predicts 2014: Automation Brings Promise to IT Operations Management, But at What Cost? December 2013). With BYOD, WYOD, bid data, and more, IT organizations are in need of extra hands to eliminate some of the work load. Using Virtual Agents to answer tier one questions open up a huge amount of time for IT professionals to focus on other important aspects of the business, all while reducing the cost within the IT department. In a population that demands technology, self-service is the norm to most people and is quickly becoming the preferred channel for support. Employees want to find the answers to their own questions fast and avoid long resolution times. Providing them with Virtual Agents, allows them the capability to help themselves.

     As I mentioned, artificial intelligence is one of the few, big disruptive technologies emerging into the tech world in 2014. More and more big name companies are recognizing its popularity and becoming more proactive in their journey towards automation and Artificial Intelligence. Just recently, IBM invested over one billion dollars into developing a new business unit for Watson (IBM’s Watson for Business: The $1 Billion Dollar Sire Slayer). The market is getting dominated by smart machines fast and experts agree that there will be a strong demand for artificial intelligence in the coming future. It is beneficial to stay ahead of the curve and be prepared for the undergoing changes. Gartner recommends, “Act now to initiate exploration, build expertise, assign resources, and launch smart machine initiatives. This area is in the early state of evolution, but holds enough promise that early adopters should benefit more over time” (IBM Bets on New Watson Unit to Ignite Smart Machine Era Growth, January 2014).

www.nohold.com

The Future of Self-Service in the Financial Industry

Self-service is all around us. From the self checkout kiosks in the grocery store, to the self check-in terminals at the airport; even restaurants are turning to tablets for order fulfillment. The truth is, consumers prefer self service. According to NCR, which makes self-service technology, 85% of consumers prefer brands that offer several forms of self-service: online, at kiosks and via mobiles, etc. (www.economist.com, 2009). When it comes to the web, leading analyst firm Gartner predicted that in 2012, “By 2014, 50% of online customer self-service search activities will be via a Virtual Assistant (VA) for at least 1,500 large enterprises.” (Source: Gartner Predicts 2012: CRM Customer Service and Support Staggers in the Posthuman Age, Jacobs, J.)

One Fortune 500 organization reports that more than 70% or customers stated that the support site is their first stop, before other support channels such as phone support. More customers engage with online support offerings and spend more time navigating through support pages with a greater success rate in finding what they are looking for.

Statistics gathered by Gartner, in August 2013 are shown in the graph below. The data represents bank channel usage by country and preferred channel. To get direct insight into consumer behaviors and attitudes around financial services, Gartner conducted consumer research in 9 countries. Visits to banking channels via PC represent the most popular channel for accessing accounts. “Despite this higher level of branch use in emerging markets, the pattern across all countries surveyed is consistent, with a substantial drop-off in branch frequency compared with digital channels for routine banking activities (such as checking a bank balance, initiating a bank transfer or obtaining the answer to a query). Adjusting to this shift effectively is critical for retail banking organizations and the IT teams that support them.” (Source: Gartner: Bank Customers Still Love Branches, but Just Don't Use Them as Much. David Schehr, August 2013.)

Accessing accounts online via PC represents the most popular interaction channel. Responding to queries online (via self-service) should be a high priority for financial institutions.

Source: Gartner (August 2013)

Virtual Personal Assistants Shine a Spotlight on Virtual Agents


According to a blog shared by Kate Leggett, Forrester Research, "Customers today are trained to go online to get answers to their questions by navigating a company’s FAQ list, or by typing in keywords to surface the right piece of content. In fact, 66% of customers use this channel. But at 51%, the satisfaction ratings for this channel are the lowest of all the communication channels that Forrester tracks. It's because keeping content in line with customer demand and making it easily accessible to customers is very hard to do. Enter the world of virtual agents. These solutions use natural language processing and artificial intelligence to greet a customer and to serve up the right answer to their question, which is asked using a customer's natural speech pattern, not just keywords. These answers could be a straightforward response, knowledge base content, data (like ‘Did my check clear?’), or the result of a transaction (like ‘Book me on the next flight home out of San Francisco’). With the right tuning and integration to back-end systems, virtual agents are able to personalize and contextualize customer interactions.” Gartner predicts that "Virtual personal assistant usage in business will grow more quickly in 2017 and 2018 than iPad usage did in 2010 and 2011." (Gartner Predicts 2014) Google™’s recent announcement of Hummingbird further augments these predictions – As stated by Google’s VP of Search, the goal was to create a more humanlike experience. Accompanied by Siri, Sherpa, Google Now, and other Personal Virtual Assistants, the future of interaction is self-service with enhanced humanlike capabilities.

We Live in a Mobile-Enabled World

In addition to these humanlike, self-service developments, the consumer demand for mobile devices has transformed the World Wide Web into the mobile web. In a recent Gartner survey (Source: Gartner: Survey Analysis: E-Commerce Customers Look to Cloud, Mobile and Transformational Change, July 2013, Fletcher, C., Alvarez G., et al.), “more than 48% of respondents plan to integrate mobile applications with their e-commerce storefronts, and more than 36% plan integrations for personalization.” Search is the top feature integrated into e-commerce platforms – more than 85% of respondents have integrated or have plans to integrate search capabilities; the top two focuses for future integration are mobile (48%) and personalization (36%).

Virtual Agents are designed to be light-weight applications that live in the cloud. They are easily optimized for mobile interaction, and can be accessed from a mobile phone application, mobile website, or even activated through scanning a QR code. They are also multi-channel, which means the technology can be leveraged across multiple channels such as: social media, in the call center, in stores or branches, as well as the web (internally for employees/externally for end customers) and mobile environments.

One of the challenges for organizations is creating a customer service experience that does not function in the same manner across all channels. In “Six Best Practices for CRM Web Customer Service Deployments” Gartner validates these points by stating “The biggest problem with most self-service solutions is when the transactional self-service solution (e.g., online ticket booking, online banking, etc.) does not have an equivalent supporting channel. If the customer needs assistance, then he or she often has to use the phone channel. This approach increases the number of calls into the call center, as opposed to reducing the number of calls, thus negating the potential savings from a reduction in incoming telephone calls.” (Source: Gartner: Six Best Practices for CRM Web Customer Service Deployments, 2012, Johan Jacobs).

A best practice for mobile strategy is to provide a customer service channel that complements the light-weight, easy to use, mobile format of the most popular devices. Similarly, create an optimized experience across various channels; for example: web, call center, social media, etc. Virtual Agents are not only ideal for these environments, but they are a part of a preferred multichannel customer experience.

Evidence in the Financial Industry

Computershare, a transfer agent that operates customer service centers for shareholder servicing for public companies and closed-end mutual fund companies, implemented a Virtual Agent in its Investor Centre in October of 2010. Brian Heffernan, Product Manager at Computershare said, “Whether it’s through Penny, the virtual agent, or her living kin conducting live chats, the overall effort is to eliminate or reduce electronic mail. We don’t want e-mails because, as any transfer agent will tell you, responding to an e-mail are the most costly method with which you could interface with a customer.” Heffernan continues by noting, “That’s because email does not generate its own responses. That requires not just a human, but a human skilled enough at responding properly—in a manner that not only fulfills the customer’s need, but also will stand up under scrutiny in a compliance review. Beyond that, responding by e-mail tends to invite … yet another e-mail from the customer. The multiple contacts ratchet up costs, dramatically. “Once it gets to the e-mail stage, it gets very expensive.”

Companies in various industries realize the importance of self-service, and not simple self-service; smarter self-service. Similar brands have also noted that a simple search would not be effective in the financial industry. There is definitely a need for enhanced and more humanlike conversation that one receives when interacting with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that uses a Natural Language Processor (NLP) and Inference Engine (IE). Mr. Heffernan acknowledges, “This can get tricky. A person whose company offers a Dividend Reinvestment Plan might simply refer to it as a Drip, when typing out one of its widely used acronyms. The system has to know that the person is referring to a DRiP. And the system has to know that companies use different acronyms for the same thing. Like DRP. Or even DSPP (Direct Stock Purchase Plan).The ins-and-outs of complex subjects, like cost-basis accounting, have to be grouped and weighted, to help create more precise responses, automatically. Over time, the tool [Virtual Agent] gains experience and gets better.” (Source: 2011 Money Management Executive, By Tom Steinert- relkeld)

The Future

In the past, the standard for web self service was based on a simple search – for example: Google site search, basic Knowledge Management (KM) search, etc. The standard for websites has been based on pushing information to the public in a format that resembles an electronic brochure. The popularity of mobile devices, along with the shift of preferred customer service channels indicates that the future is Natural Language Processing and 2 way interaction channels. Based on much research and forward looking statements from leading analyst firms and experts, self-service projects achieve the highest Return On Investment (ROI) when leveraged across all channels and optimized for the right channel experience. Virtual Agents are a key component in a successful Web Customer Service strategy, as validated by industry experts.

References:

"The Recession Spurs Self Service: Help yourself" Economist, 2009. Retrieved October 2013

Gartner Research. (2012). Gartner Predicts 2012: CRM Customer Service and Support Staggers in the Posthuman Age. [Press Release] Retrieved from http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1929014

Gartner Research "Bank Customers Still Love Branches, but Just Don't Use Them as Much" David Schehr, August 2013."

Gartner Research. (2013). Gartner Reveals Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users for 2014 and Beyond. [Press Release] Retrieved from http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2603215

Gartner Research "Gartner: Survey Analysis: E-Commerce Customers Look to Cloud, Mobile and Transformational Change" Fletcher C., Alvarez G., et al. July 2013.

Gartner Research "Gartner: Six Best Practices for CRM Web Customer Service Deployments" Jacobs, J. 2013.

"A Penny Learned: How a Virtual Agent Gets Job Done." Money Management Executive, Tom Steinert-relkeld, 2011.

© Copyright noHold Inc. 2013 All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners.

Throwback Thursday: Connected Virtual Agents

     For this week’s throwback Thursday, I wanted to bring your attention back to a blog written by Angela McIntyre, a research director from Gartner. Back in 2011, she wrote a blog titled "Human or Chatbot."  Angela discussed the advantages of Virtual Assistants, in particular the Virtual Assistants with the capability to pass the conversation on to a partner Virtual Agent. "Some providers of virtual assistant technology seamlessly link the virtual agent for the company that makes the device, with the virtual agent of the company that makes the connector box, with the virtual agent of the company that provides the software application, etc." noHold is the only corporation that utilizes this type of technology which we call Confederated Knowledge (CK). Since two out of three calls in the call center are related to third party products and services, it is advantageous to customer satisfaction (not to mention cost wise) to be able to direct your consumer immediately to the right solution.

     As always, I love to leave you with a quote, so here is a quote from Diego Ventura, the founder and CEO of noHold, Inc. "noHold is pleased to enhance the partnership between our customers through CK. However, the real winners here are the end users who can solve their problems quickly on their own terms without having to visit multiple sites." Click here for the full press release.

    Enjoy the rest of your week. Cheers!