One Year Later: Revisiting with Diego Ventura, CEO, noHold

Introduction

One year ago this month, Connected World interviewed Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold about virtual agents, the IoT (Internet of Things), and AI (artificial intelligence). In the year since that interview, the pace of developments in these areas, and for noHold as well, has been blistering.

noHold has announced a number of important developments since June of 2014, clear indicators of the company’s vitality and its commitment to innovation.

Some of the key announcements were the continuation of its longstanding relationship with ViewSonic, and the launch of a collaborative project with Cisco to develop the next generation of AI-enabled virtual assistants. This project, code named SARA for “Services Automated Resolution Agent,” is intended to “revolutionize the interaction by integrating with sophisticated back office systems and deeper understanding of complex problem resolution.”

One of the more exciting projects Ventura’s team has launched is “Virtual Volunteer,” a program designed to give charitable organizations a means to supplement a diminishing base of human volunteers, the ones who make the calls to secure contributions from donors.

Connected World’s Tim Lindner, who originally interviewed Ventura, caught up with him recently to see just what noHold has been doing this past year.

For the full interview with Diego Ventura, please follow this link to Connected World Magazine: http://connectedworld.com/one-year-later-revisiting-with-diego-ventura-ceo-nohold/

ViewSonic Leverages noHold A.I. for Next Generation Customer Service

The company continues its 13 year relationship with noHold

MILPITAS, CA, February 19, 2015 - noHold, Inc. is excited to share that ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, has decided to continue its relationship with noHold. ViewSonic and noHold are dedicated to being innovators and share a passion for creating a cutting-edge customer support experience.

Before Virtual Customer Assistants (also known as Virtual Agents) became popular, customer-centric brands like ViewSonic, were already seeing the need for 24x7 interactive web support. The company launched its first Virtual Assistant on its support site in 2002. Although this form of self-service technology was new to the market, ViewSonic was already seeing the benefits:

•     reduction of calls in their call center
•     ability to launch new products without the need to increase support headcount
•     increased overall customer satisfaction.

Today, the ViewSonic Virtual Assistant answers questions and offers troubleshooting about the company’s innovative display and cloud products, while capturing actionable metrics related to customer behavior.

“We value our partnership with noHold and will continue to collaborate with them to meet and exceed our customer service needs. Based on our data, a segment of our customers rely on the convenience of virtual agent tools and has trended upward over the last 10 years. InstantSupport has been instrumental in our efficiency to provide that instantaneous solution to our savvy users,” said Michelle Toda, Customer Care Manager of ViewSonic Corp.

“Artificial Intelligence is becoming more and more part of our daily life and ViewSonic is leveraging this trend to continuously improve customer satisfaction. noHold will continue to provide the technology that empowers ViewSonic to engage its customers effectively and on their own terms,” said Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold.

About ViewSonic

Founded in California in 1987, ViewSonic is a world leading visual solutions provider.  As an innovator and visionary, ViewSonic keeps the world connected with a portfolio of professional level visual solutions that enhance the way we compute, collaborate, communicate and connect. Our products include LED monitors, interactive commercial displays, touch displays, projectors, thin client, zero client and smart displays. To find out more about ViewSonic, visit viewsonic.com.      

  

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 answer 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:

Veronica Cech

Marketing Associate

vcech@nohold.com     

408.946.9200 ext. 356

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. 

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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

The Leading Manufacturer and Provider of Visual Technology Celebrates Grand Opening

Last week, noHold's CEO was invited to attend ViewSonic's official ribbon cutting ceremony in Brea, CA. It was a very exciting day, celebrating the grand opening of their new corporate headquarters! Diego had the chance to see some familiar faces, and also meet a few new ones. Here is a quick photo taken from that afternoon. 

August 21, 2014; ViewSonic ribbon cutting ceremony

Congratulations again on the big move, ViewSonic! We wish you all the best!
www.nohold.com

"...It's the Only Support Solution That Drives the Cost Down the More it is Used.”

The best way to measure the success of a Virtual Agent is to learn straight from the clients that implement them. One of noHold's customers, ViewSonic, a globally recognized leader in visual display technology, provided noHold with a testimonial on their experience with a Virtual Agent. 

"InstantSupport™ helps us provide quick and consistent solutions for our customers with just a few key strokes.  Its reporting tools guide us towards updates to keep our solutions current and it’s the only support solution that drives the cost down the more it is used.” - Carol Hansen, Manager, Customer Care, ViewSonic

Kudos to ViewSonic for maximizing the use of their Virtual Agent and reaping the benefits of lower support costs and higher customer satisfaction. 

Are Virtual Agents one of the only support solutions that drive down costs the more they are used? What's your opinion? 

Throwback Thursday: Customer Service via Facebook

Throwback Thursday!

     Forrester believes that Facebook matters to customer service. With such a vast audience on Facebook, and really all social media channels, it is important for companies to give their consumers what they really want...GREAT customer service! Back in 2011, Forrester analyst, Diane Clarkson, wrote a blog emphasizing the benefits of utilizing Facebook as another way to give great customer service, and in turn improve customer satisfaction. noHold was mentioned in this blog for promoting customer service on Facebook via our Virtual Agents. Diane's blog applied then, and with the Facebook audience only continuing to grow at rapid rates, it applies just as much now. 

     

     We have the same opinion, Facebook is an excellent way to promote online customer service and we provide innovative ways to implement these practices. In May of 2011, noHold became one of the first Virtual Agent providers to offer Facebook integration. Having the ability to implement your company’s Virtual Agent on Facebook not only offers more customer support to your consumers (who can complain about that?), but also allows you to analyze metrics in a way you could not do before. With this large audience, it is important to understand what types of questions are being asked. Knowing the answers to these questions gives you the power to create better products/services for your patrons. 

     "Since the very beginning, noHold has been all about empowering people to get the information they need, when they need it, and on their own terms. We share this goal with Facebook, so being able to integrate with their platform is a natural result of our strategy." - Diego Ventura, CEO, noHold, Inc.

Happy Throwback Thursday!