Virtual Agent Alternatives to Traditional Customer Service Channels on the Rise According to Latest Report from Aberdeen Group
Web-Based, Interactive Self Service Becoming New E-Business Imperative for Building Customer Loyalty and Brand Awareness
San Francisco, CA - 2000-12-04 - According to an Executive White Paper just published by leading technology market consulting and research firm Aberdeen Group, many businesses are turning to enhanced Web-based self-service, such as virtual agents, as a way of interacting with customers and enhancing the online brand experience. The Web's relative ease of access and its 24x7 availability have redefined how companies serve customers online, and many businesses are implementing alternative service channels such as those offered by companies like NativeMinds, a leading provider of virtual representatives. Virtual representatives are automated online personalities that emulate the best in human customer service at much lower cost than traditional channels such as phone or email.
"Many businesses have been in such a rush to establish a Web presence that they have concentrated on content and not customer service," said Chris Martins, research director, customer relationship management at Aberdeen. "Many sites assume that customers are able to find what they need and conduct business without assistance. The reality is that customers often need help with product, shipping and return information that may be buried within a Web site or just not easily rendered via static Web content. Virtual representatives from companies like NativeMinds have emerged as a way to bring a more human touch to online self-service and reduce the e-mail and call center inquiries that might otherwise be generated."
NativeMinds is leading the charge in providing virtual representatives, or vReps: human-like personalities that help people find information they are looking for in a timely manner. Whereas traditional search engines and email response systems only provide lists or blanket replies, NativeMinds delivers personalized, conversational answers to real customer questions. The White Paper discusses the business and technical issues that companies need to consider when embarking on interactive self-service initiatives.
"Web site search engines and site maps are no longer sufficient in helping e-customers zero in on the information they need in the time they expect it, " said Walter Tackett, CEO and co-founder of NativeMinds. "E-businesses are at risk of losing their customers if they don't humanize online interactions, mirroring the in-store experience with more personalized, engaging conversations. Aberdeen's report gives objective insight into the business issues and challenges that companies face when empowering customers to help themselves while still fostering lasting relationships."
The white paper, Interactive Customer Care: Enriching the Self Service Experience with Automated Agents can be found at www.nativeminds.com and www.aberdeen.com.
About Aberdeen
Aberdeen Group is a leading provider of technology market consulting and research. Steeped in technology and armed with end-user field research, Aberdeen answers clients' critical business and technology questions in the context of the Internet economy and across the product life cycle. Founded in 1988, Aberdeen is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and has research centers in Palo Alto, California; Ft. Collins, Colorado; and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Aberdeen is located on the Web at www.aberdeen.com.
About NativeMinds
NativeMinds enhances service and sales for e-businesses with its virtual online customer service agents-vReps. Using natural language responses to frequently asked product, service or user account questions, vReps reduce call center costs, increase online sales, and improve customer loyalty. Leading customers of NativeMinds' vRep solutions include Oracle, Convergys, One 2 One, Axcess.com, Misys and GlaxoSmithKline. NativeMinds is a privately held corporation based in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.nativeminds.com.
For more information, contact Verity at info@verity.com or at World Wide Web site http://www.verity.com or call 408-541-1500.
Verity and the Verity logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Verity, Inc.
Summary: ...responding to their user community’s requirements. The Challenge Sibblingz is a virtual world platform with multiple social games which let their users explore a virtual world, undertake interesting quests together, and achieve team goals through many Flash-based mini-games and some premium content....
Summary: ...that leveraged real-time data from the company’s Coremetrics web analytics software—freeing Virgin Mobile’s IT personnel for higher-value tasks. Case Study Customer Virgin Mobile is the UK’s largest mobile virtual network operator, reselling mobile network airtime under the Virgin brand to more...
Summary: ...involved in its management, while reducing risk by preventing access by anyone else,” says Beuque. Some third party fnancial institutions post documents to IntraLinks, a virtual data room platform. Again working with SPECTRA IT Associates, Clearwater Capital Partners now has relevant documents from...
Summary: ...software. L.A.-based Afnety, the Firm’s longtime partner for technology support, helped Karnick review the DM solutions being used by other frms of similar stature. “I made the strong recommendation to go with Interwoven WorkSite,” says Doug Hafford, Vice President of Consulting Solutions at Afnety....
Summary: ...Vertica Case Study: Sonian. Archiving Digital Content in the Cloud with Vertica Sonian Inc. is one of a new breed of companies using the power of the Web to deliver critical business-automation functions to customers for less cost than traditional IT systems. Sonian is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider...
Summary: ...BAE Systems Customer Case Study. Importantly, they wanted to avoid traditional technology approaches that are manually dependant, such as users describing their areas of interest using either a list of predefined keywords or through the filling out of forms - which forgets that experience and interests...
Summary: ...Management K2.Net Workflow SharePoint Portal Server, for portal and search Other standard Microsoft tools • • • • • • The Customer The MOD is one of the United Kingdom Government’s largest and most diverse departments and is responsible for defending the United Kingdom and for promoting...
Summary: ...to guide users to the brand assets and guidelines their work requires. Case Study Customer Harrah's Entertainment Industry Gaming Challenges • Consistent branding was difficult to maintain across Harrah’s distributed marketing organization • To help drive response, each direct mail piece had to...
Summary: ...Most Admired Companies for ten consecutive years and was listed as the industry leader in innovation, quality of management and long-term investment categories. Based at the company´s Columbus, Ga, headquarters, Aflac´s call center has a staff of about 300 representatives and fields an average of 20,...
Summary: ...processes. “I remember leaving those meetings shaking with excitement,” says C. Roy Payne, president of AccuImage, a systems integrator that works closely with AHOM on strategic technology projects. “We were about to embark upon something that had never been tried before in the home medical equipment...
Summary: ...Cheshire Constabulary Case Study. POWER PROMOTE PROTECT Cheshire Constabulary: Powered by IDOL Organization Background Cheshire Constabulary is responsible for policing a population of approximately one million people throughout Halton, Warrington, Cheshire East and West Cheshire & Chester. The force...
Summary: ...signature fields that include a name, date, and time-stamp. To ensure security, the approver must enter a valid user ID and password to complete the authorization. “We were also able to customize the form with the Iowa State colors and logo, so that it has the unique feel of the University,” Peterson...
This is a small selection of the Autonomy case studies available, please visit our publications site at http://publications.autonomy.com/ for more information.
Summary: ...of each and every question, whatever language or slang is used, and retrieve the most conceptually relevant answer or answers from a database of approved responses. Questions that cannot be answered automatically by the system within a specified confidence interval or that contain questions or concepts...
Summary: ...and speed this critical process within a law firm. iManage ConflictsManager helps lawyers operate ethically by upholding the interests of their clients and avoiding representation that compromises this loyalty. Although fairly simple in principle, the practice of vetting conflicts of interest has become...
Summary: ...Assessment: Investigation and Analytics Autonomy’s advanced analytics engine enables researchers to rapidly search across terabytes of data using the most advanced concept search technology to answer the question, “Is there a case?” Being able to develop an informed initial case strategy is crucial...
Summary: ...more “intelligent” through such knowledge sharing. Improve customer service to increase revenue, client loyalty Clients and the firm benefit from access to a unified view of each client’s matters, facilitating better, faster and more accurate client service—while building client loyalty. Adding...
Summary: ...Santa Clara, Shanghai, Singapore, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Utrecht and Washington, D.C. Solutions that merely list custodians and send out hold notices and interview forms create unnecessary risk. They do not provide an effective legal hold. Custodian Self-Collection is Not the Answer...
Summary: ...of mobile professionals and the accessibility of data is difficult to ascertain from the administrative location. Even given the whereabouts of a custodian of interest, chances are that the volumes of data in their custody will not be available for a window of time sufficient for preservation to be completed....
Summary: ...and tag unstructured content, or organize and migrate structured data within legacy databases or data warehouses. Now, however, organizations are realizing that structuring information using excessive manpower and costly infrastructures is not the answer. The answer to leveraging information to its highest...
Summary: ...the productivity of mobile executives, while offering protection from significant information risks. The Mobile Challenge The mobile landscape is fraught with difficulties. Voice services have commoditized and the disruption caused by regulatory pricing constraints, along with the entrance of Mobile Virtual...
Summary: ...or by outside counsel. Correspondence, pleadings, witness statements, depositions, precedents, scanned images, and more are organized in virtual file folders called WorkSpaces. Like a traditional expandable file folder, each WorkSpace organizes all content regarding a specific matter or project in clearly...
Summary: ...format, location or status. IDOL forms the backbone of all Autonomy solutions. Linked together, each best-of-breed, IDOL-based module comes together to form a single platform that seamlessly links organizational processes together, circumventing the myriad problems that plague traditional stovepipe approaches....
This is a small selection of the Autonomy Product Briefs available, please visit our publications site at http://publications.autonomy.com/ for more information.
Summary: ...as ensuring a consistent response. Risk mitigation Different answers to the same questions in different venues can cause a lot of trouble for a company. For example, if a company’s responses to interrogatories about records management do not match their answers to similar queries in an SEC filing, it...
Summary: ...to be more agile without increasing their workload. MTV: We have a corporate performance management wiki project in our BPX community where that same question is being discussed – how to tie them up together, what is important and what is not. It’s not a question with a single answer. This is a part...
Summary: ...Inc, 439 F.Supp.2d 524, 565 (E.D. Va. 2006), the Court used strong language in holding that “for a company merely to tell employees to 'save relevant documents,'. [was the] sort of token effort [that] will hardly ever suffice.” The Courts and Custodian self collection Custodian self collection typically...
Summary: ...and so forth. With no self-service capability, the client must wait for a response, breeding impatience that can cut two ways: clients of large firms can resent a perceived lack of agility, while clients of small firms can begin to question whether their firm has sufficient office resources. With more...
Summary: ...of new business opportunities. By providing a unified platform for intranet and extranet access, matter centric collaboration enables firms to meet their clients’ demand for direct, self-service access to matter information, and work efficiently with in-house legal counsel as a single virtual organization....
Summary: ...By providing a unified platform for intranet and extranet access, matter centric collaboration enables departments to meet their clients’ demand for direct, self-service access to matter information, and work efficiently with in-house legal counsel as a single virtual organization. Intuitive Organizational...
Summary: ...required to run a small- or medium-sized business, or the remote office of a larger company, run on a variety of server platforms, ranging from physical systems running Windows®, Unix®, and Linux® to virtual servers (such as VMware®). These platforms may be multi-purpose, or may be designed to host...
Summary: ...entities. Multi-valued properties are problematic for property tables for the same reason they are problematic for relational tables. They cannot be included with the other attributes in the same table unless they are represented using list, set, or bag attributes. However, this requires an object-relational...
Summary: ...hoc usage analysis. Using Cloudera’s Distribution for Hadoop, the same basic map and reduce functions can be prototyped on a single machine and deployed in scale on thousands to reduce computation time. Hadoop also includes a basic SQL interface called Hive to facilitate answering simple questions,...
Summary: ...Compliance After the Global Credit Crisis. SEC testified that hedge funds should be included in future regulatory regimes.26 In responses to questions from the relevant Senate Sub-Committee, SEC Nominee Mary Schapiro noted she “would specifically endorse the registration of hedge funds.”27 This view...
Summary: ...Vertica for Structured Finance Industry Solution White Paper. Compression in Vertica is particularly effective, as values within a column tend to be quite similar to each other and compress well, often by up to 90%. In a traditional row-oriented database, values within a row of a table are not likely...
Summary: ...designed to function efficiently in elastic, hosted computing environments like the cloud. A computing cloud, such as the Amazon EC2, is composed of thousands of commodity servers running multiple virtual machine instances (VMs) of the applications hosted in the cloud. As customer demand for those applications...
This is a small selection of the Autonomy White Papers available, please visit our publications site at http://publications.autonomy.com/ for more information.
Related Case Studies
