Intelligent Service Agent (ISA) is a customer service solution built on PAI technologies for a major telecommunication company. ISA has been in production since 1997. It has delivered excellent ROI. ISA is a winner out of multiple “best of breed” reviews due to merges and acquisitions. Our technologies have been expanded from multiple regional “flavors” to become the universal state of the art deployment. 

For the past fifteen years our goal has been to deliver innovative solutions and world class service. We have a consistent and proven record of on-time and on-budget delivery of innovative business solutions.

The natural language voice interface provided by PAI leveraging the existing ISA knowledge base, engine and back end system portfolio and utilizing existing IVRs provides a cost effective breakthrough as a customer service tool.  Customer calls to the system in conversational English are able to perform virtually any task (both simple and complex) that a human representative can accomplish without human intervention.  Should a customer struggle with the interface, IPlatform will engage a live representative (in background) transparently enable the representative to respond to the customer’s issues via the voice response system and exit the customer call leaving the platform in control of the remainder of the customer interaction.

Initial internal analysis indicates the natural language capability will increase the current customer call automation rate in excess of 10% and the representative assisted call AHT will be reduced by more than 63%.  

Though customers will be able to recognize they are engaged with a “machine” they would not be aware of the seamless engagement of live operator support.  ISA also has the capability of providing improved dispatch results through identifying the delta between the reported characteristics of the case of trouble and the technician’s on-site analysis.  This data can be provided on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.IPlatform will expand customer service media alternatives while reducing AHT (labor costs) and meeting the customer in their media of choice. 

• Full automation – we estimate that we can increase the automation rate by 10% over your existing IVR because we push 100% of ISA capability to the voice channel. Your existing IVR can only handle a small subset of customer issues.
• Semi Automation – For those cases that require involvement of a live agent, we can reduce the AHT by more than 63% with the paradigm shift approach of seamless engagement. 
• No automation – For those customers who absolutely refuse to “talk to a machine,” there is little opportunity for improvement. But this group could be reduced through the use of the natural language interface and the expanded scope of issues that can be automated in both 1) and 2 above).

ISA improves the quality of dispatch. ISA captures and retains all the dispatch decision data in its footprint database. We can link the field decision to the records in the footprint, and identify the discrepancies. These discrepancy cases can be integrated into the decision improvement process and utilized to refine the knowledge base decision processes. Once the cases are integrated, future dispatch decisions will reflect the process improvement. This process can occur daily, weekly, or monthly and can be automated or provided for administrative review before implementation.

ISA refines its performance through its learning and adapting capability. As a result, it continuously reduces AHT and improves quality of dispatch without additional IT effort.

To reduce cost, you have to automate. To automate, you need knowledge in one form or another. Capturing and extracting knowledge is expensive and time consuming. As IPlatform can “execute” Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Visio) documents written in English, new features and functionalities can be implemented literally overnight without requirement analysis, design, programming and testing.  

PAI is a general process automation platform that is completely application independent.   In its most basic form IPlatform can be implemented by providing a knowledge base (business rules/logic reflecting your business processes, practices and strategies) and backend integration to data residing in relevant systems and databases. Once an application is deployed on IPlatform, its business logic and the services are concurrently available to all channels/media of your choosing and thus available to all potential internal and external customers in their preferred media without additional programming.  As clarification, a channel/media in this context would include internet or intranet, electronic chat, texting or through telephone calls utilizing natural language voice.  

In the case of the natural language voice channel, once your DSL knowledge base is deployed to PAI, your customers can access your DSL customer service application in plain English via any telephone. Customer calls to your customer service centers are answered by your Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system and our proprietary system to form a Virtual Intelligent Service Agent (VISA).  Callers interact with the system in precisely the same manner they would speak with a live service representative to place or resolve service problems.  Predicated on our internal analysis augmented by over fifteen years of working with telecom customer service and systems we project this capability has the potential to provide over 60% AHT reduction when compared to existing IVR only environments.

CyberObject has extensive DSL troubleshooting and service experience. We developed a DSL customer service prototype and trial for a Tier one telecommunications company as well as a national ISP. We have experience in interfacing, interpreting and diagnosing DSLAM. We integrated speed testing through a public Internet site and built a knowledge base to qualify local loops for DSL service. We have extensive knowledge and experience with regard to computer configuration, set up and diagnosis such as IP configuration and diagnosis, email setup, and more.

A comprehensive set of generic user interfaces (UI) exists for each channel. This enables the service provider to focus on your business processes and strategies as opposed to complex customized user interfaces. Once your application is deployed, it is instantly accessible across all channels without additional software development and programming.

The following channels will provide 24X7 customer self-service.

1. Voice – 800# with speech/IVR allows customers and users to interact with applications in plain English conversation as they would with a live agent.
2. Chat – The chat channel allows the customers and users to chat with applications in plain English conversation as they would with a live chat agent or a friend. We provide a web based chat client for access, but customers and users may also utilize their own IM (chat) client.
3. SMS -allows customers and users to interact with applications through texting in plain English conversation.
4. Web – Web browser access via the world’s most ubiquitous interface.
5. Desktop – The corporate workhorse GUI.
6. Facebook – Proactive customer service – if anyone poses a question about a product or service in Facebook, this channel can provide an answer by posting a response to Facebook. If the proper response cannot be formulated based on the knowledge base, it can engage a live agent to address the issue. 
7. Twitter – Work similarly as Fackbook. 

For customer self-service, access alone is not enough, an intuitive and easy to use interface is essential. There is no better user interface for customer self service than plain English. These channels enable customers to perform self-service in conversational English just as they would with human agents. 

Making plain English conversation a reality is a state-of-the-art, patent pending component VISA – Virtual Intelligent Service Agent.  VISA enables automated plain English conversations without the human agent participation. Consequently this translates to significant labor cost reductions and better, more nimble customer service. 

Virtual Intelligent Service Agent is essentially a clone of a human agent, which possesses Natural Language Processing (NLP) capability and business knowledge provided by the knowledge base.

The “knowledge” of VISA resides the knowledge base where your institutional knowledge, methods, procedures, practices and business strategies reside.

The larger and more diverse your customer base is the more potential for security risks.  IPlatform implements multi-level security. First, users are centrally authenticated and authorized to gain access. Secondly, each channel is protected through channel security. Additionally, security can be implemented at the user and/or group level. For example, company proprietary data can be withheld from external users such as CLECs. 

A comprehensive set of User Interfaces are provided for each channel. In most cases, once you have deployed an application, the application is instantly available to customers/users across all channels without development and programming for each user interface. For example, after a DSL service application is deployed to IPlatform, your customers can access the DSL service through voice over any telephone in conversational English.  Concurrently your customers could also be enabled to text or instant message their customer service issues.

The built in user interfaces for each channel can be customized by the subject matter experts (non-technical personnel).

In typical development environments channels are usually developed and maintained as separate applications though they perform the same business function. Your current eRepair and IVR are examples of this methodology. 

The “One Engine Drives All” framework enables us to share backend integration and the knowledge base across all channels without IT effort. In our environment a single engine delivers features, functions, and business logic to all channels transparently. So you develop one application, you test one application, and you maintain one application for all channels.  This approach provides significant improvements in speed to market and reduces IT time and costs in addition to reducing future maintenance costs.

Additionally, it allows fast fixes and enhancements. Once an enhancement or fix is made and deployed, it is transparently and instantly available to all channels and customers. 

ISA has been in production for over a decade with over 15 years of optimization and enhancements. IPlatform leverages the iISAlectual capital and financial investments in ISA and enables to rapidly deliver its optimized features and functions to all customers and users through IPlatform and expanded channels.

The conversational English interface will increase your automation rate and enhance your customer’s experience therefore reducing your costs and improving customer satisfaction. 

 IPlatform will not only dramatically expand access but will also significantly expand the scope and complexity of issues being handled through customer self-service because the ISA engine is driving all channels.

It is impossible to achieve a 100% automation rate, which means that there are always issues that require human attention. We can generally divide customers and their issues into three categories:

1. Full automation – issues can be fully automated without human intervention.
2. Semi-automation – issues require some  human involvement
3. Customers absolutely refuse to interact with a machine. Seamless engagement focuses on the second category – issues requiring some human involvement.

Let’s use an example to illustrate one of the problems with today’s customer self-service applications.

Customer Bob is navigating an IVR. Bob is confused by the IVR choices and doesn’t know how to proceed. Bob is then transferred to a live agent. A live agent is now engaged with Bob until his issue is resolved.

Our technology recognizes Bob is struggling and engages a live representative transparently to help Bob make the right choice and then delivers the control for the call back to the IVR and enables the IVR to continue to serve Bob.  Bob’s issue is addressed and the amount of intervention by your representative is limited to resolving only those issues where Bob and the system are struggling.

Our proprietary seamless engagement technology provides a paradigm shift where we avoid transferring the remainder of the call to a live agent by entering the contact, the specific issue and allowing the system to address any remaining issues without further human involvement.  To insure a positive customer outcome your representative may be allowed to continue to monitor the interaction to be confident the customer’s needs are addressed. 

Seamless engagement is accomplished by our technology recognizing any combination of inappropriate customer responses, delays in responding or customer frustration.  These triggers deliver the customer to the desktop of a live representative with a listing of the customer’s responses up to the point of the customer being delivered to the representatives desktop.  

The representative analyzes the issue and either addresses it or poses additional clarifying questions, but in all scenarios the response is typed into the system and the IVR speaks the response back to the customer.  The representative may continue to monitor the customer’s progress or may immediately return control of the customer call to the IVR.   The engagement is so seamless and transparent the customer will never know a live agent has been engaged in the process.

As a result of the scenario above, the involvement of a live agent is significantly reduced during customer contacts. Today, your AHT is approximately 270 seconds. With the seamless engagement technology, the AHT is projected to be less than 100 seconds, a more than 60% reduction in labor. 

ISA enables the management of any customer issues that a live representative can manage today. This is a significant change from your current IVR environment where today most IVRs only address a handful of customer call scenarios.

Our engagement technology will support operations regardless of their physical location.

Learning and adapting is designed to provide ongoing reduction of live agent engagement, increase the automation rate and improve the quality of dispatches and therefore leads to additional reductions of AHT and cost.

IPlatform continuously improves itself through learning and adapting under the supervision of your staff in real-time and in production without IT involvement. Performance can be improved in two significant aspects:

• Learns English language permutations such as dialects, slang, product name, etc. 
• Adapts the knowledge base to improve the quality of decisions and expand the scope of customer issues being addressed.

When an exception arises, a live agent is brought into the customer call via engagement. Once the issue is resolved by the agent, the live agent can then document how to address the issue for future callers.    Once this recommendation is reviewed and deployed, the same issue can be addressed without engagement in the future. This “system training” can occur in real-time in production. This system training does not require programming and deployment of the new information…

Once an application is deployed to PAI, it is instantly available for customer self-service without additional development and programming.

The embedded natural English conversation capability provides a better, more natural user experience… 

The Internet community channels such as Facebook and Twitter provides a new convenient, inexpensive customer service channel.

 As a result, it will shed calls to call centers, expand access, increase automation rate, provide a better user experience and therefore increase customer satisfaction and loyalty while reducing your labor costs.

Reduce IT cost

The “One Engine Drives All” framework provides consistent customer service with full functionality and features across all channels without overlapping investments and efforts. Features and functions are pushed to all the channels transparently. As a result, it will significantly cut IT cost, provide speed to market and increase your automation rate.

Reduced AHT

The paradigm shift of true “seamless engagement” potentially revolutionizes the contact center operation. It transparently engages a live agent for only those tasks that need the attention of live agents. As a result, it will significantly reduce AHT and labor costs. 

Self improvement

The learning and adapting capability resident in IPlatform supports continuous self-improvement without IT investments and efforts. The learning and adapting occurs in real-time and in production. As a result, it will continue to reduce AHT, increase the automation rate, and improve the quality of dispatches.

Bottom line: PAI is a leading edge intelligent application platform, which provides better customer service, a better user experience, significantly reduces AHT, will increase the automation rate, and improve quality of dispatches. The bottom line is that it significantly reduces service cost and improves customer service.