Chatbots.org Business News http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/ Business related news on chatbots, chatterbots, conversational agent, virtual agent at your service en Trude Fossum Copyright 2012 2012-01-27T08:26:20+00:00 <![CDATA[ NLI Virtual Assistants   – Self Help to Customer Service Staff ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/nli_virtual_assistants_customer_service_mobile_technology_virtual_assi http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/nli_virtual_assistants_customer_service_mobile_technology_virtual_assi help wantedOnline Virtual AssistantsVirtual Assistants increasingly becoming the first point of contact for users who need help from customer service. However, sometimes it is inevitable that a real customer service agent steps in and deals with the customer query. And here comes the twist; to whom does the service agent turn to when he or she needs help in resolving a question? To a virtual assistant of course!

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]]> Agent's Processing, Learning, 2012-01-30T19:17:47+00:00 <![CDATA[ Creative Virtual shortlisted for Econsultancy Innovation Award ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/creative_virtual_shortlisted_for_econsultancy_innovation_award http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/creative_virtual_shortlisted_for_econsultancy_innovation_award O2 Live Chat AvatarsRecently Creative Virtual Ltd was shortlisted for the Econsultancy Innovation Awards 2012 in the category of ‘Innovation in Customer & User Experience’ for their integration of O2 UK’s virtual agent Ask Lucy with Live Chat from LivePerson via a seamless handover process. Each year the Econsultancy Innovation Awards recognise the finest creative thinking, ideas and implementations that are changing the landscape of the digital industry. This year more than 450 companies submitted entries, and around 150 have been shortlisted across the 19 categories. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on 23 February 2012.

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]]> Business, Business contests & awards, 2012-01-27T16:18:16+00:00 <![CDATA[ From Silent TVs to talkies ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/from_silent_tvs_to_talkies http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/from_silent_tvs_to_talkies tvEvery now and then someone writes an article on whether Back to the Future II got its predictions right. Well, judging by the presence of voice activated TVs and remote controls at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, I think we can add a tick in the box to the TV that you talk to. But as a report by Leo Kelion on the BBC website has pointed out, it is not without its flaws.

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]]> Agent's perception of humans, Speech recognition, 2012-01-27T08:26:20+00:00 <![CDATA[ ‘Ask Jenny’ Lends a Hand on Virgin Media’s Website ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/ask_jenny_lends_a_hand_on_virgin_medias_website http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/ask_jenny_lends_a_hand_on_virgin_medias_website Virgin Media is the United Kingdom’s leading entertainment and communications company—the first to offer consumers broadband, digital TV, phone and mobile from one company.  Today Virgin Media is the largest Virgin branded company in the world, with almost 13,000 employees and ten million customers across the UK.

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]]> Business, Case Study, 2012-01-26T10:44:05+00:00 <![CDATA[ One of the Top Three PC Manufacturers Joins noHold’s Confederated Knowledge Network ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/pc_manufacturer_virtual_agent_nohold_ck_network http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/pc_manufacturer_virtual_agent_nohold_ck_network noHold, Inc., developer of the most interactive and diagnostic Virtual Assistant technology and Confederated Knowledge, announces that leading companies in Hi-Tech industries like PC, and networking are choosing to connect their Virtual Assistants via Confederated Knowledge.

noHold creates Virtual Assistants for web based self-service that increase customer satisfaction, reduce support costs, and capture actionable customer intelligence. As products and services become increasingly interconnected, the need for support across company boundaries is imperative. Confederated Knowledge or CK, is a patent pending feature that allows one Virtual Assistant to connect with multiple Virtual Assistants. For example: When you have an issue with your PC, it could be related to the security software, a peripheral device or the Internet Service Provider (ISP). CK empowers you to start the conversation on your own terms and get answers from a network of interconnected Virtual Assistants.

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]]> Technology, Products, 2012-01-25T14:35:50+00:00 <![CDATA[ Kaspersky Lab Extends its Intelligent Virtual Agent Lena from Customer Support to the Sales Function ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/kaspersky_intelligent_virtual_agent_sales http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/kaspersky_intelligent_virtual_agent_sales VirtuOz, Inc., the leading provider of intelligent virtual agents (intelligent virtual agents) for online marketing, sales, and support, today announced that Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, has extended the mission of Lena, its VirtuOz IVA, to online sales. By integrating Lena into its online retail operation, Kaspersky Lab can now provide personalized sales assistance to customers 24/7.

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]]> Agent's Capabilities, Sales, Business, Case Study, 2012-01-25T11:52:46+00:00 <![CDATA[ Speech Technology Group launches TTS Speech Humor contest - win a Kindle Fire ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/tts_speech_humor_contest http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/tts_speech_humor_contest

Life is much too serious and we all need more laughter in our lives.

Now that we are starting off fresh in the New Year it’s a good time to bring out your best – your sense of humor combined with your love of new technology.

Speech Technology Group cordially invites you to enter our speech humor contest.

Here is how it work’s – it’s easy:

  • Think of a joke or a skit that can be spoken by our TTS voices
  • Download the easy to install TTS editor to create the audio (or even include an Avatar)< /li>
  • Send us the audio/video file

    • The best submissions received by January 27th will be posted at http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com

    The winner will be announced on February 3rd and gets a Kindle Fire.

    Are you game?

    For a quick sample to get your juices flowing and to sign up, do to http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com/speech-humor

     

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    ]]>     Agent's Expression, Speech synthesis (TTS), Agent's Capabilities, Role playing, Business, Business contests & awards, 2012-01-24T20:37:48+00:00     <![CDATA[ My Google talk on Chatbots and Understanding Natural Language ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/google_talk_chatscript_chatbot_natural_language_understanding http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/google_talk_chatscript_chatbot_natural_language_understanding On November 1, 2011 I gave a talk to Google on natural language processing, including chatbot technology and issues in understanding simple English sentences for a story-game demo which tries to act out the sentences. Download the PDF or read full text below.

    Fresh Perspectives


    I am an AI research engineer. I want to create things that people use, but that stretch the boundaries of the possible. Whatever I work on, I research it and then try to come at it with a fresh perspective. A fresh perspective is something Google and I have in common, though we approach things from opposite directions. Typically my fresh perspectives involve understanding a domain and then writing a new application-specific scripting language to encapsulate insights I have gleaned. Google’s perspectives come from access to massive amounts of data and hardware.

    I research everything. I even researched how to give this talk. I thought about making a lot of clever PowerPoint slides. Then I read up on using and abusing PowerPoint. I abandoned that plan.

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    ]]>     Technology, Products, Business, Visions &amp; opinions, 2012-01-23T17:02:58+00:00     <![CDATA[ VirtuOz Says Virtual Agents are “Siri for the Enterprise” ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/virtuoz_says_virtual_agents_are_siri_for_the_enterprise http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/virtuoz_says_virtual_agents_are_siri_for_the_enterprise First IBM’s Watson beat Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Then Apple captivated mobile consumers with the iPhone 4S, which included an enhanced version of Siri, the voice-driven assistant born at Menlo Park, CA-based SRI International. Suddenly, the idea that computers might be just as good as humans at carrying out certain types of requests seemed a lot less far-fetched.

    For companies trying to win corporate and consumer adoption of their own NLP technologies, this is a long-awaited moment. And one of the firms that thinks 2012 could be the year this market really takes off is VirtuOz VirtuOz, Inc., a Paris-born company that moved its headquarters to Emeryville, CA, in 2009.

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    ]]>     Business, Visions &amp; opinions, 2012-01-17T20:08:01+00:00     <![CDATA[ VirtuOz Virtual Agents Processed Record 166 Million Conversations in 2011 ]]> http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/virtuoz_virtual_agents_processed_record_166_million_conversations_in_2011 http://www.chatbots.org/conversational/agent/virtuoz_virtual_agents_processed_record_166_million_conversations_in_2011 VirtuOz, Inc., the leading provider of intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) for online marketing, sales, and support, today announced that it processed a record 166 million conversations in 2011 on behalf of its customers.  This growth was fueled, in part, by expansion of VirtuOz’ client base across multiple verticals including high tech, telecommunications, retail, and consumer packaged goods.  In addition, the company noted the expansion of IVA usage from customer service, to sales and marketing via a growing number of touch points, including mobile phones and social media, such as Facebook.

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    ]]>     Business, Market research, 2012-01-10T19:17:33+00:00