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.
VirtuOz’ record number of transactions, IBM Watson’s defeat of its two human competitors on the game show Jeopardy, and Apple’s Siri, a voice-enabled personal assistant built into Apple’s iOS5, are key 2011 milestones that indicate market demand for IVAs is poised for massive growth. In fact, Gartner Research predicts that, “By 2015, 50 percent of online customer self-service search activities will be via a VA for at least 1,500 large enterprises.”
“The over 177 million adults in the U.S. now conducting their personal and professional business online expect companies to offer fast, engaging self-service via their preferred touch point — the Web, social media, mobile devices — with a quick, accurate response,” said Steve L. Adams, president and CEO of VirtuOz. “The increased global adoption of our IVAs across a wide-range of vertical industries, functions, and touch points indicates that more and more companies understand the need for a new online channel to engage customers and to provide a high quality customer experience for marketing, sales or service.”
As noted by Forrester Research, “The traditional view of customer service is blurring into all areas of the customer life cycle. Savvy eBusiness leaders recognize the growing alignment of service, sales, marketing, and brand to engage customers in an unfractured customer conversation.” Supporting this research, in 2011, 20 percent of VirtuOz’ customers expanded their use of IVAs to include sales and marketing missions.
Other notable VirtuOz highlights in 2011 include:
- Key partnerships with Salesforce.com and Moxie Software to create multi-channel aware virtual agents that act as the point of first contact for online customer engagements.
- Introduction of high performance analytics that capture and leverage the voice of the customer to continuously improve digital customer relationships.
- Recognition by Gartner Research for meeting requirements in 8 of the 9 categories in the Gartner Research Virtual Assistant (VA) landscape report released in January 2011.
- Recognition by American Business Awards, Best in Biz 2011 and Tech Awards Circle for technology excellence.
- Ranking 24th in the Top 50 Innovative European Companies by Commerce International, and 4th in France.
- $7 million in additional funding from existing investors Mohr Davidow Ventures and Galileo Partners to finance growth in the U.S. and E.U.
