Tag Archive for: CX

Talking Conversational AI

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

In 2003, motivated by a vision of a time when “conversations powered by computers would transform the world”, I founded Creative Virtual. Over these past 20 years we have constantly been at the forefront of developing innovative conversational AI solutions that address real business issues and deliver real business value. Our V-PortalTM and V-PersonTM products have won many awards, are rated highly by analyst houses, and have benefited businesses in 25 countries.

The Gluon release of our V-Person Technology, which we launched globally on 16 May, continues our history of innovation and bringing to market new powerful solutions that deliver real business value. It also inches us closer towards the reality of the vision that we dreamt about all those years ago.

A transformational product, Gluon has raised the bar and shows that it is possible to create responsible enterprise-grade conversational AI solutions that put organisations in control, enable accuracy of content curation and sharing, and deliver accurate and consistent real-time multi-channel customer and employee experiences.

The microservices architecture of Gluon gives organisations a higher level of agility, workflow flexibility, accelerated integration capability, and enables scalability, supporting the composable enterprise model favoured by companies.

This architecture also provides stronger security, makes our system much easier to use, and enables organisations to deliver richer and more powerful customer and employee experiences through the seamless delivery of accurate, relevant content across multiple channels in real-time.

Creative Virtual’s experienced R&D team have been actively examining and testing large language models (LLMs) for many years. With Gluon, we have made LLMs configuration easier; providing native support in V-Portal and enabling organisations, with one click, to choose both their preferred language model and deployment method, whether that be on-premise, in a public or private cloud.

That’s not all. Because of the team’s unparalleled knowledge and experience in conversational AI development, we can provide our customers with the ability to mitigate the potential data privacy and protection risks associated with LLMs, through our innovative engineering and putting in place measures, processes and systems, that still allow our clients to reap the maximum benefit of these models.

The ground-breaking technological capabilities of the Gluon release with its advanced features and functionality, and redesigned user-interface, are matched by the equally impressive business value it can deliver. The time, efficiency, productivity and cost savings are measurable, and greater personalisation capability provides for an enhanced reputation through better customer and employee experiences.

Operationally, the Gluon release simply becomes part and parcel of an organisation’s technology ecosystem, integrating seamlessly into its current tech landscape and enabling improved utilisation of current assets.

The Gluon release of our V-Person technology marked a momentous day in our history. It was also a day that has advanced conversational AI solutions that deliver real business value. With the continued growth of computational power, technological innovation, and human ingenuity, the time when “conversations powered by computers are transforming the world” is now, and will also be tomorrow and the future.

Whilst we are constantly driven by our vision which, excitingly, we continue to see unfold before us, we are equally motivated by our belief in “The Science of Conversation” which has been our strapline since day one.

The ‘science of conversation’ is at the heart of our Gluon release, blending, in a seamless way, the art of conversation and the rigour of science and engineering to herald a new era in conversational AI.

Please contact us if you would like a demonstration of our Gluon release.

APAC demonstration

EMEA demonstration

US demonstration

Human Hallucinations

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

There are so many organisations having their say on ChatGPT, but not everything that is being said should be taken at face value.

Companies wondering how they will be able to best leverage large language models (LLMs) – whether that be GPT, LaMDA, Galactica, Megatron-Turing or any other model – need to ensure they separate fact, fiction and fantasy.

We’ve been innovating in the conversational AI space for nearly two decades and as technology continues to advance, we are constantly asking ourselves serious questions about how it may, or is, disrupting the value we can add. This drives us to innovate, so that our customers can maximise real business value from our solutions.

The hot topic of LLMs is not new to us. Our team has been exploring and investigating them for about two and half years now.

One of the enterprise-level features of the Gluon release of our V-PersonTM Technology, which we launched on 16 May, is native support for LLMs. Like all technology, the value lies in how it is used, and this is also the case with LLMs.

An example of how we are using LLMs is theme matching. This has come about following many conversations with our customers and partners and listening to their concerns, challenges and requirements. This use of LLMs is value adding; ensuring accuracy of responses in real-time, at a significantly lesser cost and greatly reduced time and effort compared to similar possible methods.

When going down the LLM route, the questions companies need to be asking are:

  • What is the conversational AI provider able to deliver, that can’t simply be done by using LLMs such as ChatGPT directly?
  • What value is the conversational AI provider adding to your business through real customer use cases they are showing?
  • Can the conversational AI provider back up and demonstrate what they are saying?
  • What is the data privacy, security and sovereignty safeguards that the provider has in place?

The reason these questions must be asked is because simply using ChatGPT to do something doesn’t mean it adds any value. Companies need to look for a provider who delivers conversational AI solutions that address real business challenges and are designed to deliver real business value.

Let me give you an example of what I saw recently on a webinar. Presenting an example of a transactional chatbot, the company demonstrated how easy it is to build a currency converter using ChatGPT.  Good so far.  But:

  1. How many of us have been using Google to do that for as long as we can remember? and,
  2. This is not as a transactional chatbot, and to call it one is disingenuous.

A transactional chatbot that adds value to a business would be one that, for example, would be able to add money to your travel card. Having a chatbot able to execute the task deflects this common transaction away from the contact centre. This is of value to a business as it allows them to free up agents to deal with more complicated customer issues that require a live agent.

Companies should also feel confident to challenge their conversational AI provider to substantiate what they are saying.  We hear and read a lot about responsible AI, but you need to insist that your provider can show you exactly how they going to deliver this, the measures they have embedded and processes they are following. Responsible AI starts with responsible humans.

Similarly, companies should be confident that their provider is fully versed in data protection, private and sovereignty, and understands the language model infrastructure and how it uses data. Organisations must ask what is happening to the data, and if queries put to ChatGPT are being processed on overseas infrastructure how does this affect data sovereignty or other data protection issues.

The pace at which LLMs are advancing means that the best conversational AI provider is one that is extremely agile in terms of product development. Recently we added the capability to deploy language models locally, both on-premise and in a private cloud, to alleviate the concerns of some clients about sending data to globally deployed models.

Our approach to product development has always been in collaboration with our customers and partners. This ensures that our innovation is driven by solving real business challenges and enables us to deliver real business value.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unsubstantiated claims about ChatGPT, LLMs and AI but with the right provider, conversational AI is a great tool for businesses looking to deliver better customer and employee experiences.

The excitement about ChatGPT is causing human hallucinations, so ask those questions of your conversational AI provider.

An Experience Designed for Your Customers

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

Every month I write a column for Wharf Life, a fortnightly publication that’s available for free around Canary Wharf, Docklands, and east London as well as in an E-Edition online. Titled Virtual Viewpoint, I use this column to share my thoughts on a variety of technology related topics as well as my recent experiences. My latest Virtual Viewpoint was about grocery shopping at the local Canary Wharf Waitrose, something I’ve done regularly – and without much fanfare – since the store opened over 20 years ago.

For all those years I was always baffled by the wine bar in the middle of the food shopping court. On many occasions, I would wonder why on earth people would want to combine the drudgery of picking up their spuds and toothpaste with a glass of wine. I was especially perplexed considering the abundance of lovely bars in such close proximity. Yet, it’s always appeared consistently busy and continued to be a fixture of the store despite the updates and renovations over the years.

The penny finally dropped the other day after my wife and newborn son arrived home from the hospital, and we were suddenly thrust into the two-under-two club. A few days into the lovely chaos of both chasing a toddler and caring for an infant, and suddenly a trip to Waitrose felt quite exciting!

With a spring in my step, I put on my noise cancelling headphones with some relaxing music and the experience felt completely different to normal – more like a trip to a health spa. Oblivious to the mundanities of my shopping trip, I suddenly stumbled upon the bar. And that’s when the light bulb moment happened. I was in my personal spa, and the idea of a glass of champagne amid the shoppers made perfect sense.

Every company has a target customer base, and it’s no secret that designing your experience for your target customer is good for business. Yet within that target group there are a variety of subgroups that have different needs and expectations. Those variations could be based on age, location, access to technology – even number of children! It’s important that you consider these differences when making customer experience (CX) decisions.

As the leader of a conversational AI company, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am a huge supporter of implementing technology to improve your CX. But I am also a huge supporter of keeping the human at the centre of all CX decisions. While Creative Virtual’s V-Person™ solutions successfully automate digital customer service, forcing all customers to only self-serve with a virtual agent is never a good CX decision.

This is just one reason why it’s key to consult with experts on your CX strategy. This group of experts should include those experienced with your industry, with the technology, and with your identified use cases. It should also include your customers – the true experts on their experiences with your organisation, products, services, and employees.

Go beyond the typical customer surveys and dig into rich data like conversations with your virtual agent and contact centre. See what customers are actually asking, where they are experiencing pain points, and what they really love. Look for ways you can make experiences easier and more personalised. And be sure to take into consideration the varying preferences and needs of your whole customer base – get insights from both the carefree dad of one young child and the sleep-deprived parent of two-under-two!

If you’re local to Canary Wharf and want to discuss customising your CX with conversational AI, I’d be happy to meet you at Waitrose for a glass of wine and a chat. You can also arrange a session with one of Creative Virtual’s experts around the world by contacting us here.

A great resource if you’re evaluating different conversational AI solutions is the 2023 Chatbot Buyer’s Guide. It includes a technology comparison chart that can help you determine the specific functionality you’ll need to design the right experience for your customers.

A More Personal Personalized CX

By Mandy Reed, Global Head of Marketing

The start of a new year always comes with a slew of business predictions from experts, and 2023 has certainly been no different. I think we have learned to take these predictions with a grain of salt, considering them as we plan for the future but not necessarily fully embracing all of them. This is particularly true after the upheaval and uncertainty the world has experienced over the past few years.

Sometimes though we come across a prediction that feels very on the money. This year, one of the customer experience (CX) predictions for 2023 falling into that category is that ‘Personalization will get More Personal’. When you consider recent CX research indicates a personalized experience is important for customers in their purchasing decisions, it makes sense that businesses will work towards this in order to improve customer satisfaction. But what does it mean to make personalization more personal?

I like customer service expert Shep Hyken’s take on this in his blog post, Don’t Just Personalize the Customer’s Experience – Individualize It. In a nutshell, individualizing the experience is taking standard personalization one step further in order to create a unique – but not creepy! – engagement with the customer. This can be applied to marketing, sales, and customer support.

Personalizing the customer’s experience can mean a lot of different things to different companies and in different scenarios. I was reminded of this last week when I received an email from Amazon with a product recommendation. The recommendation was based on a recent product search and comparison I had done while logged into my account, so in that way it was personalized. However, I had ended my search by making a purchase, so it didn’t feel very personalized to have Amazon suggesting I buy a product I had just purchased a day or two before.

Sometimes those of us in marketing and sales are guilty of spinning the truth a little bit. Would I market that Amazon experience as personalized? Absolutely!

But was it really individualized to the true customer journey? Maybe not so much. . .

Back in 2013, V-Person™ technology became the first virtual agent offering to implement personalization – a recognition acknowledged both by the Patricia Seybold Group in their 2014 technology review and by the analysts at Gartner when they named Creative Virtual a 2015 Cool Vendor in Smart Machines.

For nearly a decade now, we’ve talked about our virtual agents and chatbots delivering a personalized self-service experience – with no marketing spin required! In this context, a personalized experience has always also been an individualized experience. It’s not just personalized because the user is greeted by name or is presented with relevant information based on the webpage from which the chatbot was launched. Users are given responses that are specific for them based on their account, subscriptions, invoices, member status, purchase history, location – the list goes on and on.

Over the years both our conversational AI platform and the technology that enables this type of personalization have improved, opening up additional possibilities and creating more seamless user experiences. The key to delivering a truly individualized experience through a conversational AI tool is integration. Without flexible integration options, you’ll never be able to make your personalization more personal.

Today personalized virtual agents are delivering more value to organizations than non-personalized solutions. They increase digital containment and improve user satisfaction by delivering comprehensive, tailored self-service experiences. They can also help individualize human-supported channels when deployed internally as agent assist tools.

It’s clear that technology is an important tool in creating more personalized customer experiences, whether that be on digital channels or in-person. When it comes to using technology to take those experiences from simple personalization to being individualized, the solution and vendor you choose is vitally important.

A great resource for any organization looking to purchase a conversational AI solution that will make personalized engagements more personal for customers or employees in 2023 is the new Chatbot Buyer’s Guide. It includes some important insights into the types of personalization you may want to consider implementing and what features and functionality the conversational AI platform you select needs to deliver that personalization successfully.

And if you’re interested in learning about how V-Person delivers a more personal and individualized experience, arrange your own customized demo with an expert member of our team.

Will 2023 end up being the year that personalization gets more personal? Only time will tell. But with the technology available today and the clear business benefits individualized experiences deliver, it would be foolish not to make this a strategic initiative this year.

Wishing you Joy & Good Cheer This Season & in the New Year!

The end of 2022 is nearly here and as we reflect on the past year, the Creative Virtual team want to express our thanks to all of our blog readers, customers, and partners. We appreciate you!

The last 12 months brought lots of exciting developments for the conversational AI industry and us as a company. We reflected on some of these in our 2022 in Review blog post. Since that look back was published, one of our other blog posts – Can Conversational AI Make Your CX More Human and Empathic? – won first place in the CX Technology category of the 2022 Customer Experience Update MVP Awards!

While it’s always nice to end the year celebrating a win, we’re also busy looking forward to 2023. We have some exciting things in the works, including a new chatbot buyer’s guide and the next release of our V-Person™ technology. While you wait for those, be sure to check out our other educational resources and subscribe to our Blog – if you haven’t already, of course!

On behalf of all of us around the world at Creative Virtual, we wish you joy and good cheer this season and in the new year!

A Look Back: 2022 in Review

By Mandy Reed, Global Head of Marketing

As the end of 2022 draws near, it is time once again for Creative Virtual’s annual year in review blog post. Every year we take this opportunity to reflect on the hard work of our team, our contributions to the conversational AI industry, and a few of our company’s biggest highlights from the past 12 months.

Two of the things we are proudest of at Creative Virtual are our experienced, dedicated team and the unique expertise we provide to our customers and partners. Whether it’s through our product development or our collaborations with individual clients, it’s important to us that we consistently deliver the best solutions possible. Having an analyst group recognise us for this is always an exciting bonus – and that’s what happened again this year.

AIxOutlook conducted an independent assessment of the major conversational AI vendors in the market and found Creative Virtual to be the Innovation Excellence Leader!

“Creative Virtual is the clear Innovation Excellence Leader in a crowded and competitive conversational AI industry. Businesses collaborating with them benefit from their expert consultation, resulting in customised, integrated, and personalised solutions that deliver real business value.”

This Innovation Excellence Leadership award recognises us as the foremost conversational AI innovator driving the industry forward. You can read more about AIxOutlook’s full evaluation by downloading the report for free here. This honour means even more as we prepare for the upcoming launch of the next innovative release of our V-Person™ technology.

The analysts at Celent conducted their own evaluation of intelligent virtual assistant platforms as well, focusing in on the technology within the retail banking space. Creative Virtual was one of ten vendors included, and we are proud of our ‘Luminary’ ranking in the final report. This means we excelled in all three of the dimensions evaluated: Advanced Technology, Breadth of Functionality, and Customer Base and Support. Celent clients can access the full report here.

We were also awarded ‘Best Conversational AI Solutions’ in the SME News 2022 IT Awards. These awards recognise companies driving for innovation and focusing on client-centricity while also remaining true experts in their industry. Being recognised as the best in conversational AI made our Founder & CEO, Chris Ezekiel, contemplate what makes a virtual agent or chatbot a true conversational AI solution and share his insights in a blog post.

women leaders of conversational AIIn October I was recognised for my contribution to the conversational AI industry by being included in the Women Leaders of Conversational AI, Class of 2023! I’m honoured to have been selected to be a part of this inaugural class and am looking forward to attending the ceremony at the Project Voice Women’s Summit in April. The This Week in Voice podcast host, Bradley Metrock, dedicated an episode to introducing each of the women selected – you can listen anywhere you get your podcasts or check it out on YouTube here.

Age UK, a Creative Virtual customer since 2017, collaborated with us on a new case study exploring the four main goals they are achieving with our V-Person technology: improve discoverability of a large amount of online content; give people more ways to easily interact with and find information; resolve easy-to-answer queries online to reduce Advice Line calls; and be proactive in testing new innovations to better meet the charity’s objectives. Check out the full Age UK success story here.

In May we announced a new partnership with Service Management Group (SMG) to deliver an industry-first dynamic assistance capability. Dynamic assistance integrates V-Person conversational AI with SMG’s digital experience solution to deliver real-time support to users as they encounter issues during their online purchasing journey. Learn more about the partnership and dynamic assistance here.

2022 ALGIM conferenceWe joined our partner Enghouse Interactive in Christchurch, NZ in November for the ALGIM (Association of Local Government Information Management) 2022 Conference. Creative Virtual’s Patrick Gallagher co-presented a well-attended session on creating award-winning chatbots in local government.

Also in November, Mugdha Desai, our Head of India Operations, took part in the Agile Mumbai 2022 Conference. The event theme was ‘Artificial Intelligence for Business Agility’, and Mugdha was a featured panellist for the session titled, ‘Benefits of AI for End User’.

Founder & CEO, Chris shared his conversational AI insights through a variety of articles, podcasts, and interviews this year, including:

The Creative Virtual team continued our tradition of sharing our expertise through our annual Blog Post Celebration for Customer Service Week and CX Day in October. This year’s posts covered multi-lingual digital customer service, the members on a conversational AI team, the battle between humans and technology, and setting customer service projects up for success. You can find the whole 2022 collection here.

We aim to publish interesting and educational posts on our blog throughout the year. This year I’m proud to have two of my blog posts selected as finalists in the 2022 Customer Experience Update MVP Awards: Composable CX: Becoming Agile and Flexible in the CX Strategy category and Can Conversational AI Make Your CX More Human and Empathetic? in the CX Technology category. Voting for the MVPs – most valuable posts! – has ended, and the winners will be announced later this month.

One of the industries in which the Creative Virtual team has extensive experience is the Insurance sector. We collaborated with Insurance Thought Leadership (ITL) to produce a whitepaper exploring how conversational AI is enabling insurance companies to greatly improve their customer experience while also slashing costs. You can get your own copy of ‘The Virtual Insurance Agent’ whitepaper here.

We also put together a short, animated video to explain V-Person for Insurance, our conversational AI solution designed specifically for the insurance industry:

Another area in which we have extensive experience is improving existing chatbot and virtual agent implementations.  We published an eBook – Conversational AI Issues & Solutions: Transforming Ineffective Chatbot & Virtual Agent Projects – that explores six of the most common reasons business leaders have given for being unhappy with their conversational AI projects and ways to overcome those challenges.

2022 has been a busy and productive year for us at Creative Virtual and, as the year comes to an end, we are excitedly looking forward to 2023. We hope you’ll stay connected by subscribing to our Blog on this page and signing up here for our Monthly Newsletter.

Composable CX: Becoming Agile and Flexible

By Mandy Reed, Global Head of Marketing

Anyone involved in the customer experience (CX) space has likely come across articles, research, and discussions around composable CX. This concept is all about being agile and flexible to deliver better results even when faced with uncertainty and rapid change. It’s certainly no surprise that composable business jumped to the forefront in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, it was one of the main themes of a virtual Gartner conference I attended in November 2020.

Over the past two years, composability has become a key discussion point for many organisations looking to take a more agile approach to their customer experiences. In an August 2021 webinar, Impact CX with the 3 Building Blocks of Composable Business, Gartner shared the prediction that 60% of mainstream organisations will identify composable business as a strategic objective by 2023. The analysts broke this approach down into three areas:

  • Composable thinking starts with the belief that anything can be made composable. It enables employees to better respond to rapidly changing customer needs with empathy and emphasizes the sharing and seeking of ideas from both inside and outside of the organisation.
  • Composable architecture is all about unleashing innovation at scale by creating a resilient application experience through the use of APIs, microservices, and event streams. It allows for both innovative and traditional customer experiences in order to respond to disruption with agility.
  • Composable technologies, including low code, data mesh, composable platforms, and contextual intelligence, offer the needed guidance and flexibility for customers and employees.

During Argyle’s CMO Leadership Forum earlier this month, composable CX was the focus of a panel discussion. Panellists shared insights based on their experiences working with organisations to develop and implement CX strategies as part of a composable approach.

One of the key takeaways from that session for me was the importance of, and value in, making composability a companywide effort. Maximising the benefits of an investment in this approach requires it to become part of the company’s culture. There needs to be collaboration across departments and from the C-suite on down.

The panellists also stressed that just because composability enables you to do something, that doesn’t mean your organisation should do it. You must still be thoughtful about how you approach your CX strategy and solutions, being sure the decisions you make will bring real value to your customer relationships.

Perhaps not surprising, chatbots were raised as an example of a solution that a company may feel pressured to implement because ‘everyone is doing it’ but may not be the best choice for all businesses. Panellists also used chatbots to illustrate the importance of selecting the right technologies for composable CX. Basic chatbot solutions do not deliver the same benefits and flexibility as sophisticated conversational AI platforms.

If you are considering adding a new CX tool or contact channel, such as a chatbot, you should first evaluate if and how that will enhance the overall experience. Using composable thinking, ask yourself:

  • Will my customers use this type of tool or solution? Are my customers already using this channel, app, etc. and interested in engaging with our business there?
  • How will my customers use this tool or channel? Will they expect a personalised experience? What other systems, channels, tools, etc. will need to be integrated with this new solution to meet customer expectations?
  • Can we deliver a positive experience with this tool or channel? Do we have the right resources and technology to create the solution we need? Are we prepared to properly maintain and update this solution for long-term success?

Composable CX is all about being agile and flexible. It is about being able to create and deploy solutions quickly but doing so in a way that responds to customer needs in a thoughtful and empathetic way.

Even if you’re tempted to write off composable business and CX as just the latest industry buzzwords, don’t ignore the concepts and approach behind them. Organisations that are stuck in their traditional, siloed ways of working are going to find it increasingly difficult to compete with competitors that have invested in becoming more agile and flexible.

Resolve to Make Your Conversational AI Project Healthier this Year

By Mandy Reed, Global Head of Marketing

The new year is here and that means it is time for New Year’s resolutions. The most common personal resolutions are focused on being healthier – exercising more, eating better, improving fitness, losing weight, stopping smoking. People join the gym, sign up for weight loss programmes, and download meditation apps.

But what about your conversational AI project? Does it need a New Year’s resolution to be healthier in the new year, too?

If your organisation already has a conversational AI project, then you don’t need me to wax on about the importance of digital customer support. You get it. However, if you’re concerned that your current conversational AI tool isn’t up to the task of improving your digital support experience in 2022, then it’s time to make a resolution for change.

Even the best laid plans sometimes take a wrong turn or need to be tweaked as customer expectations and your organisation change. The start of a new year is the perfect time to take a step back and re-evaluate your conversational AI project and strategy. If this review leaves you dissatisfied with what you find, you’re not alone. Here are some common reasons other organisations have given for being unhappy with their conversational AI projects:

  • I can’t expand my solution to support my growing business and customer base.
  • I have limited integration options to create a seamless and personalised experience.
  • I started my project with an inexperienced start-up that isn’t able to provide the technology updates and support I need from my conversational AI vendor.
  • I am struggling to manage multiple chatbots across different business divisions or departments.
  • I am unable to staff my chatbot project with internal resources with the necessary knowledge and experience.
  • I don’t own the user interface or training data with my current chatbot provider.

The good news is that none of these common issues are dealbreakers that mean you must scrap your current virtual agent or chatbot project and start over. Like any New Year’s resolution to be healthier, you just need a plan that starts where you are and takes you to your goal of creating a successful, valuable, and healthy solution.

Your first step should be to download the new ebook Conversational AI Issues & Solutions: Transforming Ineffective Chatbot & Virtual Agent Projects. It takes an individual look at each of the common issues listed above, explaining how they can negatively impact your conversational AI project and exploring ways they can be solved.

When you’re ready to work out the details of your plan for a healthier chatbot or virtual agent and put it into action, the Creative Virtual team is ready to be your personal trainer and coach. Contact the team here to learn more about the expert consultation and technology that’s helping brands around the world deliver reliable and valuable conversational AI solutions.

This new year, resolve to transform your conversational AI project into a healthier, more effective customer service solution. Make 2022 the year your customers, employees, and company experience the full benefits of a successful chatbot or virtual agent.

Wishing you a Season that’s Magical & Bright!

As we wrap up another year at Creative Virtual, our entire team around the world want to say a big thank you to all of our blog readers, customers, and partners!

2021 brought both challenges and celebrations for us as a company and the wider conversational AI industry, and we’re ending it looking forward to what is to come next year. In particular, we’re excited about the next big release of our V-Person™ technology, Gluon. You can find a special sneak peek here. We are also excited about the brand new ebook we recently published to help organisations solve common issues they are having with their conversational AI projects. You can get your copy of the ebook here. Be sure to subscribe to our Blog (if you aren’t already!) so you don’t miss our Gluon release announcements and new educational resources in 2022.

On behalf of all of us at Creative Virtual, wishes for a magical, festive end to 2021 and a new year full of even more bright moments!

Conversational AI Doesn’t Have to Be a Risky Investment: Step 3

By Mandy Reed, Global Head of Marketing

Conversational AI is a technology that is regularly described as ‘innovative’ and ‘cutting-edge’. Simply having ‘AI’ in the name makes some people think of it as being futuristic or only for companies with the resources to implement it for the cool factor. It can be easy for business leaders to associate conversational AI with being a high-risk investment.

For many companies, proven and reliable results are more important than being innovative and flashy. Projects that get budget approval and management backing are ones that are considered safe bets because they utilise established technologies that have documented business benefits. They don’t have the financial flexibility or company culture to take a high level of risk, whether that risk is real or inferred.

The good news is that conversational AI projects don’t have to be risky. In this blog series, I’m sharing three steps for achieving conversational AI success while minimising the risk. You shouldn’t let the common misconception that conversational AI has to be a high-risk investment keep you from implementing it to improve your customer experience and employee engagement.

The previous posts in this series covered the first two steps to minimising your risk:

Once you’ve read through those steps, you’ll be ready for number three:

Step 3: Start with a pilot and expand with a staged approach.

Before you go all in with a conversational AI project, look to do a pilot or proof-of-concept (POC) with the vendor. This gives your organisation the opportunity to test out the technology on a limited basis to make sure it is a good fit for you and your digital strategy. The financial risk associated with this pilot should be shared by the vendor.

Typical pilots run for 30-60 days which will provide sufficient time for you to see results, evaluate initial performance, and make decisions about taking the next step in your conversational AI plan. A successful pilot strengthens your business case and enables you to finetune your strategy based on real feedback and user interactions. Also be sure to use the pilot phase as an opportunity to test integration points to ensure your solution will work end-to-end as you expand the deployment.

Starting with a pilot, and sharing that financial risk with the vendor, makes moving forward with a larger conversational AI investment less of a gamble for your company. When you do convert from the pilot to a full system, you still don’t need to jump directly into a massive project. Taking a staged approach to development and rollout is not only less risky, but also often the best way to achieve success.

Typically, the best method for deploying a chatbot or virtual agent is to use an agile approach, starting small and scaling the solution over time. This could mean focusing on a particular area of content, a specific use case, or a key contact channel that will have the greatest impact as a starting point. Your vendor will collaborate with you to design a staged rollout based on your biggest pain points. This reduces risk because you are streamlining your efforts in a way that supports your identified KPIs. You can also take advantage of new insights as you go to improve the tool and tweak your plan to maximise on successes and avoid potential problems.

It’s a common misconception that conversational AI is always a high-risk investment for organisations, but one that shouldn’t keep you from implementing your own chatbot or virtual agent. Being a risk-adverse business is not a barrier to deploying a successful and valuable conversational AI project. These three steps can help you join other savvy companies in taking advantage of the proven, reliable benefits of this technology while minimising your risk.

To make it easier for you and your organisation to apply these three steps to your conversational AI approach, I’ve compiled them all into a single document which can be read, shared, and downloaded here: Conversational AI Doesn’t Have to be a Risky Investment.