Tag Archive for: personalisation

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.

Not All Chatbots are Conversational AI Solutions

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

Over the past several years businesses around the world have faced significant hardships and uncertainty. As these difficulties continue and new challenges arise, the IT sector will play a critical role in keeping companies connected and enabling them to adapt. SME News Magazine is recognising this with their newly established IT Awards programme.

The new IT Awards honour companies that are driving forward innovation and focusing on client-centricity while remaining true experts in their industry. I’m excited to share that Creative Virtual has been awarded Best Conversational AI Solutions 2022!

Creative Virtual has built our reputation as a conversational AI leader by consistently delivering successful and innovative solutions to our customers and partners for nearly two decades. It’s an honour to be recognised by the SME News IT Awards as the best in the industry – especially since this award comes on the heels of us being named the Conversational AI Innovation Excellence Leader by AIxOutlook.

Having worked in the virtual agent and chatbot field since 2000, I’ve experienced first-hand how these solutions and technologies have changed. It’s been exciting to lead one of the companies that has helped drive innovation forward in the industry. The virtual agents of today are certainly not the same as those I was working on 20 years ago.

What has also changed over this time is the variety of names used for these solutions. In fact, there have been so many names, and such little agreement amongst industry experts and analysts on how these names are used, that there is a lingering confusion in the market. Virtual agents, chatbots, virtual assistants, virtual customer assistants, intelligent virtual agents – the list goes on. In general, all these names can be, and often are, regularly used interchangeably to describe solutions.

Most recently, the industry has adopted the name of ‘conversational AI’. However, conversational AI is more than just another name for these solutions. It is more specifically describing the technology behind them. While a virtual agent, chatbot, or virtual assistant can be a conversational AI solution, not all of them currently deployed today are.

This raises an important question: What makes a virtual agent or chatbot a true conversational AI solution?

There’s lots of discussions about how successful conversational AI tools use artificial intelligence, both in the initial development stage and to continuously improve as part of the ongoing maintenance. This is vitally important for identifying real conversational AI solutions, of course. It isn’t the only identifier though. Too often overlooked is the need for integration and personalisation.

True conversational AI virtual agents and chatbots are backed by a platform that enables flexible integration with a variety of other technologies and systems. This includes knowledge management platforms, ticketing systems, live chat technologies, contact centre platforms, voice systems, real-time information feeds, multiple intent engines, CRMs, messaging platforms – to name a few.

These integrations help create conversational and personalised engagements. Personalisation goes beyond just knowing a logged-in user’s name and account or order details. It’s also about personalising the experience based on the user’s engagement channel, location, language, job title or member status, saved preferences – to name a few.

True conversational AI goes beyond a basic FAQ chatbot to deliver solutions that are customised for the business and for the individual users. As we’ve developed and improved our V-Person™ technology over the years, we’ve always maintained a focus on integration and personalisation. In fact, V-Person is recognised as the first virtual agent solution to successfully deliver personalisation by both Gartner and Patricia Seybold Group. We are continuing that focus with our upcoming Gluon Release which will make it quicker and easier to build, deploy, and maintain integrated, personalised conversational AI solutions.

If you’d like to learn more about Creative Virtual’s true conversational AI solutions and get an early look at our next big V-Person release, arrange a personalised demo session with one of our experts.

My thanks to SME News and their research team for our Best Conversational AI Solutions recognition! Congratulations to the Creative Virtual team for another well-deserved award!