Tag Archive for: RSPCA

A Look Back: 2019 in Review

By Mandy Reed, Global Head of Marketing

The new year is just around the corner, which means it is once again time for our annual look back over the past 12 months. 2019 was another busy and exciting year for Creative Virtual and the chatbot, virtual agent and live chat industry. It’s always difficult to condense a whole year into one blog post, so here are just a few of the highlights.

We continued our five-year-long celebration of our Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: Innovation 2017 as we also celebrated the 15th anniversary of Creative Virtual. Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO, took a look back at the changes in the company and the industry since he started Creative Virtual in London’s East End in his blog post, Fifteen Years & Counting: Navigating the chatbot, virtual agent and AI revolution. During the year Chris also participated in industry interviews, including one with the AI Time Journal as part of their Conversational AI Initiative and one for the Executive Interviews website, where he shared more insights into the myths and realities of chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI).

This year we have also been celebrating another impressive recognition for the company: Frost & Sullivan’s 2019 AI-Enhanced Customer Self-Service Product Leadership Award! In selecting us for this award, the analysts at Frost & Sullivan evaluated chatbot and virtual agent vendors across two key factors, each with five benchmarking criteria. Creative Virtual was rated as ‘Excellent’ across these categories. You can download a copy of their full independent report here. I had the honour of joining Andy Madge (Head of Technical Services) and Liam Ryan (Sales Director) at the Awards Dinner in London to accept our plaque and meet other Best Practice Award winners from all over Europe.

Special congratulations also go out to Maria Ward, Account Manager/Knowledgebase Engineer, for being shortlisted for the 2019 Women in IT Excellence Awards in the category of ‘Role Model of the Year (SME) – Tech Industry’! You can read more about Maria’s journey from Creative Virtual customer to partner to team member in her Meet the Team interview. Maria was also one of our Team Animal runners in our charity runs for the RSPCA this year, joined by Laura Ludmany, Rachel Freeman, Björn Gülsdorff and Chris Ezekiel. Instead of all meeting up to run a group race together, each runner registered for a local race instead and took part in runs in Hamburg, London, Ipswich and Dublin. This was the fifth year we fundraised for the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), a cause we feel passionately about as a company of animal lovers.

The team was also involved with our annual blog celebration of CX Day (1 October) and Customer Service Week (7-11 October), making this year the best one yet. Authors based in four different countries covered topics ranging from customer expectations to chatbot creation to managing stress for better customer relationships. If you missed any, be sure to check them out:

We were also excited to be featured in the Wharf Life Newspaper during Customer Service Week. You can read the full article here.

While 2019 saw an increase in the adoption of chatbot and virtual agent technology, we also saw more companies struggling with poor performing tools or projects that never came to fruition. Founder & CEO Chris explored some reasons for this in an article for the AI Time Journal, “Virtual Moron-Idiot!”: Why Chatbots Fail and the #ChatbotRescue Mission Saving Them. As a successful pioneer in the chatbot and virtual agent space, Creative Virtual is in a unique position to help these companies save their investments. That’s why we launched our Chatbot Rescue Mission, offering organisations a no cost consultation workshop and initial chatbot upgrade to get their projects back on track.

This year we sponsored, attended and joined our partners at a variety of industry events around the world, including ones in the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, India, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Thailand. Team members presented, participated in panels and gave demos at many of these events, including several keynote addresses. We also welcomed some new organisations to our growing Global Partner Network and expanded our V-Person™ Family with new deployments around the world.

Our Founder & CEO, Chris Ezekiel continued his monthly Virtual Viewpoint column for the Wharf Life Newspaper this year. You can find all of his past columns here. He also saw his name in print in the 6 October edition of The Sunday Times where he was quoted in an article about British entrepreneurs and their tech giant competitors. Subscribers to The Times can read the article online here – and we also have a copy available here.

As we head into 2020, Creative Virtual is preparing to celebrate the company’s Sweet Sixteen – 16 years of helping enterprises deliver better customer and employee support and of bringing new innovations to the virtual agent, chatbot and live chat market. We’re looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring!

Be sure to check out our 2019 in Review photo album on the Creative Virtual Facebook page. As we do every year, we’ve compiled photos from industry events, company celebrations, fundraising runs and group activities. There will be more photos added over the next couple of weeks, so make sure you’re following us so you don’t miss any.

Our Charity Runs for the RSPCA

By Laura Ludmany, Knowledgebase Engineer

As per our company tradition, Creative Virtual this year again is fundraising for the RSPCA – but this time with a twist. Previous years we selected a 10k in London and put together a team of runners to take part as a group. This year, people who were willing to be a part of our ‘Team Animal’ and participate in a race could join a local one instead of having to travel to London.

I really liked this idea and it made the whole effort more global – like the Creative Virtual team. We had runners in three different countries take part in races in Hamburg, London, Ipswich and Dublin so far. There’s still the opportunity for others to sign up for more races and contribute to our fundraising efforts.

Challenging yourself, setting goals to work towards and making a commitment is a great mental exercise. And, of course, training for your upcoming race keeps you fit as well! Perhaps even more importantly, it’s heartwarming to support a good cause and do something for a charity. Even if you feel like your contribution is small, it can really make a difference.

RSPCA fundraisingThe RSPCA is largest and most well-known animal welfare charity in the UK, founded in 1824, and covers all areas of animal protection and help. Everyone loves animals – who wouldn’t like to help our fluffy friends and make their lives better?

I was eager to sign up for a race close to me and started to train and go to gym classes to increase my level of fitness. My enthusiasm even got my friend to sign up for the same race, so we kept motivating each other to prepare for our big day! She has a pug, who we took for our running sessions occasionally so we could really feel the spirit of Team Animal. 🐕

I know my fellow Creative Virtual runners are very experienced runners (Well done to all!!!), but for me it was a great achievement to complete my run that Sunday. It was a lovely day, with some breeze and the course was in a castle park with forest all around. I did 5km in a respectable 30 minutes (there is room for improvement!). I didn’t think it would have gone so smooth, so I’m happy I challenged myself and accomplished this goal. It was a fantastic experience and I will definitely do it again! In fact, I have already checked into upcoming races to feel the rush again.

As I’m writing, we have raised 95% of our fundraising goal for the RSPCA. Thank you to everyone who has already sponsored our team of runners! You can donate towards this very worth cause through our JustGiving page.

Go Team Animal!

Training for the Virgin Sport 10k for RSPCA

By Maria Ward, Account Manager/ Knowledgebase Engineer

On Sunday, 15 July 2018 I’ll be joining nine other runners from Creative Virtual – Rachel, Andre, Dinah, David, Chloe, Tracey, Emma, Chris and Steve – for the Virgin Sport Westminster 10k. We’re running to raise money for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). I trained for and ran the London Marathon on 22 April, so you would think that the 10k distance would not be an issue. Wrong!!!

Excuse Number 1: I suffered quite badly with blisters, the worst of which was the size of a planet (a small planet, you understand – like Pluto rather than Jupiter) on the ball of my foot! Walking was excruciating for many days let alone running!

Excuse Number 2: A two-week holiday and all the excesses that accompany it, and only two pitiful runs (during which my planet-sized blister re-opened) left me a good few pounds heavier and with considerably reduced fitness level.

Excuse Number 3: Post holiday blues led to post holiday binge-eating.

But enough of the excuses! The first few post marathon/ holiday runs have been hard. Legs so heavy it felt like gravity had been turned up a notch. Lungs struggling to supply my muscles with oxygen. Every step a thud and no bounce in sight.

10k for RSPCAWith just over a month to go, my foot is allowing me to run up to around 5 miles. I am now going to concentrate on trying to get that spring back in my feet in the hope that I can get somewhere close to my 10k personal best on race day. The rest of the team are stepping up their training too, going for group runs after work when possible, and we’re all reporting our progress on our group chat.

As for the fundraising, I have put some of my weird doodles up for sale (and some people have actually bought a couple!). We’re also selling old monitors from the office with all the proceeds going towards the RSPCA and using cute pictures of puppies to encourage our friends and family to donate.

This is the fourth time a group of Creative Virtual runners are doing a 10k in support of the RSPCA, and we’re excited to be raising money for such a worthy cause. You can sponsor us through our team JustGiving page or, if you’re in the UK, text CVUK55 with an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 to 70070.

The British 10k and Pie in the Face for the RSPCA

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

We did it! Our five-member team from Creative Virtual – Rachel, Tracey, Alex, Kristina and myself – completed the British 10k on Sunday, 9th July 2017. We raised over £1,000 for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). It was an incredible feeling afterwards, but I must say, it was the toughest 10k race I’ve ever done. At 9:30am when the race started the sun was shining bright and it was very hot! The water and shower stations around the course were very much welcomed!

At least the weather was good for the spectators! It was a good fun day, with music and cheering. I love this particular run as it covers some great London landmarks – and it’s so nice seeing them with no traffic (well, it’s hard to take a lot in when you’re running and panting! – but it’s still nice).

And it was nice to soak up the sunshine afterwards as we strolled around London proudly wearing our medals.

The British 10k

To assist with the fundraising efforts, Rachel, Liam and myself foolishly agreed to be on the receiving end of a sponsored pie throwing event at our UK summer party. They say I cheated, but I reckon I just have better reflexes! 🙂

A big thanks to everyone who helped us exceed our fundraising target.

You can still sponsor us by donating through our 10K JustGiving page or by sending a text if you are in the UK to 70070: CVCV50 and an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10.

Thanks for all of your support – Go Team Animal!

Fundraising for RSPCA

Team Animal Takes on the British 10K for RSPCA

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

On Sunday, 9th July 2017 a five-member team from Creative Virtual – Rachel, Tracey, Alex, Kristina and myself – will dust off our running shoes and take part in the British 10K to raise money for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). With only about 6 weeks to go until the race, we’ll be stepping up our training and our fundraising efforts. Here are some thoughts on the upcoming run from Tracey and myself:

Tracey running the 10KTracey says: “This will be my third time participating in a 10K. Well, I say participating because with time it’s now better for me to walk than to run because my knees just can’t handle the extra pressure of running. Despite bad knees, I have signed up this year to literally get myself moving again. My goal is to shave some time off of last year’s time and to keep moving forward!

Since I work remotely, my training once again consists of long walks around the village, through the beautiful asparagus and strawberry fields of our local famer and going through the town of Darmstadt. Just recently, training consisted of a climb up into the hills to see Frankenstein Castle.

I always enjoy telling everyone here and afar about our efforts and getting funds drummed up. The RSPCA is such a worthy charity and it’s great supporting their good work. And nothing beats race day. In addition to the mounting anticipation leading up to the event; the excitement on race day is literally palpable – go team!”

As for me, my first ever ‘official’ run was the British 10K, three years ago. And like this year, it was also to raise money for the RSPCA. Since then I’ve done several other organised runs – and this year I did the London Marathon (I said never again as I crossed the finishing line, but now just a couple of weeks later, I’m contemplating my next one! – that’s what running does, it’s like a drug!).

It’s a great feeling leading up to a run – the training can be hard – especially in the UK winter, but I travel quite a lot and always take my running stuff with me. With all that travelling and meetings, I find that running really helps in all sorts of ways – especially my energy levels. It’s also a great way to do some sightseeing in a new place. I love running beside the sea and river – and it’s a great feeling running on the beach barefoot in the surf. A great sense of freedom and being close to nature.

In our busy lives, being able to take a step back and think about things becomes increasingly difficult: ‘contemplation’ is fast becoming an extinct word from our dictionary! I find running gives me the time and state of mind to help me do this, and certainly helps me running (excuse the pun!) Creative Virtual.

Getting back to the build up to a competitive/organised race: there’s a real buzz on the actual day – everybody is focused on the same thing – and it’s amazing how much fun it is. And when you’re doing it for a really worthwhile cause it makes it even more special. This is the third time our company will be running to raise money for the RSPCA and we couldn’t be more proud to represent such a fantastic charity. Of course, there’s always a competitive edge to it – whether that’s trying to beat somebody at work or setting your own personal goal – it all adds to the fun!

The British 10K being in July means it can sometimes be a bit warm, but at least the training is at a good time of the year. The long light evenings gives lots of opportunity to run after work – and I consider myself very fortunate working and living on the Isle of Dogs, as I’ve got some fantastic running routes: great river runs, to the Tower of London for example, through Wapping; through the foot tunnel to Greenwich Park, up to the observatory (the hill is quite challenging! – as is climbing the stairs in the foot tunnel. I’ve often been tempted to take the lift, especially on those occasions where the lift doors have just opened at the right time!); and it’s easy where I live to combine the River Thames, canals, parks, great views and famous landmarks in a single run. We’ve also got a weekly office running club (that’s some of us pictured above!) going which is good fun.

10K QuarkAnd it’s not just about the running: raising money for a charity like the RSPCA gets the whole company involved, as well as family and friends; and knowing all these people are supporting you gives you that extra boost!

You can sponsor us by donating through our 10K Justgiving page or by sending a text if you are in the UK to 70070: CVCV50 and an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10.

Thanks for all of your support – Go Team Animal!

Mission Accomplished: Our 10k for RSPCA

By Maria Ward, Account Manager/ Knowledgebase Engineer

We did it! I’m proud to report that on Sunday, 18th September Alessandro, Tracey, Chris, David, Jeff, Kristina, Andre, Rachel and I completed the RunTen 10k in support of RSPCA!

Race day finally arrived after all our training and preparation, and we’d arranged to meet in Richmond Park at 8:15 am. Everyone had their own personal goals in mind, and I was no different with a goal of finishing in under 50 minutes. I was beginning to feel a little nervous!

After some mandatory photos, we joined the queue for the start of the race. Participants were set off in batches of around 50 to avoid overcrowding and this worked really well.  It meant there wasn’t the usual start-of-race scramble.

Soon we were ready at the start line, listened to a safety announcement and then we were off! Chris very quickly took the lead. I’d have liked to keep up with him, but I knew that if I over-exerted at the beginning, I would have faded at the end.

The course was fabulous, running though the grounds of Richmond Park, a large herd of deer in the distance on the left looking on and wondering what was going on. As the kilometre markers passed, I remember thinking it will be good to get past 5 and be over halfway. I was pushing really hard and can honestly say I couldn’t have run faster. I was at the “I need to stop and walk now” stage for most of the race.

At one part of the course you doubled back on yourself and this is where Chris gave me a shout out. I was in the zone at that time and only just noticed him! A little further on I caught sight of David who was looking strong.

I reached the 8 kilometre marker and knew I was on the homeward straight now. I pushed as hard as I could – I wanted a strong finish and, as 9 kilometres passed, I tried to hold the pace for the last kilometre. The course changed from footpath to grass which was quite uneven so more difficult to run but I knew the finish was close. I turned the corner, could see the finish and sprinted across the line (maybe “sprinted is the wrong word!), breathing so hard I could not speak!

chris maria 10kAs I collected my medal, water and banana, I heard Chris shout out to me. He must have crossed the line a while ago because he was able to speak! When I checked my Strava, the time read 48:43, and I was so pleased to have got under 50 minutes. I hadn’t stopped it immediately so knew my chip time would be faster. Chris and I chatted (once I got my breath back!) while we waited for the others to finish their races.

As each team member crossed the finish line, everyone was rightfully happy with their achievement. Andre and Alessandro both completed their first 10k race with great times. Tracey achieved a personal best by shaving several minutes off of her last 10k time. Rachel impressed herself and us by finishing well under her personal goal and with no pain despite dealing with plantar fasciitis since mid-May. Chris finished his 10k in an impressive 45:43 – a new personal best for him too! – and my official finish time was 47:01. Jeff even managed to look like he was floating through the air as he waved at one of the official race cameras during his run!

We were also thrilled to discover at the end of the race that the team had reached our fundraising target, and we went for a celebratory coffee! It was a fabulous day, spent with great people raising funds for a very worthy cause. I can’t wait for the next one! Well done Team Animal!

A big thank you to everyone who sponsored our team! There’s still time to donate if you haven’t done so yet, either through our team JustGiving page or, if you are in the UK, text CVCV50 and an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 to 70070.

Running Through the Pain: Our 10k for RSPCA

By Maria Ward, Account Manager/ Knowledgebase Engineer

On Sunday, 18th September 2016 a 10 member team from Creative Virtual will be running the London Duathlon RunTen in support of RSPCA. I’ll be joining David, Laura, Kristina, Alessandro and Chris (pictured above modelling our official running kit!) and Rachel, Jeff, Andre and Tracey in the 10k taking place in beautiful Richmond Park, the largest of London’s eight Royal Parks. We’ve all been training over the past few months, taking part in our Wednesday Running Club when we can, and fitting our own runs into busy schedules while also working on our fundraising efforts.

My running story over the last year has been somewhat up and down. This time last year I was training for a 6 hour run – The Tolkien run – when disaster struck on a 22 mile training run. A flare up of Morton’s Neuroma meant I could only get about using crutches. I did the 6 hour race, two weeks later, on crutches, and managed to do 23.1 miles. My hands hurt a LOT!  I raised money for Macmillan, a charity chosen by my friend Steven who was undergoing chemotherapy at the time.

Since then I have had periods of limited running (followed by frustrating periods of no running). I’ve run the Brighton Marathon in April on very little training and 10 days later had surgery on my foot to try to rid me of the pesky neuroma that has been blighting my running. That put me out of action for another 6 weeks.

Fast forward to the middle of June and I started to take my first tentative steps back running. They were not easy and not pretty – short, slow and frustratingly hard.

That brings me to the fundraising. Fundraising is hard!! My friends and family often dig deep to support my running endeavours. I’m sure that sometimes they get fed up though! To help my fundraising efforts, I have decided to put some of my artwork up for auction, splitting all money between two charities – RSPCA and Cancer Research. So far I have bids on four of my pieces.

10k for RSPCAAnd finally to the big day, this coming Sunday. I have built up my distance. My speed is not yet back to what it was (but then I’m no spring chicken now!) but I feel ready and am looking forward to a run with my fabulous work colleagues. Skipper, my own furry friend, is a little disappointed he will be staying at home – he’d love to run with us too!

If you haven’t done so already, please consider helping us reach our fundraising goal by sponsoring our 10k team. You can donate through our team JustGiving page or, if you’re in the UK, text CVCV50 and an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 to 70070.

Thanks to everyone who has already donated – we really appreciate your support! We’re proud of the work Creative Virtual has done with RSPCA over the years to help them provide accurate, consistent and readily accessible information to the public (check out RSPCA’s Customer Success Story to learn more), and are excited to have this opportunity to raise money for such a great charity. Go Team Animal!

The Charity Run Season: Our 10k for RSPCA

By Alessandro Giordo, Junior Developer & Support Technician

There are a few months a year in the UK when the sun gets slightly bolder, the city comes to life, and the running shoes come off the shelves. Charity runs, once a complete novelty, are now one of the highlights of the warmer season. There seems to be an unexplainable charity run craze sweeping throughout Europe and the world. Here at Creative Virtual we do not only feel it in the air, but are also inspired to take part and understand why we love them so much.

It is for this reason that we will be participating in RunTen, the London Duathlon’s 10k, on 18th September 2016 to raise money for RSPCA. The 10 kilometres separating us from the finish line will give us a chance to dive deeper into this sweeping phenomenon while having a great time and doing some good. In order to get ourselves ready for September, we’ve stepped up our training and are trying to learn a little more about charity runs.  

Britain has a very long history of charitable giving, with the oldest events dating as far back as the 12th century. Yet, mass funding events like we see today really started only a few decades ago. One of the very first charity walks was held in 1969 in Bismarck, North Dakota, USA. We have come a long way since then, and in 2012, 26,370 running events were held in the US alone.

Psychologists believe charity runs appeal to people so much because individuals drive meaning and value from having to work hard and suffer for their chosen goals. People seem to be willing to donate more when they believe a fundraising event will require exertion.

Yet, could that be really it or is there more to it?

In order to find out more, I interviewed a few other members of the Creative Virtual 10k team. These individuals have been training regularly to prepare for the event and have participated in similar events before. They represent the perfect sample for our project; they are dedicated, motivated, and most importantly, fun.

Question 1: Why do you think charity runs are so popular? What is it that makes running and fundraising so effective?

Andre Matthews (Knowledgebase Engineer) says, “I think people intrinsically find charities impersonal. Even good-willed people who care about the issues of our day want to make sure their money ends up helping someone. These events allow donors to meet people, feel more involved, and build that trust that is so important. The fact that the RSPCA publicly takes part in such events denotes a sense of drive and passion.”

On the other hand, Laura Ludmany (Junior Knowledgebase Engineer) believes that “charity runs have the power to unite large groups of people under a single cause. The fact that people aren’t just giving money, but are actually ‘doing something’ for the organisation, makes them feel more compelled to dedicate their time to the organisation.”

Personally, I love animals and am looking forward to fundraising for RSPCA. I’ve participated in other charity runs before and feel they unite us together for great causes. We enjoy running together as one, knowing that we are going to help animals in need and feeling good about ourselves and what we can do with our lives as adults.

Question 2: Would you think charity runs might appeal to both runners and non-runners alike?

Andre and Laura replied in a similar way stating, “If you are a seasoned runner, there is always the lure of beating a personal record while fighting for a good cause. On the contrary, people who care enough about the cause will train to be able to do it, and even people who feel less strongly about the cause might want to be a part of it in order to reach a personal goal.”

Kristina Kruminyte (Administrative Assistant) added, “If one enjoys running, why not do it for charity? An individual could both do some good and do what he or she loves best. It seems to be a win-win situation. On the other hand, charity runs might represent a motivation to run for people who care about the cause but do not enjoy the physical exercise. These events help people both care for others, and pursue their own personal goals.”

I’ve run three times in my life excluding while playing basketball and being chased by a monkey. I started running to prepare for this year’s marathon and I can’t stop doing it now! For me, this charity run is a great way to indulge my passion for running while supporting a great charity in a fun way.

10k for RSPCAUltimately, it seems like the idea that people derive meaning in striving for something plays a significant role in the popularity of charity runs. Here at Creative Virtual we’ve been training both on our own, as well as with a group run every Wednesday, and are eagerly looking forward to the event. As a company full of animal lovers, we’re excited to be running in support of RSPCA and raising much needed funds for the amazing work they do with animals.

We have a team of 10 runners – Andre, Laura, Kristina and I will be joined by Chris, Rachel, Jeff, Maria, David, and Tracey. Our goal is to raise £1,000 for this very worthy charity. Please sponsor us by visiting our team JustGiving page or, if you’re in the UK, text CVCV50 and an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 to 70070.

Thank you for your support! Watch this space for more updates as we get closer to race day.