Tag Archive for: analyst report

Innovation Excellence in Conversational AI

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

Conversational AI is a very hot and in-demand technology right now. This is not surprising given the pressures on organisations to improve digital experience and provide smarter automation. It’s also not surprising that this demand has led to a very crowded field of competing vendors, from big companies down to small, new start-ups.

An over-crowded and highly competitive marketplace brings both positives and negatives for buyers. While having options can be nice, evaluating so many choices makes it more time consuming and difficult to select the best vendor for you. Competing vendors can drive innovation, but those innovations don’t necessarily mean better solutions and real business benefits. It can be hugely helpful for buyers to have knowledgeable insights from independent industry experts.

This is why AIxOutlook, a part of Sceptertech Digital, are conducting their Best Practice Research. Their uniquely designed evaluation process benchmarks vendors’ performance against competitors to identify industry leaders. They award their Innovation Excellence Leadership recognition to companies committed to innovation and offering the next generation of products and services.

Creative Virtual is proud to be named the Innovation Excellence Leader in the 2022 Conversational Intelligence report! Prasobh Namboothiri, Associate Editor at AIxOutlook says:

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

Conversational AI Innovation Excellence

AIxOutlook’s evaluation focuses on both innovation and customer impact and finds Creative Virtual to be the leading conversational AI innovator driving the industry forward with our V-Person™ technology. They call out V-Person’s flexible integration options that enable organisations to develop customised solutions for delivery of unified, personalised experiences.

Another vital differentiator identified in the report is our approach to AI and the training of our chatbots and virtual agents. The analysts praise our blending of machine learning and a rules-based approach to natural language processing (NLP) and refer to our conversational AI management platform, V-Portal™, as cutting-edge.

Check out the 2022 Innovation Excellence Leadership in Conversational Intelligence report for AIxOutlook’s full independent assessment of our conversational AI capabilities. The report also includes an evaluation of the global conversational AI market along with current developments and trends in the industry.

As a pioneer in the virtual agent and chatbot space, Creative Virtual has always been committed to innovating in a way that will help companies tackle their current challenges and be prepared for future changes. It’s an honour to be recognised for this long-standing dedication to being a trendsetter in the conversational AI market. Our goal is to always deliver the best possible combination of innovative technology and expertise to our customers and partners.

Download a full copy of the 2022 Conversational Intelligence report here. And then request a personalised demo here to discuss how V-Person can help improve your customer and employee experiences with an expert member of our team.

Teamwork Makes the Conversational AI Dream Work

By Mandy Reed, Global Head of Marketing

At Creative Virtual, we are dedicated to working as a team to help our customers and partners reach their customer experience and employee support goals. It’s at the heart of everything we do, from the initial development stages of our conversational AI technology to the ongoing evolution of  V-Person™ deployments that have been live for a decade or more. The fact that our very first enterprise-level customer has worked with us continuously since 2004 tells us that we are doing something right!

While we don’t do what we do for external awards and recognitions, it’s always a nice boost for morale to have experts in the industry acknowledge Creative Virtual’s expertise and success. We are proud that our dedication and teamwork have led us to be named a Conversational AI Leader by the analysts at ISG in their ISG Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation – Solutions & Services report!

Here’s Mrinal Rai, Lead Analyst at ISG Research, explaining why Creative Virtual has been identified as a Leader in Conversational AI:

 

 

In their Quadrant Report, the ISG analysts evaluated 19 conversational AI vendors against a robust set of market-driven criteria. They found Creative Virtual to be “an established vendor with a focus on developing omnichannel virtual agent solutions” and a clear Leader in the space.

Conversational AI

If you want to learn more, you can:

  • Review a copy of the ISG Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation – Solutions & Services report featuring the Conversational AI Quadrant: Download here >>
  • Explore a discussion on conversational AI featuring expert insights from Mrinal Rai, Lead Analyst at ISG, Jan Erik Aase, Partner & Global Head – ISG Provider Lens, and Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO of Creative Virtual: Watch on YouTube >>
  • Arrange a personalised demo with the Creative Virtual team to see our conversational AI technology in action: Request demo here >>

We know that to continue to be a Conversational AI Leader, we must keep working as a team to ensure our solutions are both innovative and delivering real business benefits. The entire company is currently collaborating on our next product release, Gluon, set to be introduced to the market next year. This release includes updates to our chatbot, virtual agent, and live chat technologies as well as a re-architecture of our V-Portal™ orchestration platform. Be sure to check out our Gluon sneak peek.

Our thanks to the team at ISG for naming us a Conversational AI Leader and sending us this great video. And to echo Mrinal’s well wishes: Congratulations Team Creative Virtual!

Successful Conversational AI: Blending Machine Learning & Human Intelligence, Part 1

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

In February ISG, a leading global technology research and advisory firm, published their ‘ISG Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation – Solutions & Services’ report. In the report Mrinal Rai, Principal Analyst at ISG, evaluated 19 conversational AI vendors based on a set of market-driven criteria. The result of that evaluation placed Creative Virtual as the clear Leader in conversational AI, surpassing all other vendors with our competitive strengths.

Recently Mrinal and I (virtually!) sat down with Jan Erik Aase, Partner and Global Head – ISG Provider Lens, for a discussion on conversational AI. Our conversation covered a lot of ground, including current industry trends, the impact of the pandemic, and setting conversational AI project goals. We talked about the findings of ISG’s research as well as current successful conversational AI implementations.

We have divided our nearly 30-minute-long discussion into three parts, the first of which I’m excited to share with you in this post (scroll to the bottom to watch Part 1).

Jan Erik and Mrinal start off the discussion by diving into the ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant Report and why Creative Virtual has been identified as a Leader. Mrinal points out that when it comes to conversational AI, it’s not just about the solutions themselves but also how they blend with human intelligence. His evaluation focused on both V-Person™ (our virtual agent, chatbot, and live chat technology) and V-Portal™ (our innovative orchestration platform). The power of our technology to blend machine learning and human intelligence along with our strong presence in the market were the key factors that led to ISG positioning Creative Virtual as a Leader in the space.

I then joined the conversation to discuss with Jan Erik some questions that ISG see coming up with their advisors as well as their clients. In Part 1 of the discussion, we explore:

  • What current trends and developments in conversational AI are important when evaluating virtual agent and chatbot management platforms?
  • With conversational AI now being a key part of omnichannel support strategies, how are the roles and responsibilities of contact centre agents and customer service professionals evolving?

Check out Part 1 of our ‘Successful Conversational AI: Blending Machine Learning & Human Intelligence’ discussion:

 

 

My next post will take a look at Part 2 of our session where we explore some of the biggest barriers organisations face when it comes to building, deploying, and maintaining successful conversational AI projects. In the meantime, be sure to download your copy of the ISG Provider Lens™ – Conversational AI Quadrant Report.

Selecting the Right Conversational AI Vendor Makes All the Difference

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

It’s been a tough year for every organisation and one that created a renewed, and often urgent, push for digital transformation projects. In their new ISG Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation – Solutions and Services study, the experts at ISG found that the market for conversational AI has shown a steady growth over that time. This and other intelligent automation technologies are helping enterprises optimise costs and productivity while also enabling them to stay prepared for the future.

With conversational AI now at the forefront of many digital experience strategies, ISG evaluated 19 vendors based on the depth of their service offerings and market presence. I’m very proud that Creative Virtual is a Leader in Conversational AI, surpassing all other vendors with our company’s competitive strengths! The analysts at ISG found Creative Virtual to be a Leader based on our comprehensive solution portfolio and industry experience, emphasizing our long history of developing and delivering conversational AI solutions that provide real results.

Conversational AI

When it comes to implementing conversational AI tools to support your customers, employees, and contact centre agents, selecting the right vendor makes all the difference. This doesn’t just mean the technology; you must also consider the experience and expertise of the vendor’s team. It is the combination of these two factors that will set your project up for success.

I’ve talked before about how much the virtual agent and chatbot space has changed since I founded Creative Virtual in late 2003. What hasn’t changed over that time is Creative Virtual’s commitment to delivering the best combination of innovative technology and expert consultation and guidance to our customers. We strive to become a trusted partner to each of our customers, getting to know their organisation and specific goals in order to deliver customised solutions. We also use these close relationships to gather input for our R&D roadmap to ensure we continue to innovate in a way that will help companies tackle their real challenges and deliver real results, now and in the future. This is what allows Creative Virtual to be a conversational AI Leader today.

In our Leader profile in this ISG report, the analysts note: “Creative Virtual is a well-known and established brand for AI-enabled client support”. In fact, our very first enterprise-level customer is still a customer today, working with us continuously for over 17 years now. We also have several other organisations that we’ve been able to count as customers for at least 10 years. That level of experience and long-term collaboration is rare among vendors in today’s crowded conversational AI market, but extremely valuable.

The ISG Provider Lens™ is a great resource for anyone involved with selecting a conversational AI vendor to begin a new project or replace an existing, poor performing one. It provides:

  • An overview of the Intelligent Automation Solutions and Services market
  • Comparisons of conversational AI provider strengths, challenges, and competitive differentiators
  • Analysis of Creative Virtual’s product capabilities, industry expertise, and strategic partnerships

You can download a copy of the ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant Report here. Our team would also love to show you our technology in action, and you can request a personalised demo here.

Congratulations to the Creative Virtual team on our recognition as a conversational AI Leader in this independent ISG report!

Simply The Best!

By Chris Ezekiel, Founder & CEO

With chatbot companies springing up on an almost daily basis, how do companies select the right one? Well, now the work has been done for you and there’s a clear choice! Frost & Sullivan have recognised Creative Virtual as the Product Leader! And the full report is available for you to download for free. Frost & Sullivan evaluated companies across two key factors, each with five benchmarking criteria. Creative Virtual was rated as ‘Excellent’, receiving an average score of 9.00/10 across these categories. The second and third place companies came in at 8.50 and 8.25.

Frost & Sullivan Best PracticeAs we celebrate our fifteen year anniversary, I cannot think of a better way to start the year (and the celebrations!). Not least because this is the first detailed independent comparison of combined virtual assistant, chatbot and live chat technology; and especially as the competition are some of the world’s largest technology companies. This comes on the back of our Queen’s Award for Innovation, that we were honoured to receive in 2017, and which is a five-year award. I couldn’t be more proud of what our team, together with our customers and partners, have achieved.

We often get asked how we compare with our competitors, and of course we have a lot to say on the subject! – but now with this independent report, the choice for companies wanting to deliver significant business value as well as superior customer experience, is crystal clear!

As a company that prides itself on continuous innovation, we certainly won’t be resting on our laurels. Right now, in our labs around the world, we are working on even more exciting developments that we look forward to bringing to the market soon.

And in the meantime, we’re very much looking forward to shouting about this amazing achievement from the rooftops!

AI-Enhanced Self-ServiceIt’s an honour to be leading a global company that has been acclaimed as the leader, and I know it will also mean a lot to all our great people, as well as our customers and partners who have put their trust in us and worked hard with us to create amazing solutions – which I know have played a pivotal role in this award. I would like to publicly say a big thanks to all our supporters!

For more on this Frost & Sullivan Best Practice Award and why Creative Virtual was selected as the 2019 AI-Enhanced Customer Self-Service Product Leader: