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RealDialog Launched as the First Customer Self-Service Solution Based on Computational LinguisticsRealDialog Agent uses language knowledge to engage in two-way conversation with users to deliver single, accurate answerSeptember 9, 2002 - Research Triangle Park area, NC - LiveWire Logic, Inc. today announced the initial general availability of RealDialogÔ, the industry's first and only customer self-service solution to deliver an automated agent capable of engaging customers in a web-based dialog to more accurately provide answers. RealDialog is the first customer self-service solution to use computational linguistics at its core to immediately parse user questions and understand the intent of a users' request, resulting in much greater accuracy of response. To enhance the user experience with web-based self-service, RealDialog employs a RealDialog AgentÔ, enabling any customer or employee-facing Web site to automatically respond to end user questions with immediate and accurate answers. RealDialog Agents can correctly answer the majority of user questions, reducing stress on all support touch points and greatly lowering the cost structure of customer support and call centers, while significantly improving customer satisfaction. "Web-based self-service will transform the customer service experience," said Bill Warner, President and CEO for LiveWire Logic. "With the introduction of the true dialog capability of our automated agents, customers can expect accurate responses to their inquiries, without the need for human interaction. This product represents the next generation of automated agents and is a significant milestone for the web-based self-service industry." Unmatched Dialog Capabilities With text-based dialogs approaching human-like conversations, RealDialog Agents provide an engaging, friendly customer service touch point. The RealDialog Engine is extendable to all touch points, including email, voice, or text, enabling companies to have a single knowledge base supporting all their self-service channels. While RealDialog provides the most accurate responses in the market today, it is easy continually improve its' accuracy and expand its knowledge through its learning capability. According to META Group, a leading industry analyst firm, the most important attribute of virtual agent technology is the ability to conduct dialog with the user, determine a users' needs, and provide an appropriate response, much in the same manner as a real person does. "Automated agent technology is emerging as the successor to both keyword and natural language search interfaces," stated Timothy Hickernell, a Senior Program Director for Electronic Service at META Group. "Integrating virtual agents with existing customer touch points can greatly enhance the user self-service experience." RealDialog was developed using a modern corpus-based approach to create an understanding of written language. The corpus was a large body of texts, representative of today's language. With this extensive linguistic knowledge, RealDialog is capable of delivering correct responses to user questions with a much higher rate of accuracy than previously possible. Feature-Rich Product RealDialog provides the most cost-effective approach to online self-service with a product that approaches the effectiveness of human-assisted services at a fraction of the cost. The return on investment is rapid. Customer satisfaction improves, increasing customer retention, translating into more new and repeat business. With this capability, RealDialog delivers the following benefits: · Most cost effective self-service solution, using computational linguistics to understand user intent. RealDialog's human-like text dialog capabilities deliver always accurate, consistent, knowledgeable responses to customer queries. · A single, accurate response to user inquiries, improving customer satisfaction. RealDialog delivers the direct answer to a question, not a list of links provided by current solutions that rely on limited technologies, such as natural language processing, or keyword search to deliver responses, often forcing the user to further investigate. · Fast implementation, providing a quick payback. RealDialog doesn't require programmers to script agent logic, instead RealDialog employs easy drag-and-drop interfaces for developing enterprise-wide content and building a knowledge base for use by the RealDialog Agent. · Insight into customer interest to improve customer retention. With web-based statistical reporting, RealDialog delivers better customer insight, enabling better products, improved websites and services. · Unmatched ease of maintenance for long-term Return on Investment. The RealDialog Authoring Tool and RealDialog Learner provide the most efficient, cost effective means of maintaining an automated self-help solution. With a drag-and-drop interface, administrators can update the company knowledgebase from statistics and conversations captured at run-time. Beta Feedback Overwhelming RealDialog underwent extensive Beta testing with numerous companies from a variety of markets and applications, ranging from Financial Services, Consumer Retail, High Technology, non-profit and Telecommunications firms. Current application use includes customer service and support, website navigation and assistance, FAQ, general QA and internal applications for help desk and Human Resources/Employee Relations. "ICG tested the product and found the responses were quite accurate, far beyond our expectation, especially for a highly complex technical environment," stated Pamela M. Benda, Director of Information Services and Operations for ICG, a leading telecommunications and broadband services firm. "We found it (RealDialog) easy to design, build and manage. We performance tested the technology and found its performance and scalability quite impressive." RealDialog Enterprise is virtually unlimited in its ability to scale, meeting the demands of even the largest websites. A RealDialog Agent can easily handle hundreds of simultaneous interactions, delivering answers and improving customer satisfaction for the company on a large scale. Built by Industry Experts Scientists and a staff world renowned for their knowledge and expertise in the science of computational linguistics developed RealDialog. Dr. James Lester, co-founder of the company and expert in the field of linguistics, and his team built the system using machine learning techniques to automatically induce and acquire linguistic knowledge. Dr. Lester has also published numerous papers on the subject. "It is a thrill to see this technology develop into a product for broad use by leading companies around the world," stated Dr. Lester. "I am thoroughly pleased with the results of our development, the Beta cycles and now our packaged solution." Dr. Lester and a team of language experts painstakingly integrated computational linguistics methods and techniques to create RealDialog. When a question is entered, RealDialog uses its knowledge to dissect the query and determine its intent. It parses each sentence, correcting misspellings and incorrect grammar, and determines the parts of speech within the sentence. It retains a short-term dialog context to carry-on a conversation and to understand the nuances of the dialog. Through this ability to converse with the user, the RealDialog Agent can determine a user's need and provide an appropriate response, much in the same manner as a human, only with much lower costs, unlimited scalability and better consistency. By understanding the intent of a users' question, the RealDialog Agent delivers unmatched accuracy in the automated response to user queries. Web Self-Service Major Growth Area Companies are relying on new, automated self-service technologies to increase their service quality, improve their customer reach and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. According to IDC, the customer relationship management (CRM) software market was $6.2 billion in 2000 growing to $14 billion in 2005. RealDialog offers unique capabilities and efficiencies in customer service and support, the fastest growing segment. This segment exceeded $2.2 billion in 2000, growing 72% from $1.3 billion in 1999. Forrester reports that by 2002, 50% of customer service will be provided online and that Web-based call centers will double. Pricing and Availability RealDialog comes in two distinct offerings, RealDialog Enterprise and RealDialog Express, both of which are available immediately. RealDialog Express is a FAQ version of the product for the fastest implementation of an automated agent and RealDialog Enterprise provides the full dialog capabilities and feature set for enterprise-wide deployment. About RealDialog RealDialog is the key product and technology created by LiveWire Logic, a privately held company located in Research Triangle Park Area, NC. Dr. James Lester, a renowned research scientist in computational linguistics, and key members of his research team, founded the company in 2000. The founding team specializes in intelligent virtual agents and computational linguistics, and is recognized as leaders in advanced artificial intelligence research. More information is available at www.realdialog.com. Editorial Contact: Michael Lough LiveWire Logic, Inc. 919-234-2163 michael.lough@realdialog.com top of page |
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