What is Conversational AI and Intelligent Virtual Assistant?

Human-like interactions for improved Enterprises Solutions

Conversational Artificial Intelligence or AI is the underlying technology and behind the building of Virtual Assistants. Conversational AI is an application of the broader spectrum of AI. It is used to human-like conversations and interactions. AI has the ability to continuously learn for each interaction and gets better every time. It can efficiently mimic human conversations and respond to customers instantly with empathy.

One of the earliest implementations of conversational AI assistant was chatbots. Chatbots came into functioning a few decades ago but soon users realized that they needed a support system which is more advanced than just chatbots. Chatbots are text-based support systems which are unable to solve complex queries. They work in a linear flow which matches the text of the input to answer the user queries.

Chatbots are programmed in such a way that can perform some selective purposes which are often repetitive. This kind of conversational AI assistant is unable to modulate replies. To overcome the limitations of chatbots – Intelligent Virtual Assistants came into the picture. An IVA can interact in natural language through human-like conversations. It is a voice and text-driven technology and can be accessed 24/7 via all channels.

What is an Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA)?

IVAs come with a distinct personality and most of the times, a name. Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s  Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa are the examples of AI-powered virtual assistants. The IVAs are getting smarter and they will be able to solve more complex challenges as the data quantity increases.

IVAs have the capability to understand complex questions and solve user queries at any time. They can recognize the intent of the user hence a higher accuracy and personalized replies can be expected.

IVAs are trained using a combination of a knowledge base, ML and NLU techniques. IVAs become smarter and more proficient as the volume of conversation data increases thus allowing the IVA to learn from its previous interactions. This enables a hyper-personalized experience to the user.

Conversational AI-powered IVAs are capable of understanding complex human speeches. Real human speeches are much different from a straightforward statement or question. It has a lot of multi-string words, abbreviations, mispronunciations, fragments and so on. IVAs can navigate and comprehend those complex human speeches to respond according to the circumstances.

Here is why Intelligent Virtual Assistants are required for Enterprises

1) The quick response to customers
Havard Business Review conducted a research on 2241 U.S. and companies and found out how long they took to respond to a customer call. The observations were:

Implementing a conversational AI gives enterprises the benefit of instant response to their customers. When businesses answer queries with an immediate effect, it translates into a 7X increase in chances of converting a lead.  A delayed response is a negative review for any enterprise and hence nipping such reviews at the bud is necessary.

2) Customers prefer messaging over talking to a human assistant
Gartner predicts that “40% of mobile interactions will be managed by smart agents by 2020.” Customers of the present day expect to see a live agent which is capable of solving complex queries in no time. Three out of 10 customers choose messaging instead of phone calls. So it makes sense to deploy an  Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) for better satisfaction of your customers.

3) Cost-efficient
Employing virtual assistants in enterprises is a more cost-efficient option than employing human assistants to manage your customers. Intelligent Virtual assistants can work for 24/7 in an error-free manner. If organizations want to employ human assistants to provide the same quantity of services, it would be an expensive deal for the organization.

4) More engaging
IVAs are the advanced form of chatbots which has the capability of doing intent-analysis of the user. This feature of intelligent virtual assistants makes enterprises come up with solutions which are sought by the customers. Such meaningful conversations bring retention to the customers that drive growth.

5) A seamless experience for the customer
Intelligent Virtual Assistants record every phone conversation, every text bot interaction, and every website behavior which makes the customer not to repeat the query every time they interact with the sales reps. This is a common complaint of customers that they need to repeat their issues to different sales reps. Engaging Virtual Assistants solves these critical issues easily.

Smart interactions: Advanced Business Solutions

Intelligent Virtual Assistants are never limited only to answering the queries of the user. This upgraded version of conversational AI has a wider scope and can perform a range of complex tasks. They can take decisions, follow human instructions, control gadgets at home, help enterprises to grow and so on.

We, interface.ai, have a platform that helps build IVAs which are developer friendly and can be used by enterprises of every domain. The interface platform can support conversational AI  needs across various industries. Learn more about our industry-ready approach and domain coverage at interface.ai