How Intelligent Virtual Assistants Can Benefit Your Customers

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Lauren Spinella discusses the potential positive impact of intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) across different types of organisation. 

In an age where technology is constantly improving consumers’ daily lives, companies are also ready for a tech helper. However, the personal virtual assistants that the public knows and loves – Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri – are not in line with what the business sector requires. The answer to business-to-consumer needs? IVAs.

IVAs provide high-quality customer care for a wide variety of industries, with the ability to both listen to customers’ inquiries and respond accordingly. Interactions involving IVAs are not limited to basic communication. Customers can request information about their accounts with a company, update their account passwords, and even securely make payments.

Most importantly, IVAs are a one-stop-shop for B2C customer service. IVA capabilities can be tailored to various different industries, and can focus on improving the customer experience in that particular industry.

Here are a few examples where IVAs can dramatically improve the customer experience.

Healthcare and Insurance

The healthcare field is dominated by the need to serve millions of customers safely, effectively and, of course, quickly.

Gone are the days of waiting in long lines or digging through websites just to find the answer to a simple question.

Customers can find out when their doctor’s office is open, fill and refill prescriptions, and receive payment reminders through an IVA. They can even ask an IVA how to enrol in a new or different insurance programme or to provide updates on their personal coverage.

Travel and Food

For customers booking a vacation or an employee placing a catering order, an IVA eases the concerns of ensuring reservations are confirmed and orders are delivered punctually.

IVAs can help find a flight, reserve a seat, and inform customers of any delays or travel alerts that may affect their journeys. Food orders can be placed ahead of time and restaurant reservations made, all with an IVA.

Utilities

Like the support they provide to other industries, IVAs act as the first line of contact for utilities customers reaching out to customer service. IVAs can answer many of the questions consumers pose, only passing the more complex questions to customer service representatives.

They can also alert customers to information regarding their accounts, such as upcoming bill payment due dates or account balance information, as well as information on the service itself, such as updates on outages, necessary repair work, and starting or stopping the service.

Overall, regardless of industry, IVAs conserve both time and finances. IVAs save the customer time, perhaps from waiting in line at the pharmacy or from trying to figure out how to place a catering order, and save the business money. Even better, as consumer questions are answered effectively with an IVA, the customer experiences will improve.

And yet, there is more to come with IVAs. There are future trends to look out for and challenges companies may face.

Author: Robyn Coppell

Published On: 14th Dec 2017 - Last modified: 21st Dec 2017
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