Pegasystems rolls out new AI and virtual assistant capabilities
Pegasystems is rolling out new artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assistant capabilities to help customer service agents respond quickly to customers via email, chat or phone.
The new capabilities will be a part of the latest versions of the Pega Customer Service application and the Pega Platform, which will be available at the end of the month. While virtually all software vendors are promoting new AI capabilities, customer service is one of the main areas where enterprises expect AI to actually drive revenue.
"When it comes to satisfying your customers, every second counts in the digital world," Don Schuerman, CTO and VP of product marketing for Pegasystems, said in a statement. "These latest features reinforce Pega's vision on the role of AI in augmenting the workforce - giving customer service agents access to insights and knowledge that elevates their performance."
For online chats: Pegasystems is specifically rolling out three new features, starting with an AI-augmented agent that assists live agents during online chats with customers. The Pega AI-Augmented Agent, as part of Pega Customer Service, gives a live agent suggested responses after contextually analyzing a customer message using natural language processing (NLP). The Pega AI-Augmented Agent should make customer interactions quicker, Pegasystems explains, since agents won't have to spend time researching requested information like product information.
For email: Next, Pegaysystem is introducing the Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Email, which will be available in both Pega Platform and Pega Customer Service. It automatically triages incoming emails, using NLP to understand the request and sentiment of each message. It then automatically opens a new service case and sends it to either another bot or a live agent. New service cases include customer information relevant to the case, theoretically saving live agents time.
For phone support: Lastly, the Pega Intelligent Interactive Voice Response (IVR) uses AI to create dynamic, personalized phone menu options for customers who call in for support. By analyzing the customer's previous brand interactions and account information, it offers the most relevant assistance options for that customer.
Given the expectations for the use of AI in customer service, Pegasystems' investments in this area are no surprise. The company also recently announced new compliance tools designed to help enterprises track their use of AI and make their algorithms more transparent and enable enterprises to better track usage.