IBM today launched new AI and automation features in IBM Watson Assistant designed to make it more convenient for businesses to enhance customer service experiences across channels- phone, web, SMS and any messaging platform.

IBM Watson has rolled out new automation features to help businesses transform customer service. The all new features will help the business to evolve more quickly, set up a voice agent with IntelePeer and enable more seamless hand-offs to live agents.

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This includes a new collaboration with IntelePeer, a leading Communications Platform-as-a-Service provider, to set up and test a voice agent, and a new agent app designed to enable a seamless hand-off to a live agent while maintaining the conversation’s context.

Virtual assistants have increasing popularity due to ongoing improvements in natural language processing (NLP) and automation. According to IBM’s 2021 Global AI Adoption IndexMorning Consult on behalf of IBM: “Global AI Adoption Index 2021” (May 2021), 52 percent of global IT professionals surveyed report that their company is using or considering NLP solutions to improve customer experiences.

IBM is adding new features in Watson Assistant, the company’s intelligent virtual agent, to help businesses leverage AI and NLP to address customer issues on first contact.

“One critical challenge facing nearly every business today is the need to better communicate with their customers and employees across all channels,” said Daniel Hernandez, General Manager of Data and AI, IBM. “We’re continuously delivering new innovations in natural language processing, automation and advancing responsible AI, and building a strong, open ecosystem with partners like IntelePeer to help businesses transform customer care with Watson Assistant.”

Some of the new features include:

· Add voice capabilities to Watson Assistant: The IntelePeerAtmosphere Communications Platform-as-a-Service is now available as an add-on in Watson Assistant so that users with a Plus and Enterprise plan can set up voice capabilities and a new phone number for a virtual agent quickly.

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· Help customers resolve issues on first contact with Watson Assistant Search Skill: Watson Assistant’s Search Skill feature now includes short-answer retrieval, which is based on an innovative question-answering (QA) system from IBM Research.

· Facilitate a seamless hand-off with the new agent app: Watson Assistant’s new agent app feature is designed to help customer service agents pick up with a customer right where the virtual agent left off. When a customer calls in, IBM’s speech detection models, which are designed to provide more accurate transcriptions out-of-the-box, deliver a near real-time transcription of the conversation.