Lasting innovation starts with solving a simple, universal problem. In the case of Intelligent Assistance, customers have long grown tired of repeating themselves as they voluntarily jump, or are involuntarily transferred, from one support channel or agent to another. Today, with the announcement of Aspect Experience Continuity™, Aspect software has tackled that problem head-on. They’ve introduced a new network element, the Continuity Server, to help customers pick up where they left off as they carry out conversations that take place over a time and cross multiple communications channels.

The Experience Continuity platform will be included with the release of Aspect CXP 14.1 in the coming month. The Continuity Server, a key addition to the CXP platform, is a repository or data store for “Context Cookies,” which are ephemeral files that track customer activity through IVR (Interactive Voice Response) units, mobile apps, Web portals and all other touch points, including chat and “warm” transfers to live contact center agents or assistants. It will work in conjunction with and in the spirit of the the Aspect Mobility Suite which we wrote about a few months ago.

The stored Context Cookies enable companies to track such things as the drop out points in IVR interactions, as well as descriptions of the most recent trasactions, the last Web sites visited (with duration) and issues discussed previous conversations with a live agent. One way to visualize their role is to think of PostIt notes or reminders which can be used as reminders in the course of a conversation and disposed of when they are no longer needed. In the mean time, Aspect expects the use of Context Cookies to speed each customers course to completing their desired tasks while, at the same time showing marked improvements in the pet KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) employed by customer experience and contact center professionals: reduced transaction times, reduced call durations and improved FCR (First Call Resolution).

The Continuity Server is designed to support “contextual data transfer” by interacting with call processing systems from Avaya, Genesys, Microsoft, Cisco and others (in addition to Aspect). There will also be “CRM Connectors” to make it possible to integrate with “any IVR, ACD or CRM” systems. In terms of real-world deployments, a large wireless carrier in eastern Europe has been employing this technology for a number of years and a large commercial bank has completed its proof-of-concept for supporting its consumer banking and credit card services.

Cookies have finally come to the contact center. As a result, Intelligent Assistance can embrace the IVR, agent desktops, voice, video, chat, messaging, text, social, web and mobile without losing track of a customers purpose or intent.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Assistants

Tags: Contact Centers, conversational commerce, customer experience, Intelligent Assistance, Aspect Software