Intelligent Assistants Conference is a foundational event in defining how virtual agents, bots, and automated self-service mechanisms deliver business value for digital commerce and customer care. Since 2014, Opus Research has provided a public forum for large enterprises, small- and medium-sized firms, and emerging startups to showcase how intelligent assistants engage customers using natural language understanding, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

The 2016 IA Conference, co-located with the Intelligent Authentication Conference, September 12-13 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, featured interactive panel discussions and real-world case studies showcasing efforts to improve self-service efficiency via mobile apps, text-based messaging platforms, chatbots, and conversational commerce.

Below please find featured presentations and customer case studies from the likes of Nationwide, TalkTalk, Xapo, Artificial Solutions, and Identifor.

[UPDATE: Videos for all the Intelligent Assistants Conference SF sessions are now available on the Opus Research YouTube channel. For more information about future events, please contact Pete Headrick, [email protected], +1-415-904-7666]

Monday, September 12, 2016

1:15 PM – 2:00 PM
Opening Keynote: The Power of Natural Language Interaction
Customers expect to be able to use their own words to tell businesses and brands exactly what they want. And companies that lack strategies and tactics to hear what their clients say or text over a variety of communications channels are falling behind in the new era of bots, intelligent assistants and conversational commerce.
Speaker: Lawrence Flynn, CEO, Artificial Solutions
View Presentation

2:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Making Intelligent Assistance Secure By Design
Intelligent Assistance calls for support of conversational, omnichannel interactions through a variety of devices. Each of these elements a new threat vector for fraudsters and identity thieves which can be addressed by existing infrastructure for continuous risk-assessment and authentication.
Speaker: Brian Mulligan, Security Product Manager, IBM

3:00 PM – 3:45 PM
What’s Your Bot Strategy? Stepping up to Conversational Commerce
Marketing, Customer Care, Mobile Experience and Contact Center executives must act now to define their strategy and tactics for incorporating both Intelligent Assistants and bots. Who’s doing it well, and how?
Speakers:
Joe Gagnon, Chief Customer Officer, Aspect
Brian Shivler, CEO, True Image Interactive
Matt Schlicht, Creator, Chatbots Magazine

3:45 PM – 4:15 PM
Case Study: Nationwide
With a focus on strategy, business drivers and key metrics, Nationwide is introducing intelligent assistance for customer service and building a conversational commerce platform.
Speakers:
Scott Bair, Innovation Lead, Nationwide
Catriona Wallace, Founder & CEO, Flamingo
View Presentation

4:15 PM – 4:45 PM
IAs Impact on CRM: Can We All Get Along?
In its ideal, intelligent assistance transcends, but does not eliminate, existing silos. Initiatives have been launched from IVRs, webchat, mobile apps and “all of the above.” Can CRM be the great unifier? Is disintermediation inevitable?
Speakers:
Ian Jacobs, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research
Esteban Kolsky, Principal & Founder, ThinkJar
Nicolas de Kouchkovsky, Principal, CaCube Consulting
Dan Miller, Lead Analyst & Founder, Opus Research

4:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Intelligent Assistants Awards (IAA) Ceremony
Presented by Opus Research, three winners will be announced for the third annual “Intelligent Assistants Awards,” showcasing achievements that demonstrate a proven business value to enterprises and deliver innovative, superior customer experiences.
View Presentation

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

9:00 AM – 9:45 AM
Keynote Panel: Meeting IA’s Tough Challenges – The Implementers’ Dilemmas
The onslaught of thousands of bots, virtual agents and enterprise intelligent assistants is a source of stress for customer experience, marketing, contact center and IT professionals. This panel of practitioners will share the wisdom that comes from recognizing and addressing their options for Intelligent Assistance.
Speakers:
Ty Harmon, Chief of Technology Reconnaissance, 2THEDGE
Michal Cenkl, Head of Innovation and Technology, MITRE Corporation
Edwin van Bommel, Chief Cognitive Officer, IPsoft
Dan Miller, Lead Analyst & Founder, Opus Research

9:45 AM – 10:15 AM
IA and IAuth for the Transformational Telco
Telephone companies are at the vanguard of the transition to mobile, digital commerce and the Internet of Things (IoT). Hear how the head of customer care at TalkTalk, one of the most innovative, diversified telecom companies in the world, pursued strategies for authenticating and assisting its highly diverse customer base.
Speaker: Sarah Bramwell, Head of IVR & Telephony, TalkTalk Group
View Presentation

10:45 AM – 11:30 AM
Who’s Your Metabot?
Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa and, now, Viv all are vying for a position of primacy above all other personal assistants. Each is building its own rich, third-party ecosystem which puts them in the position of unhooking the direct link between brands and their customers
Speakers:
Dave Isbitski, Chief Evangelist for Alexa & Echo, Amazon
Lauren Kunze, Principal, Pandorabots
Andy Peart, Chief Marketing Officer, Artificial Solutions
Greg Sterling, VP, Strategy & Insights, Local Search Association

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Striking the Bot Balance: Incorporating Human Feedback
Under the Intelligent Assistance banner, computers are there to help, rather than replace individuals. Top platform providers recognize the need to keep people in the digital commerce equation. That means giving control of the conversation to individual prospects or customers, while retaining roles for friends, associates and subject matter experts to contribute their wisdom in the course of self-service activities.
Speakers:
Robert Weideman, EVP & GM, Nuance
Jay Wilpon, SVP, Natural Language Research, Interactions
Eli Campo, CEO, nanorep
Jordi Torras, Founder & CEO, Inbenta

12:00 PM – 12:30 PM
Case Study: Identifor, An Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Kids with Autism
In assembling an international team of experts in science, education, and technology, Cuong Do, executive vice president of corporate strategy at Samsung, helped create Identifor, the world’s first learning and assessment application facilitated by a human intelligent virtual assistant. Designed in partnership with Autism Speaks, Identifor uses gamification to uncover unique skills and abilities in people with autism or other special needs
Speaker: Cuong Do, EVP, Corporate Strategy, Samsung
View Presentation

1:30 PM – 2:00 PM
Case Study: Xapo
How Xapo, providers of the world’s most secure bitcoin wallet, have launched a chatbot via Facebook Messenger for customer support.
Speaker: Jessie Blocker, Customer Care Manager, Xapo
View Presentation

2:00 PM – 2:45 PM
Redefining UI: Compelling & Conversational Intelligent Assistants
he advent of multi-channel and multi-modal intelligent assistants have a chance to leverage existing voice infrastructure as well as plethora of optional user interfaces including graphical, affective, and interfaces that follow the user from one platform to another. What makes sense, when, and why?

Speakers:

Brian Garr, Chief Revenue Officer, Cognitive Code
Mark Stephen Meadows, President, Botanic.io
Tobias Goebel, Director Emerging Technologies, Aspect Software
Christian Petersen, Director, Product Management, Comcast

2:45 PM – 3:15 PM
How IAs Promote Team Productivity Inside the Enterprise
While customer-facing bots get the lion’s share of attention, adding a conversational UI to enterprise collaboration platforms brings measurable, proven benefits. These opportunities include defining a platform that puts a conversational front-end to project management, document sharing and distribution and scheduling resources.
Speakers:

Jason Goecke, General Manager, Tropo Business Unit, Cisco
Christina Apatow, VP, Client Solutions, API.AI
Dan Schoenbaum, CEO, Redbooth

3:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Achieving Digital Transformation with Intelligent Assistance
A discussion on the opportunities for intelligent self-service in business processes, employee and citizen services. What problems do IAs solve for customers (end users) and for the customer experience professionals? What are the challenges facing system integrators and BPOs in selecting services in the critical path for real-time customer care?
Speakers:
Sumeet Vij, Chief Technologist, Booz Allen Hamilton
Anand Sekhar, Director, Automation, KPMG
Priyanka Khaitan, Head of Emerging Technologies, SAP Labs

4:00 PM  –  4:30 PM
Investor Insight: What’s Next for IA & IAuth
A panel discussion on the business opportunities for intelligent self-service, conversational commerce and intelligent authentication.

Speakers:
Phil Libin, Managing Director, General Catalyst
Sarah Guo, Investor, Greylock Partners
Joshua Kauffman, General Partner, Wisdom

4:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Closing Panel: Future of Secure, Multi-channel Intelligent Assistance
An interactive discussion, welcoming all opinions — will intelligent assistants truly improve customer experience? What are the challenges in delivering seamless identity & verification strategies to provide secure, personalized services for customers?
Speakers:

Jen Snell, Vice President, Next IT
Martín Frascaroli, CEO & Founder, Aivo
Phil Gray, EVP, Business Development, Interactions
Mark Hanson, Cognitive Innovation Group, Nuance

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