Opus Research is proud to announce five finalists for the 2023 Conversational AI Awards. These winners were selected among the more than 30 submissions for deployments of intelligent assistants and conversational technologies to improve CX, assist employees, optimize sales & marketing initiatives, and streamline business processes.

Opus Research received a wide range of solution submissions spanning chatbots, conversational IVRs, sales coaches, automated marketing performance solutions, and agent assistance. The submissions were evaluated on the following criteria: business value; enterprise-wide impact; superior customer or employee experiences; and innovative use cases.

“This year it was gratifying to see submissions representing government, retail, banking, insurance, healthcare, hospitality and logistics, among other vertical industries,” explained Dan Miller, Lead Analyst at Opus Research. “It was extremely hard to pick winners because all submissions had tangible impact on an enterprise-wide basis.”

Without further ado, here are the 2023 Opus Research Conversational AI Award winners (in alphabetical order, with primary solution provider in parentheses):

• Johnson & Johnson (JAIDA): An employee-facing, AI-driven enterprise intelligent assistant that provides solutions to questions regarding benefits and services to a workforce that exceeds 144,000 employees worldwide. (Genesys)
• LBC Express (Conversational Commerce): A messaging-platform-based virtual assistant handling over 5 million interactions per year enabling from customers in 14 countries served by one of the leading courier and remittance services based in the Philippines. (Vonage)
• McKesson (Prescription Refill IVA): An Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) that handles prescription refill requests and handles Medicare eligibility inquiries, extending refill service to 24 hours a day and saving minutes on every call. (Five9)
• Memorial Hermann / Waypoint Healthcare Solutions (Post Discharge ER Patient Call Backs): A voice assistant contacts and queries patients of Memorial Hermann Health System, which operates 17 acute hospitals, one dedicated children’s hospital and over 260 other care delivery sites in greater Houston, TX to update health records and confirm that they are following post operative procedures.(Waypoint, Gridspace)
• TELUS (Field Service): An outbound, pro-active service for the Canadian communications and information technology firm, handing 2-3 million calls with over 15 million customers, resolving 95% of conversations without human intervention. (ContactEngine, a NICE company)

This is the seventh set of awards granted by Opus Research to firms that share the tangible benefits they gain from implementing Conversational AI and Conversational Intelligence technologies. The judges were impressed by how far they have come in identifying real-world opportunities, addressing both technical and organizational challenges involved in bringing their projects to fruition.

In this respect, several additional deployments deserve special commendations:

• IHG launched a Conversational AI omnichannel concierge yielding a 20-40% reduction in call transfer rate in processing 12M voice calls and 3.5M digital conversations. (Verint)
• Windstream optimized agent performance and routing, achieving 7x ROI within the first eight months and 150% of its net subscriber goal after just 10 months. (Invoca)
• PNB Metlife Insurance (PMLI) developed khUshi, an AI-enabled conversational bot for self-service with a user-centric design adhering to brand guidelines and styles. (Uniphore)
• Discover Financial Services operates an AI-infused, customer facing IVR for 100% of calls to 1-800-DISCOVER, successfully automating 73% of over 100 million inbound calls per year. (Omilia)
• The Istanbul Grand Airport is employing both chatbots and voicebots, showing over 90% accuracy in detecting intent and 80% resolution without referring to a live agent. (SESTEK)
• The State of Georgia’s Department of Labor launched a voicebot and chatbot in 2021 that now handles over a half a million contacts per year, successfully identifying intent 97% of the time and successfully resolving 26% of queries. (Google CCAI, Webex Contact Center)

Opus Research wants to thank all those who submitted considerations for this year’s awards. We look forward to learning more about real-world Conversational AI and Conversational Intelligence technology deployments going forward and sharing them at www.opusresearch.net.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Assistants, Articles, Mobile + Location

Tags: AI