Top Video conferencing software provider Zoom has announced a new “intelligent conversational” live chat solution powered by artificial intelligence.
In a keynote event followed by a post (opens in new tab) on the Zoom blog, the company announced Zoom Virtual Agent (opens in new tab), a chatbot designed to help businesses provide efficient customer service in a cost-effective way, by reducing handle times for human customer support staff.
While corporate chatbots are nothing new, Zoom claims that many of these rely on “extensive” manual coding, while its new offering is powered by “proprietary AI” and machine learning in order to naturally process language.
Zoom’s AI chatbot for enterprise
Zoom Virtual Agent supposedly integrates with various live chat, CRM and contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) solutions, and will come packaged as part of Zoom Contact Center, the company’s own CCaaS.
The unveiling follows Zoom’s acquisition of Solvvy, a conversational AI company, in 2022. Mahesh Ram, head of digital customer experience at Zoom, and ex-founder and CEO of Solvvy, extolled the virtues of the new chatbot almost entirely in opaque buzzwords.
““Every leader I speak to is seeking dual outcomes from their CX [customer experience] technology: superior omnichannel resolutions for their customers and an improved bottom line,” he said.
“Imagine being able to deliver fast, accurate resolutions in 50% or more of your self-service interactions just weeks after launching. Solvvy delivered these types of outcomes for many leading brands.”
In short, Ram thinks Zoom Virtual Agent will help online startups expand quicker by solving an existential problem for them as soon as possible, while helping companies at large save money, possibly by cutting personnel costs.
A 50% success rate may not be as impressive as Ram seems to think it is, but previous Solvvy customers seem convinced.
“We’ve always enjoyed working with Mahesh and team, who helped us level up our support with self-service rates that exceeded our expectations. We’re excited to see what that same team has done with the new Zoom Virtual Agent,” said Marissa Morley, CX tools specialist for mobile ticketing platform SeatGeek.
