Inference Solutions, a provider of intelligent virtual agents, has released version 6.1 of Inference Studio, with features to help businesses harness Google's AI for the Contact Center.
"Google APIs for the contact center are being rapidly embraced by our partners, both to assist live agents and to deliver a more conversational self-service experience. Inference Studio is designed to help them price, package, and deploy intelligent virtual agent solutions that meet a wide range of needs for their customers," said Inference Solutions CEO Callan Schebella in a statement. "The latest version of Inference Studio makes this even easier by giving them a wide range of new capabilities, including access to pre-built Dialogflow agents, and the ability to more easily integrate agents they've built themselves."
With 6.1, Inference introduced an Open Form node that extends closed-grammar functionality to support foreign languages. It also improves the Dialogflow integration by adding a streaming interface, which Schebella says will reduce latency and make interactions more natural. "Previously you had to use the Cloud Speech-to-Text node to get your raw transcription and then use that transcription in your Dialogflow node. With the Open Form node this is now a single-step process," he said in a blog post.
The Open Form node also enables use of Dialogflow agents or pre-built agents from the Inference library.
Version 6.1 also adds Phrase Hints, a list of phrases that act as hints to boost the probability that words or phrases will be recognized, to the Cloud Speech-to-Text node.
With Studio 6.1, Inference added an (SSML) Editor a graphical interface for editing Speech Synthesis Markup Language. "It makes it easier to write SSML because standard options are at your fingertips, and you can now preview your work without having to call your virtual agent to listen to your SSML," Schebella said.
Studio 6.1 also includes a new screen pop node that allows users to forward relevant customer information to call center agents or sales representatives when calls are transferred from virtual agents. "This ensures that your live agent is fully prepared to take the call because a screen pop displays relevant information from the previous conversation," Schebella said.
And, with 6.1, virtual agents can collect payments from customers either as a stand-alone self-service application or to assist a live agent, authorize and capture payments, and even process refunds.