accenture conversational ai platform
TRANSCRIPT
Nominated for
Best Customer Experience in Business Technology
(A COVID STORY)
Accenture Conversational AI Platform
Copyright & Confidentiality
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Accenture and is being furnished with the expectation that the information shall
be kept strictly confidential.
This document, either in whole or in part, must not be reproduced in any form or
by any means or disclosed to others or used for purposes other than that for
which it is supplied, without prior written permission from Accenture.
1. ACCENTURE CONVERSATIONAL AI PLATFORM (CAIP) OVERVIEW
Contents
3. VALUE DELIVERED DURING COVID
2. CAPABILITIES AT A GLANCE
4. THE CAIP ADVANTAGE
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 3
ACCENTURE CONVERSATIONAL AI PLATFORM (CAIP) OVERVIEW
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 4
• The connected customer expects an interaction that is smart, responsive and engaging.
• Customer expectations are rising as quickly as technology is evolving.
• Today virtual agents represent an exciting opportunity; tomorrow they will be a competitive necessity and a basic expectation for the digital customer.
Today’s AI is no longer viewed as primarily a corporate tool to increase automation, but instead as an emerging technology to be leveraged to handle global challenges.
56%of CIOs and CTOs
surveyed by Accenture Research say conversational
bots are driving disruption in their
industry 1
43%report their
competitors are already
implementing the technology 1
57%agree that
conversational bots can deliver large return on investment for minimal effort 1
1. Accenture Research: Chatbots Are Here To Stay2. Gartner: Conversational AI to Shake Up Your Technical and Business Worlds3. Gartner: Market Guide for Conversational Platforms4. Gartner: Governance and Best Practices for Chatbot Development
Chatbots will be responsible
for over
cost savings annually by 2020 2
$8B
By 2021…
15%of customer service interactions will be completely handled by AI, an increase of
400% from 2017 3
By 2022…
70%of white collar
workers will interact with conversational
platforms on a daily basis 4
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 5
THE RISE OFCONVERSATIONAL AI
COMPREHEND
Asynchronous
Image
SMS
Real-Time
User Interface
Live Agent Escalation
Enterprise Systems
3rd Party Systems
AP
I
Tone of Voice &
Sentiment
Voice or Text
Interface
Avatar
Social
Knowledge Base
RPA
Instant Messenger
LEARN
SENSE ACT A smart assistant that interacts with people and machines, harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence* to inform, support and advise, helping them with their tasks, challenges and goals
*Artificial Intelligence: Smart machines that extend human capabilities by sensing, comprehending, acting and learning – allowing people to achieve much more.
Semantic model
Natural Language Processing
Vision processing
Voice/ IVR
AI Services
Q&A
Enterprise Search
Knowledge graph
BPM Process Flow
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 6
WHAT IS A VIRTUAL AGENT?OUR DEFINITION
Accenture’s Conversational AI Platform is a middleware solution that stitches together products and services from different vendors.
Its plug-and-play architecture allows robust, data-driven conversational AI solutions to be scaled and managed across the whole enterprise, facilitating end to end business transformation.
AI SERVICES
NLP
Speech Text
Translation
Voice Biometrics
ENTERPRISE
SYSTEMS
CONVERSATIONAL AI MIDDLEWARE
Bot Design
Bot Execution
Bot Analytics
Bot Training &
Maintenance
Agent Assist &
Escalation
AP
I L
AY
ER
US
ER
CH
AN
NE
LS
AG
EN
T C
HA
NN
EL
S
A SNAPSHOTACCENTURE CONVERSATIONAL AI PLATFORM (CAIP)
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 7
AI SERVICES SUPPORTED:AI Services(NLP, TTS, STT, Translation)15+
16Customer Interaction ChannelsText, Voice
Engineers Trained on Platform
1000+
Integrations available Out of the Box20+
Client ImplementationsB2B, B2C, B2E models90+
44MicroservicesLoosely coupled Modular Architecture
Languages support, including niche languages such as Hungarian, Catalan, etc.50+
Our patented innovation forms the core of the Conversational AI Platform, which
offers the ability to plug-and-play AI vendors and easily switch between them.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 8
Accelerate pace to deliverPre-built technical integrations and reusable components speed up implementation
Avoid vendor lock-inCloud- and vendor-agnostic: easily switch between providers and mix-and-match to get the best solution
Data-drivenLogging and analytics tools facilitate operations and maintenance and create a living system
Privacy by designRole-based access control and encryption, segregation and masking of data
Leverage existing investmentUnify previously siloed initiatives build on various technologies without needing to rebuild from scratch
Operational scalabilityCentralizing creation, publishing and maintenance of experiences helps organizations to break traditional silos and enables scaling across the enterprise
User-friendlyNon-technical users can design, build and monitor conversations with an intuitive user interface
Pre-built conversational experiencesEver-evolving library of use cases created by designers and subject matter experts that are ready to be rolled out for a range of industries
CAIP BENEFITS
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CAIP CAPABILITIES AT A GLANCE
PLATFORM TOOLS:
ENGINEER PORTAL AGENT ASSIST PORTAL ANALYTICS PORTAL
The Conversational AI Platform consists of 3 main tools to enable a robust enterprise solution.
EXAMPLE USERS
Bot Engineers Bot DesignersCustomer
Service AgentsBusiness Analysts
Business Operators
FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES PLATFORM TOOLS
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 11
12
The Engineer Portal enables bot configuration, management and reporting though a friendly interface. Engineers can select, switch and train their NLP model, view conversation logs and design new conversations.
KEY FUNCTIONALITIES:
• Configure AI Services to switch cognitive service provider(s) – cloud or on-prem – avoiding lock-in
• Build and test dialogs with a no-code graphical interface with rich components in the Dialog Designer
• Easily build bots with multi-lingual support, including more niche languages such as Cantonese, Catalan, etc.
• Re-train NLP models from within the Portal
• View conversation logs to analyze user behaviour
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 12
Functional Capabilities
ENGINEER PORTALCONFIGURATION
Functional Capabilities
13
The Platform supports various easily configurable user interaction channels, enabling virtual agents to reach users across a range of interaction points. The channel spread is effective in implementing omnichannel user experiences & IVR deflections.
OMNICHANNEL:Users can start an interaction with a virtual agent on one channel, and continue that same conversation on another channel
VOICE DEFLECTION:Callers are diverted via IVR, potentially receiving a link via one channel, where they can then begin a chat with a virtual agent within the same channel or another.
TEXT:
Web WhatsApp
VOICE:
Slack SMSTwitterMS Teams
Email FacebookMessenger
AmazonAlexa
GoogleAssistant
Twilio IVRAmazon Connect
GenesysIVR
CISCOIVR
GoogleCCAI
Voice Biometrics
Smart TV
AR/VR Headset
ENGINEER PORTALUSER INTERACTION CHANNELS
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Functional Capabilities
14
The dialog designer facilitates easy design and build of conversation flows with a user-friendly interface. It caters for both bot designer beginners and advanced bot engineers. A variety of UI controls and advanced context operations support complex dialogs.
KEY FUNCTIONALITIES:
• Sequential conversation flow builder
• Versioning – control which version is published and easily roll back to an earlier iteration. A/B testing enablement
• Advanced API and variables configuration
• Support multiple response types depending on the channels enabled
Users: Designers
ENGINEER PORTALDIALOG DESIGNER
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 14
Functional Capabilities
15
Create and publish conversational experiences across a range of languages. Translation services facilitate quick multi-lingual enablement for each conversation flow. Language detection allows a user to switch language whilst interacting with a bot.
KEY FUNCTIONALITIES:
• Define bot responses in multiple languages with a simple UI
• Translate from one language to another to speed up implementation
• Language detection allows a user to interact in their language of choice
Users: Designers
ENGINEER PORTALMULTI-LINGUAL ENABLEMENT
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 15
Functional Capabilities
16
Map out a step-by-step workflow for how the bot will tackle user requests, including decision trees, FAQs, document search and disambiguation. Easily configure confidence thresholds for intent mapping and the number of fallback attempts that will trigger escalation to a human agent.
KEY FUNCTIONALITIES:
• Configure confidence threshold for triggering an intent-driven conversation flow
• Define whether FAQs, document search or disambiguation should be used, and in what order, to contain user queries
• Set the number of attempts a bot should make before escalating to a human
Users: Designers
ENGINEER PORTALBOT WORKFLOW
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Functional Capabilities
17
The assisted learning functionality allows knowledge engineers to review utterances that a bot has failed to classify. These utterances can be used to quickly train the bot using the same interface.
KEY FUNCTIONALITIES:
• View list of unclassified utterances
• Train all the master and worker bots in single interface
Users: Knowledge Engineers
ENGINEER PORTALASSISTED LEARNING
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Functional Capabilities
If the context requires human support (or if the customer requests) the virtual agent will hand-over to a human agent – this can happen via various channels with minimal customisation.These escalations will be handled by our Agent Assist Portal, an intelligent agent console built to empower the human agent and drive customer satisfaction. Features include: Enterprise Knowledge Search, Agent Coach (with query classification and conversation tips), and Customer Profile (with personalised offers and information).Our Platform can alternatively be integrated with existing agent software to enable a smooth transition from Bot to Human. To prove this functionality, the Platform has been integrated with third parties like LivePerson and Bold360.
Contact Center AI (CCAI)
AGENT ASSIST
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Functional Capabilities
The Analytics Portal features a Kibana dashboard which showcases the key performance metrics. Each metric can then be explored in a greater level of detail if required. Alongside the multiple in-built modules, there is also the option to add new modules (as part of implementation).
NATIVE MODULES:
• AUTOMATION RATEQuantifies the extent to which customer queries have been automated
• CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONFeedback allows for easier identification of pain points in conversation flow
• EMPLOYEE SATISFACTIONFeedback allows for easier identification of pain points with escalated conversations
• AVERAGE HANDLING TIMEKey Contact Centre metric, allows for understanding the efficiency of a VA solution
• FIRST CONTACT RESOLUTIONLow scores here may indicate an inefficient or flawed implementation
• CUSTOMER TIME SAVEDProxy for positive customer experience
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
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DEPLOYMENT
20
At runtime, the platform executes intelligent routing to support user queries. All conversations are secure and protected for data privacy.
KEY FUNCTIONALITIES:• Dialog versioning • PII masking• Data Protection at rest & in transit• Privacy by design• Plug & Play analytics solution• User authentication & voice biometrics
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 20
Our Industry Cartridge library
is a single repository of
standardized, pre-built &
reusable conversational
experiences to allow for rapid
deployment of virtual agents,
all running on Accenture’s
Conversational AI Platform.
PRE-BUILT
CONVERSATION FLOWSWe have use cases across a
number of industries that are
ready to be tailored and
implemented
TRAINED WITH
UTTERANCESOur use cases have supporting
utterances with neutral
expressions to rapidly train the
NLP
PRE-VALIDATED
WITH OUR SMEsOur intents have essential
market considerations across
security, fraud, risk and
compliance
DATA ITEMS
CONSOLIDATEDAll data points, entities, APIs
and interfaces are extractable
and can be tailored to client
requirements
PRE-BUILT NLP
INTENTSWithin a use case is an
extract of the NLP it was built
with, which is reusable with the
client
OUR KEY PARTNERS
ADAPTORS FOR THIRD
PARTY SOLUTIONOur cartridges include
adaptors for partner solutions like
Genesys and LivePerson
MULTI-LANGUAGE &
DIALECTCartridges contain use cases in
multiple languages and dialects,
including English, Cantonese,
Spanish and French
Each cartridge is a collection of design and build materials of working, scalable, conversational experiences, that can be implemented at a clients with minimal modifications. These cartridges will help reduce the design and build time for delivery.
A cartridge includes utterance libraries, conversation flows, different languages and dialects, and data items - all ready to implement
COMPUTERIZED INDUSTRY CARTRIDGES
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Transfer Funds Between Accounts
Report Issue With Energy Supply
Mortgage/Payment Holiday
Re-order Credit/Debit Cards
Broadband Installation
Unlock Account
Report Lost/Stolen Card
Apply For Credit Increase
Change StatementPreference
EXAMPLE USE CASES ACROSS THE INDUSTRIES…
80+BANKING
135+INSURANCE
75+WIRELESS
55+HIGH TECH
90+WIRE & CABLE
85+UTILITIES
80+AVIATION
The Conversational AI Platform provides an ever-evolving library of conversational experiences created by designers and subject matter experts that are ready to be rolled out across a range of industries.
CROSS-FUNCTIONALVIRTUAL AGENTS
In addition to the breadth of industries, our cartridges also sit cross-functionincluding HR, IT Service Desk, Other Enterprise Services (Finance, Procurement and IT).
Change StatementPreference
1000+ cross-functional intents and 75+ use cases
Update Contact Details
Cancel Services
Reschedule Interview
HR Policy Virtual Agent
Invoice Look-Up
Desktop SupportEscalation
New Joiners FAQ
Change User Passwords
Time Card Submission
Software Request Or Change
CARTRIDGE EXAMPLES
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 22
Security is considered and tested at every stage of the Application Lifecycle from Design, Build, Test to Deployment
APPLICATION LAYER
Session Management✓ Each user session is associated with randomly generated session ID, and in web chat,
a secure client cookie is assigned✓ Session validation executes both on client and server side✓ Secure, omni-channel session management allows user to switch channels without
compromising on security
User Authentication & Password Management✓ Strong omni-channel user authentication in place, using combination of user
emails/password, PIN, voice biometrics✓ Secure password management policy, password encrypted in storage
Authorisation & Access Control✓ Role-based authorisation is implemented for all Enterprise Users, including Live
Agents, Bot Engineers and Business Operator. Following least-privilege principles, these users will need to be granted access to READ, WRITE, or become ADMIN.
Input Validation✓ Input validation is performed on both client and server side to ensure no malicious
inputs are injected into the Platform, including XSS and CSRF
Error Logging & Handling✓ All errors are logged at 4 levels (debug, info, warning, error) in CloudWatch for
monitoring and further analysis. ✓ Errors are handled appropriately both on client and server side without
compromising on information security
Security Testing✓ Open source packages are scanned regularly using Nexus Lifecycle/Black Duck✓ Security testing performed for every version’s release
INFRASTRUCTURE LAYER
Access to public-facing resources✓ The load balancer to the private channels is only accessible via OpenVPN or
whitelisting.✓ The load balancer for the public facing channels is open to the world on port 443
(HTTPS) only.
Identity and Access Management✓ Kubernetes worker nodes are protected using AWS Security Groups, no SSH keys
provided✓ Access to Kubernetes APIs controlled by AWS IAM✓ Communication Security
DATA LAYER
Data Validation✓ All data is validated against schema before updating to Database
Data Encryption✓ All sensitive data are encrypted at rest
SECURITY
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 23
CONSENT
✓Possible to make opt-in to the Platform explicit for first time users
✓Possible to support opt-out as a use case in its own right
RIGHT TO ACCESS
✓Customer data stored by the Platform can be extracted and aggregated with other customer data held by the enterprise. This aggregated data can then be provided to the customer as per the Right to Access process defined for the wider enterprise.
RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN
✓ Customer data stored by the Platform can be removed on a per customer basis
PRIVACY BY DESIGN
✓Authentication – PIN/Passphrase/Voice Biometrics (available through integration of third party services)
✓Authorization – Control access based on role type
✓Data Protection – Encryption, segregation and masking of data
BREACH NOTIFICATION
✓Handled as per wider enterprise’s Breach Notification process
DATA PORTABILITY
✓ Customer data stored by the Platform can be removed on a per customer basis
PRIVACY
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 24
READILY AVAILABLE COMPUTERIZED INDUSTRY CARTRIDGES:
PUBLIC SERVICES EDUCATIONTELECOMS UTILITIES AVIATIONFS SUPPORT
IT HELPDESK HR
CHANNELS:
Enterprise
Voice
Contact Center
Customer interactions
PLATFORM:
Bot Design
• Low code graphical UI to configure dialogs
• Versioning and publishing
• Multi-NLU support & multi-lingual design
• Proactive conversations
Bot Execution
• Multi-bot management with intelligent routing
• Context management
• API Integration
• Omnichannel conversations
• Multi-lingual conversations
Bot Analytics & Training
• Conversation insights
• Trends visualization
• Event driven analytics
Agent Assist
• Multi-channel text escalations
• Voice escalation to human agent
• Assisted learning
• AI enabled agent assist
Tech Agnostic
• Assisted learning with multiple NLUs
• On-cloud, on-prem or hybrid deployment
• Orchestration of external bots
TOOLS ANDFRAMEWORKS:
Intent Discovery
• Conversation logs analytics
• Intent detection & discovery
• Dialog visualization
Knowledge Management
• Knowledge extraction from
enterprise knowledge bases
• Unified knowledge representation
Human Centered Design
Framework
• Conversation Design offering
Virtual Agent Delivery Tooling
• Platform estimators
• Deployment templates
• Platform documentation
Industry Cartridges
• Pre-configured dialogs
• Pre-trained intents
• Created with domain experts and
designers
CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS:
Systems of Record
Systems of Insight
AI Services
RHEA**
BotZero**
Human Handover
Live Agent
Industrialization
Smart TV
AR/VR
SUMMARY OF CAPABILITIES
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 25
SAAS
• Conversational AI Platform software available on AWS or Azure or GCP
• Monthly fees include environment availability price
• Excluding consumption of AI / third party services
• Support availability – 9 AM to 5 PM GMT
• Bot design and build effort not included
MANAGED SERVICE
• Use of the Software for a predetermined term (e.g. 3 years)
• Annual (or Monthly) Subscription fees including License and M&E price for the duration of the Term (bundled or unbundled)
• Must renew License and M&E at end of contract
OR
Price calculatedas per requirements
AS A SERVICE
Pilot Full domain
Crossdomain
Enterprise
DEPLOYMENT
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 26
Well-implemented conversational AI solutions can have numerous benefits…
Reduction of contact centre trafficA European governmental institution now handles 40% of its customer interactions without human intervention resulting in a 30% improvement in the speed of service.
Fulfilment of new requests at reduced cost On average, call computerization solutions deliver 60-80% cost savings compared to human-powered call centres.
Ability to meet seasonal surges in demandA virtual agent implemented in a European governmental department saw a reduction in demand of 55% for operator tasks.
Increased service hours and languagesA bank in the Middle East is launching a virtual agent that customers can interact with 24/7 in both Arabic and English for their everyday banking queries.
Improved customer experience and engagementA utility company in the UK has seen a 20% uplift in engagement since launching an Alexa skill where customers can service their account through their Amazon Echo device.
Improved flexibility and time to marketThe virtual agent can be changed instantly for an updated version, and can proactively obtain survey information, cross-sell and upsell.
Improved compliance and auditabilityA Nordic financial institution implemented a virtual agentthat increases visibility and the capture of information by ensuring all customer interactions are securely recorded.
Increased quality and consistencyA US telco launched a virtual agent to ensure customers received consistent and standardized responses to queries, regardless of customer type, segments and channels.
BENEFITS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 27
PANDEMIC RESPONSE WITH CAIP
The COVID-19 pandemic and
the early 2020 oil crisis led to
an unprecedented surge in
new unemployment insurance
claims and an overwhelming
number of calls to call centers,
triggering a need for another
communication channel.
THE COVID DOOM
29
To cater to this unprecedented demand, Accenture worked with 90+ customers and used the CAIP platform to roll out Virtual Assistants (VAs) at speed and scale for numerous customer journeys.
The tool was deployed within days and has been used to understand various caller intents and provide automated responses with quick resolutions that are satisfactory to the callers.
CAIP to the rescue
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 29
CLIENT - 2nd most populous state in the USAddressing the surge in citizen unemployment concerns due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The client is responsible for managing unemployment benefits for the entire state. COVID-19 caused call volumes to increase by 1000% to approximately 200,000 calls daily. Within a week, Accenture implemented a conversational, self-service virtual assistant, to support unemployment insurance questions via a webchat, relieving pressure on the contact center.
The conversational AI solution offers:
Delivery at pace
The Commission started with a list of 20 intents and within five days, Accenture and Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched the virtual assistant.
Scalability
The virtual assistant can support around 100 questions and 20,000 concurrent users – a 233% increase in capacity from when it was first launched.
24/7 engagement
Unlike traditional call centers, the virtual assistant can assist customers 24/7. In fact, 19% of user interactions occur outside regular call center hours.
5 daysFirst version of virtual assistant launched in under a week
20K Concurrent users
448KQuestions answered in the first week
Client Story 1Impact of VA implementation:
May2020
LIVE
To increase engagement and communication with citizens, the CLIENT worked with us at Accenture, to implement a cloud-
based, automated virtual assistant named VA-BOT. To date, VA-BOT has assisted over two million CLIENT customers and
answered over nine million questions.
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 30
ABOUT VA-BOTThe bot provides informational responses to the most common questions, such as
“How do I file a claim for unemployment insurance?” and “What is the status of my
claim or payment?”
AWS Lex, the natural language processor, identifies topics submitted through text
questions and uses machine learning to help match queries to the best answer. For
example, if a user asks “When will I get a check in the mail?”, the system can recognize that the person is
trying to find out when they will receive their payment. Since CLIENT does not send checks, the virtual
assistant recognizes that the end user is inquiring about payments and answers accordingly.
Leveraging Accenture’s Advanced Customer Engagement platform, the CLIENT can
merge AI, data and analytics to improve the customer experience. These insights
highlight how users interact with VA-BOT. This helps the CLIENT to refine processes
based on industry learnings and best practices, including how to shorten back-and-
forth conversations and help individuals narrow down their questions.
VA-BOT, the Virtual Assistant appears
on the bottom right of the CLIENT
website. Users see a box that says
“Chat with Us.” Once this box is
clicked, it automatically engages the
user in a conversation.
After 1 month, the CLIENT updated the bot to include a “Request CLIENT to Contact
Me” form. If a user needs more information on a request, the bot can present a web
intake form that asks for several pieces of information. The user is then placed on a call
list for a CLIENT employee to reach out to them directly.
This option helps divert calls from the call centers and allows the CLIENT to reach
customers with outbound calls, which further enhances citizen engagement.
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 31
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 32
Today, the VA-BOT can support around 100 questions and 20,000 concurrent users – a 233%
increase in capacity from when it was first launched.
VALUE DELIVERED
To date, VA-BOT has served over two million CLIENT customers and answered over nine million
questions. On average, it can answer requests in just over four messages.
Unlike traditional call centers, VA-BOT can assist customers 24/7. In fact, 19% of user interactions
occur outside regular call center hours. Today, it takes less than a day to turn around updated policy
information to and for customers using the virtual assistant.
Now that VA-BOT has proved effective for unemployment insurance, the CLIENT is currently using
the virtual assistant for other agency business and helping to answer questions related to vocational
rehabilitation, workforce initiatives and child care.
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 32
BRIGHT HORIZONSDeflect traffic from the call center without compromising on customer experience.
Bright Horizons is one of the leading child-care providers in the US. The COVID-19 crisis caused an overwhelming surge of calls to their call center. The queries included:
• Enrolment in child-care programs• Program reimbursement process• Reservation across various offerings• Program benefits explanations
The conversational AI solution offers:
Speed and agility
The web-based FAQ AI Bot was rapidly developed using the Conversational AI Platform hosted on Azure Cloud with MS LUIS providing the NLU service. Release 1 was completed in just one week, with subsequent releases nearly weekly with new Q&A conversations.
Deflection from IVR to digital
Users are prompted via the Call Center IVR system with an option to avoid long wait times for an agent and have the FAQ AI Bot handle their query.
Improved customer engagement
In May the VA interacted with 15% of people who called the IVR at a time where only 28% of IVR connects made it into a call queue and 36% of callers in the queue abandoned.
May2020
LIVE
10K+Calls deflected from call center to the VA on a weekly basis by Release 4
$400K+ Annual cost savings
19% Reduced call volume to consultants’ queue
Impact of implementation:
Chat with our Virtual Agent
Chat now
Client Story 2
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 33
COVID-19: Agility in pandemic response using CAIP
Created, tested and launched a COVID-19 Chatbot in seven days for a major pharmaceutical
company, serving more than 35000 professionals
Launched a triage bot to orient customers at a country’s Department of Education, with more
functionalities to come
Created and launched a bot to answerand support unemployment insurance queries
Added Covid 19 guidance for a Canadian energy transportation company
customers self service bot
Built a call centre for a state government overnight, then extended it to the Department of
Public Health. Enabled state agents to work remotely and stood up a VA to support
COVID call volumes
Deployed virtual agent solution for a major university to respond to stakeholder COVID
concerns
Deployed an enterprise ready cloud solution, seamlessly embedding ACE+ COVID-19 Virtual Agent into the client’s existing environment.
(4 different clients)
Implemented a cloud based call center solution to rapidly enable UIA call center staff to work remotely. Concurrently expanded call center capacity from 700 to 800 ports in 5 minutes.
Client names are anonymized due to contractual obligations
NOT EXHAUSTIVE
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 34
More client stories
MEASURINGSUCCESS
Major KPIs included:
• Deflection in number of cases and $ saving
• Average Handling Time no queues, faster responses
• First Contact Resolution resolving customer problems 1st time
• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)• Employee Satisfaction (ESAT)
A variety of KPIs are measured in pilot or production to evaluate the success of a virtual agent solution.
95%
No. queries
deflected
85%
Live agents’
time saved
75%
Customers’
time saved
85%
Increased customer
satisfaction
82%
Query
time reduction
* Data sourced from live implementation
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 35
THE CAIP ADVANTAGE
The Technology-Agnostic Conversational AI platform is an accelerator for rapidly building robust and comprehensive Virtual Agent solutions for various use cases.
Its modular microservices architecture integrates different artificial intelligence algorithms and offers the ability to switch them quickly and easily using the intuitive user interface to create a best-in-class solution.
Accelerated development
Development is accelerated by 4 to 12 weeks with pre-built hooks to front-end and back-end components, so focus can be put on the specifics of the client
Vendor-agnosticism
Easily switch between cloud-based cognitive services and avoid vendor lock-in
Security
Sensitive data can be identified and masked before sending to cognitive services. Access control and encryption of data at rest as well as anonymisation of training data for GDPR compliance
Data Driven
Pre-built logging, analytics and NLP training modules facilitate auditability and maintenance
Pre-Built Cartridges
Pre-built industry relevant cartridges have been developed to provide working use cases for common flows
In House Knowledge
Content and logic are held inside the VA application, not externally in the cognitive services
CAIPBEST IN CLASS SOLUTION
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 37
MODULAR DECOUPLING
Modular microservices approach enables:
Targeted horizontal scaling for the particular componentsthat are experiencing high load without having to scale the others.
Easily extensible platform by adding new modular services rather than having to modify the entire monolith application
Easy maintenance with responsibility of each micro-service to one targeted team
STANDARD-
ISATION
To ensure production
readiness, each microservice
conforms to set of standards,
including:
High Coding Standards:
minimum 80% unit testing,
standardised error handling
Standardised Build &
Deployment process with
automated checks in place for
each stage
Standardised
Documentation, including
service endpoints, error
codes, etc.
BUILT FORSCALE
Each microservices are built with scalability in mind, following principles such as:
Service statelessness: theshould be easily replaceable if service goes down
Automated scaling groups to handle increased/decreased loads
TECH AGNOSTIC
Avoid vendor lock-in by building abstraction layers facilitating easy switch between different providers of the same technology, including:
Cloud Providers
AI Services: NLP, STT, TTS, voice biometrics
Messaging Platform Channels: WhatsApp, Facebook, MS Teams
Document Database
PLATFORM APPROACH
The platform aims to create enabling base technology, from which it is easy for user to create, operate and maintain bot regardless of their use cases. Some platform features include:
Multi-tenant bots hosting
Role-based access authorization
Built in analytics & monitoring
The architectural principles allow the Platform to meet non-functional requirements including high scalability, performance, reliability and adaptability
ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES
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PILOTLAUNCH
• Build UI & conversation workflows
• Train and test NLP model• Integrate back-end and
front-end• Test E2E integration, UI
and User Experience• Integrate testing
feedback• Deploy to pilot
environment for initial pilot users
• Monitor performance and make changes to NLP model accordingly
• Build backlog of items for future releases
• Create roadmap for transitioning to scaled implementation
RESEARCH& INSIGHTS
• Mobilise team and kick-off
• Analyse existing data and user journeys. Define how data is processed by systems and humans: as-is and to-be
• Design Thinking workshops: agree use cases and create backlog of functionality
• Plan development sprints • Agree contracting
approach with AI vendors
• Define User Testing plan• Define Pilot users/scope
PRODUCTSCALE
• Perform steps for pilot to integrate the Platform into client systems
Continuously iterate to achieve the below items:• Execute Performance
testing• Address performance
bottlenecks and optimise for larger userbase
• Integrate into additional channels
• Improve integration into agent software to provide more functionality
• Iterate new use case flows• Expand utterances and
intents• Address user feedback to
refine flows
PROOF OF VALUE
Controlled learning of conversational AItechnology with a focus on selected use cases
DESIGN& PLAN
• Design User Experience
• Design User Interface• Design personality of
Virtual Agent• Define conversation
flow and dialogue content
• Create NLP model• Set up and test
environment
EXPAND & MANAGE
Expand platform to additional business units and deploy ongoing improvements
DISCOVER CO-CREATE TEST SCALE SUSTAINLAUNCH
A successful launch timeframe varies from just 5 days to a couple of weeks.
TYPICAL ENGAGEMENT PLAN
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Partners
Access to our leading AI community of practice
The Converse AI Platform, a Technology Agnostic Solution
that shortens deployment time by 1-3 months
We have strong partner relationships with key AI
players in the game
• UK Liquid Studio• Dublin AI COE• Tech Labs Palo Alto
For more detail on our AI capabilities, please visit us at www.ai.accenture.com
POWERFUL INNOVATION ARCHITECTURE & DELIVERY
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
WORLD LEADING ACCELERATORS
BEST IN CLASS PARTNER ECOSYSTEM
Research Institutes& Universities
• Tech Labs Sophia• IDC Innovation
Centre
WE HAVE INVESTED $600 MILLION IN DEVELOPING A FULL SUITE OF AI ASSETS, DESIGNED FOR RAPID IMPLEMENTATION. ASSETS WE HAVE ARE SERVED TO 50+ OF THE FORTUNE 500.
WHY US?
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HOMECARE
An ecosystem of voice enabled services for the elderly target segment, with behavioural data capture and machine learning algorithm to detect anomalies
IVR AI
Decoupled voice adapter allowing the integration of artificial intelligence services and telephony systems with reduced latency
Accenture D18-065/03454-90PR-US; H&H No.: 0095-0438PRO
Accenture D18-193-03519-90PR-US ; Brinks 15718-362
OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
VENDOR-AGNOSTIC PLATFORM
Dialog management system for using multiple artificial intelligence service providers
US-10381006
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Thank You