Bright Pattern Announces AI-Driven Conversational IVR and BrightStart Apps

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bright Pattern, leading provider of easy-to-use enterprise omnichannel cloud contact center software for innovative companies, announced today at Customer Contact Week (CCW) Nashville 2019 two new additions to the Bright Pattern Customer Experience Platform: 1) a conversational IVR that leverages AI for smarter, easier self-service, and 2) Bright Start Apps that allow companies to turn on particular customer service capabilities quickly and easily.

Bright Pattern Conversational IVR
Customers overwhelming want self-service but few consumers enjoy self-service through traditional, high-effort IVRs. Touch tone or inflexible direct tree structure menus have traditionally been built "inside out" based on the desires of the business to deflect calls. Although these systems are antiquated and frustrate customers who have to memorize options and often try to "zero out" to a person, they are still the initial point of contact for many companies.

Bright Pattern's conversational IVR powered by industry-leading AI lets customers lead the conversation and choose the path they prefer, resulting in better and faster problem resolution, lower costs, and significantly improved customer experience (CX) and customer satisfaction (CSAT). The conversational IVR also captures customers' exact phrases, providing insight into specific issues that customers are looking for via self-service. Using this data, the conversational IVR can learn, and be improved and updated continually through the voice of the customer.

"It's time companies just say no to the traditional IVRs that have frustrated customers for decades. With powerful cloud technology coupled with AI, consumers no longer have to deal with poor, rigid self-service options. AI-powered conversational IVRs are another step forward as we phase out traditional IVRs and revolutionize customer engagement," said Konstantin Kishinsky, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of Bright Pattern.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Customer-Focused and Intuitive - Allow customers to interact naturally in their own words, eliminating the need to memorize a long list of options.
• Higher Resolution Rates for Better CX - Resolve issues quickly, let customers self-serve successfully, and reduce IVR abandonment.
• Adapts to Customer's Needs - Powered by best-of-breed AI from Google and IBM, conversational IVR is continually learning and offering insights using historical data based on what people say.
• Make Smarter Business Decisions - Learn what customers expect after certain responses, and drive them toward premium products and services.
• Native Omnichannel - Conversational IVR pairs perfectly with SMS, web chat, social messengers, email, and video, providing a seamless connection for agents engaging with customers on Bright Pattern's omnichannel platform.

Per Michael Maoz of Gartner*: "Customers expect forms of conversation to continue uninterrupted even if they need to shift from channel to channel. For example, a shift from a website visit to an exchange with a chatbot, to either a live chat with a human or a phone call, must happen with no loss of context. There should be no repetition, and a feeling that the transition was to lead to a better resolution of their issue."

Bright Pattern customer Roger Meador, Principal and Co-founder of TruSouce Labs, commented: "Bright Pattern is unique in their ability to offer enterprise power in an easy-to-use customer experience platform. They were among the first to offer emerging channels like Facebook Messenger in a true omnichannel platform and they are again changing the world of customer service with an IVR that customers will actually like to use. Power, unparalleled ease of use, and innovation are at the core of their cloud offering, and it's why we chose them."

BrightStart Apps
Bright Pattern is also announcing the first of easily configurable BrightStart Apps. BrightStart Apps allow brands to offer easier, faster journeys for their customers. Able to be turned on in just days, BrightStart Apps are preconfigured modules built in the Bright Pattern Journey Builder using a simple point-and-click workflow. BrightStart Apps are preconfigured, instantly deployable solution packs that solve common customer experience issues.

Typically, when a new contact center functionality is needed, companies need IT or professional services' help to configure and deploy, involving considerable expense and time. BrightStart Apps allow businesses to immediately turn on customer experience capabilities without that cost or time.

Bright Pattern is providing customers with their choice of a BrightStart App as part of their initial onboarding. Additional apps can be purchased from Bright Pattern or partners for a minimal cost. Moreover, BrightStart Apps can be easily created to meet the unique needs of customers.

Initial BrightStart Apps being announced today include:

Conversational IVR App - This configuration includes conversational IVR capabilities with logic that selects the appropriate bot, greets the caller, uses speech-to-text to capture the customer's need, and then uses AI-powered Natural Language Processing to respond to the issue. The logic will also find the best skilled agent if human assistance is needed, while passing on full context from the bot interaction to the agent.

Omnichannel Digital Starter App - This configuration connects a company's voice channel with their next most important channel (e.g., chat or text). IQPC and Dimension Data note that less than 10% of companies offer true omnichannel today. This starter app lets companies quickly and easily turn on true omnichannel customer engagement.

Proactive Priority Web Chat App - With most customer interactions today beginning on websites, this app allows businesses to specifically reach out and offer concierge-like service to their priority customers. Priority customers who visit a website are identified, greeted with a personalized web chat—perhaps referencing their last company interaction—and then routed to their own personal agent who has their complete customer journey history.

Human and Chatbot App - This app allows companies to turn on what Forrester terms "blended AI" with bots performing a basic triage of information. When escalation to a human is required, the best agent is found and all context is passed to the agent.

Bright Pattern's Journey Builder is open to all partners and customers. Other BrightStart Apps will be released by Bright Pattern and partners later in 2019.

Ted Hunting, Bright Pattern Senior Vice President of Marketing, comments, "Our BrightStart Apps will allow companies to immediately deploy new capabilities nimbly and without the cost and time of a large IT staff. Today's businesses need to offer a great customer experience on the fly and can't afford to be limited by on premises-based systems or bolted-together cloud solutions. Our BrightStart Apps represent another step in our mission to revolutionize customer experience with an enterprise-powered cloud platform that is easy to use for companies of any size. We are bringing to companies of all sizes what the largest enterprises have tried to achieve and doing it with the speed of the cloud at a fraction of the cost of existing solutions."

About Bright Pattern
Bright Pattern provides the most simple and powerful contact center for midsize and enterprise companies. With the purpose of making customer service brighter, easier, and faster than ever before, Bright Pattern offers the only true omnichannel cloud platform that can be deployed quickly and nimbly by business users—without costly professional services. Bright Pattern allows companies to offer an effortless, personal, and seamless customer experience across traditional channels like voice, text, chat, email, video, messengers, and bots. The company was founded by a team of industry veterans who pioneered the leading on-premises solutions and today are delivering an architecture for the future with an advanced cloud-first approach. Bright Pattern's cloud contact center solution is used globally in over 26 countries and 12 languages.

*Gartner, How to Move From B2C to C2B Experiences Using New Digital Technologies, Michael Maoz, 27 February 2018.

SOURCE Bright Pattern

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