Virtual agents transform the way businesses interact with customers and employees. Using natural language processing (NLP) to understand and respond to questions, they simulate human conversations and improve with every encounter. It makes your business available around the clock.
These tools understand open-ended user inputs and the intent behind them. Many use optical character recognition, speech-to-text, and sentiment analysis to better interact with users.
Organizations turn to virtual agents or intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) for help with sales, HR, and IT, as well.
A virtual agent uses natural language processing and robotic process automation in a conversational interface to automate conversations, provide information, or execute tasks.
There’s a lot of ambiguity with terms like virtual agents, virtual assistants, intelligent virtual agents, and chatbots. Chatbots are like a catch-all term for all programs that try to imitate us through voice or text.
Chatbots that operate with vocal prompts are interactive voice response (IVR) systems. IVRs help businesses handle customer calls at scale with features like call routing and queuing. Some chatbots and IVRs operate to collect basic information and provide set answers. Not all of them offer true virtual agent functionalities.
Virtual agents or IVAs are more sophisticated than chatbots. IVAs combine capabilities of conversational AI and robotic process automation (RPA) to understand context from user input. They improve continuously to do both better. In an enterprise setting, virtual agents commonly turn to tools that automate user actions. These can include tasks like getting a refund or updating details.
Virtual assistants generally refer to human beings who assist remotely. When virtual assistant software gained popularity, professionals started using this term and “virtual agents” interchangeably. Now, virtual assistants have become an umbrella term for virtual products, including Apple’s Siri and Amazon's Alexa.
Virtual agents do many things to make your life easier, especially when you need information or help with simple tasks. There are a few features that make virtual agents special.
Even though virtual agents are super helpful, they do face some challenges.
Virtual agents make interactions smoother and more efficient across various sectors. Below are some common use cases that benefit from IVAs.
Customer service is the most common use case. Companies deploy virtual agents to handle customer inquiries and IVAs instantly respond to common questions, freeing up hours for human support agents.
Organizations reduce 30% of expenses by using virtual agents for customer support. \
Virtual agents are revolutionizing patient care and support. They assist in scheduling appointments, provide reminders, and offer basic medical advice. During pandemic events like COVID-19, virtual agents handle inquiries and inform patients about symptoms and preventive healthcare guidelines. Organizations using virtual agents reported 64% resolution without any human intervention.
E-commerce and retail agents improve the shopping experience with personalized recommendations and support. They help customers find products, track orders, and manage returns to make shopping as easy as possible.
Below are various other sectors where businesses use virtual agents.
Intelligent virtual assistant software lets businesses talk to their customers in a way that feels like chatting with a human. Unlike regular chatbots, IVAs understand context and intent, and can figure out relevant answers using NLP. With more interactions, they get smarter and more accurate.
To qualify for inclusion in the intelligent virtual assistant software list, a product must:
* Below are the leading intelligent virtual assistant software from G2’s Winter 2024 Grid® Report. Some reviews may have been edited for clarity.
Kore.ai helps businesses automate interactions with their customers, employees, and other stakeholders. It understands and responds to questions in a natural tone, making it easier for people to get the information they need or complete tasks without going through complicated menus or speaking to a human agent.
“The drag-and-drop interface proved exceptionally intuitive, allowing for a quick learning curve. Creating dialogue flows and defining actions was straightforward, and the visual representation made it easy to grasp the logic behind each interaction.”
- Kore.ai Review, Yogesh J.
“I need a little more clarity on the training and the inference section.”
- Kore.ai Review, Jasseem Mohammed S.
IBM Watsonx Assistant creates conversational interfaces for apps, websites, and other digital channels. The assistant integrates with various business systems and data sources to gather relevant information during conversations.
“The best thing about IBM Watsonx Assistant is that the model trains on more than 10 million interactions, which has given it the capability to replicate near-human interaction. This has led to a return on investment (ROI) in six months.”
- IBM Watsonx Assistant Review, Rajat P.
“There is scope for improvement in terms of the user guide. They could elaborate on the steps mentioned. Apart from that it is quite good and user-friendly. Hoping for a better user guide.”
- IBM Watsonx Assistant Review, Ragh A.
Microsoft Power Virtual Agents work with non-coders to create and use powerful chatbots. Users design conversational experiences that handle a wide range of customer requests, from answering FAQs to guiding users through complex processes.
“If you’re looking for a tool to create a custom AI chatbot, I highly recommend checking out Microsoft Power Virtual Agents. What I love about this tool is that you can create chatbots without any coding experience. The setup process is incredibly user-friendly. You simply create your chatbot topic, set up questions and answers, and publish.
The best thing is that you can test your bot in real time in the same window. Microsoft Power Virtual Agents is a great choice to enhance your customer support and engagement. Test it out – you'll find it as beneficial as I have.”
- Microsoft Power Virtual Agents, Furquan R.
“Very limited features, Limited integration The manual task to input data and no option for bulk entities update.”
- Microsoft Power Virtual Agents, Mayur S.
Moveworks automates IT support issue resolution for companies. It uses artificial intelligence to understand and instantly solve employee problems without human intervention.
When employees face IT issues, they can simply communicate with the Moveworks chatbot through natural language and the software accurately interprets the problem, whether it's a request for a password reset, software installation, or access to certain company resources.
“The best part of the experience with Moveworks is working with their Customer Success team. They do what it takes to ensure success.”
- Moveworks Review, Kevin S.
“If you already have a good way of deploying software, password changes, or locked accounts, you will not get the product's full value. It takes a lot of fine-tuning and work to ensure it presents the correct Knowledge Base articles.”
- Moveworks Review, Mark W.
Espressive, Inc. automatically responds to employee questions and issues, from HR inquiries to IT support. It makes it easier for staff to find quick solutions.
Employees simply interact with Barista, Espressive's virtual assistant, using natural language through various channels like chat or email. Barista understands these requests and answers or resolves the issues directly.
“Ease of rollout and integration into our business operations, the robustness of the solution to be adapted to our many communications channels to match the diverse workstyles of our global employee base, the richness of the developer/integration capabilities that go beyond a simple Q&A chatbot solution.”
- Espressive, Inc. Review, Dave M.
“Some users may find a learning curve involved in fully understanding and utilizing all the features and functionalities of Espressive's solution. However, this is a common aspect when adopting new technologies and can be mitigated through proper training and support.”
- Espressive, Inc. Review, Verified User in Information Technology and Services
Virtual agents answer questions from customers and employees without the need for humans. Unlike us, they never tire from assisting clients when they most require guidance. Maybe it’s time for your company to move forward with IVAs to help your team out with repetitive tasks, work more profitably, and deliver a superior user experience.
Learn more about intelligent virtual assistants and how it simulates human-like conversations.
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