Amelia

So, an AI (artificial intelligence) powered chatbot is now a "digital colleague"? Allstate Insurance has even given their "colleague" a name. Amelia. Clever. Allstate's 350 call centers are now "staffed" with Amelia to assist employees in helping solve customer inquires faster and more efficiently. Seems Amelia (if that's her 'real name') is accessible via instant messaging on each employee's desktops and really gets questions answered much faster. Allstate's "digital colleague" is able to understand context AND continuously learn new tasks. So that's why they make these "assistants" in the form of attractive women; they are smart and competent. Faster too. Allstate's average call time with customers has also dropped meaningfully with Amelia's help. Awesome. So now when you tell your significant other you have to work late with a digital colleague, it's not to worry, it's only Amelia.

(Bill Taylor/Managing Editor)


"Allstate Insurance Co.’s 350 call center employees are turning to a quick-thinking colleague named Amelia to help them solve customer inquiries faster and more efficiently.

Amelia is a AI-powered chatbot designed to help Allstate employees by answering questions via an instant message platform on their desktops.

“She’s a pretty great example of a digital colleague that has a lot of capabilities,” said Carla Zuniga, senior vice president of operations at Allstate.

The digital assistant has helped call center representatives in more than 3 million conversations with customers since it was deployed last September, Ms. Zuniga said. During the month of January, Amelia helped with 250,000 customer calls.

Allstate is among several major insurers using chatbots for employee and customer support as a way to innovate and compete with smaller, insurance-focused startups.

Companies across all sectors are now experimenting with AI-powered digital assistants in the workplace to varying degrees, with the goal of helping employees get tasks done quicker, more efficiently and with fewer errors. Some take the form of software robots, where they work alongside human employees at companies to perform mundane, rules-based tasks..."


Source: WSJ Blog