Inference Solutions Announces Google CCAI Support And Inference Studio 6.1

on April 24, 2019 at 12:38 pm

Image Credit: Inference Solutions

Inference Solutions announced today support for Google’s Contact Center AI (CCAI) in Studio 6.0 in addition to a new version of its web-based visual tool for those who build conversational experiences, called Inference Studio 6.1.

Google Product Integrations into Inference Studio

CCAI is a Google Cloud service that provides contact centers with artificial intelligence to better their performance. The service will catalog and analyze caller requests using Google’s Dialogflow Enterprise technology, parse topics based on the conversation, automatically provide live agents with articles and knowledge documents based on the conversation, in addition to conducting training based on tailored and unique requests.

Google’s platform that allows enterprise users to build voice and text-based conversational interfaces powered by artificial intelligence, such as Actions, Skills, bots, or apps, is known as Dialogflow. Platforms supported by Dialogflow include websites, mobile apps, voice, and text-based chatbots. The update to Inference Studio includes support for a Dialogflow node within Studio – meaning users can leverage Google Dialogflow within Studio.

Inference Studio 6.1

Within Inference Studio, customers build their voice and text-based conversational interfaces with drag-and-drop nodes. The new version of Inference Studio introduces an Open Form Node with three main functions, to support the grammar of foreign languages, a single-step process to Dialogflow integration, and the ability for customers to use pre-built Dialogflow agents or Dialogflow agents that have been independently built. Below is a demonstration video of the Open Form Node.

Other updates to the software include:

Improved accuracy for Google Speech-to-Text (STT) with phrase hints. The support of open grammars by Google STT, as opposed to closed grammars, means that in most cases developers no longer have to predict what a caller might say and then build a set of domain-specific grammars to match variations of requests. Phrase Hints are a list of phrases that act as hints in order to boost the popularity that words or phrases will be recognized.
The introduction of a Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Graphical Editor, allowing customers to customize the way their Virtual Agents speak by controlling the rate, pitch, volume, or emphasis of their text-to-speech in a more intuitive interface.
A Screen pop node that will allow customers to forward relevant customer information from a Virtual Agent to a live call center agent or sales representative easily.
Refunds and Pre-Authorized Payments are supported by Virtual Agents as they are now able to collect PCI compliant payments from customers.

Inference Solutions CEO Callen Schebella commented on the integration saying,

“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. 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.”

Integration of Google’s CCAI Indicates Importance of Voice and Text-Based Applications for Customer Support

Inference Solutions’ decision to integrate Google’s Contact Center AI is significant because it is a service being adopted by leading contact center software platforms, system integrators, and software developers at an increasingly rapid rate. Dave Michels, enterprise communications analyst and founder of TalkingPointz, reports that Google has partnered with 74% of the contact center market. At this year’s Google NEXT event, Google Cloud Product Manager Shantanu Mirsa stated that developer adoption of Dialogflow has grown about 600% over the past two years.

It makes sense for a company like Inference Solutions to take advantage of Google’s CCAI reach. In addition, the integration highlights the increasing importance of voice interactions, especially when used for customer support. Voicebot research from the U.S. Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report 2019 found that 31.4% of smart speaker owners say they are interested in using their devices to contact customer service departments.