How we Built Edward, an Artificially Intelligent, SMS Virtual Host for Radisson Blu Edwardian - Aspect Blogs

In late 2015, our Chief Customer Officer, Joe Gagnon, and I, met with the IT Director, and the COO of Radisson Blu Edwardian in London. A long-term customer of Aspect's, we were there to share what we have been so diligently working on over the past year: our vision for re-imagining customer service that would combine the best of all forms of consumer interaction types, and the best of what we and the industry have been able to develop in next generation CX technology. In essence, the vision for re-imagining customer service has at its core how to use Interactive Text Response (ITR), or what is also known as "bots" to provide the ability to let customers self-serve on text channels at blazing-fast speeds with a User Interface that resembles that of a natural conversation with a person. Needless to say, it didn't require much convincing that this approach would provide an opportunity to "surprise and delight" in their prestigious hotel chain. With over 2 billion people using texting and messaging solutions extensively today, offering service over these channels just makes sense. Furthermore, it has the promise of saving cost through smart automation while providing a state-of-the-art customer experience, or in the words of the COO: "I want this by Monday."