Why Build an Omni‑Channel Virtual Assistant
Key Points
- The speaker highlights common frustrations with traditional phone‑based customer service, such as endless menu options and repeated transfers, which waste customers’ time.
- Building an omnichannel virtual assistant can automate routine queries, providing instant, 24/7 support without needing any coding skills by using tools like IBM’s watsonx Assistant.
- Deploying a chatbot dramatically reduces hiring, training, and operational costs while allowing the solution to be built in as little as one day.
- Virtual assistants improve the customer experience by delivering fast answers and freeing human agents to handle complex, high‑touch interactions rather than replacing them.
- The speaker encourages viewers to explore further training resources to create their own AI‑powered chatbots and enhance overall service efficiency.
Sections
- Frustrated Callers Demand Virtual Assistants - A disgruntled customer describes the endless phone menus and dead‑ends of traditional support, then advocates for an AI‑driven omnichannel virtual assistant (e.g., Watsonx Assistant) to deliver faster, 24/7 service without repetitive repeats.
- Chatbot Training Links & Retry - The speaker promotes further videos and a training course for building AI chatbots, then illustrates common fallback prompts used when the bot doesn’t understand a user’s input.
Full Transcript
# Why Build an Omni‑Channel Virtual Assistant **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-bmHSZUYlI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-bmHSZUYlI) **Duration:** 00:03:21 ## Summary - The speaker highlights common frustrations with traditional phone‑based customer service, such as endless menu options and repeated transfers, which waste customers’ time. - Building an omnichannel virtual assistant can automate routine queries, providing instant, 24/7 support without needing any coding skills by using tools like IBM’s watsonx Assistant. - Deploying a chatbot dramatically reduces hiring, training, and operational costs while allowing the solution to be built in as little as one day. - Virtual assistants improve the customer experience by delivering fast answers and freeing human agents to handle complex, high‑touch interactions rather than replacing them. - The speaker encourages viewers to explore further training resources to create their own AI‑powered chatbots and enhance overall service efficiency. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-bmHSZUYlI&t=0s) **Frustrated Callers Demand Virtual Assistants** - A disgruntled customer describes the endless phone menus and dead‑ends of traditional support, then advocates for an AI‑driven omnichannel virtual assistant (e.g., Watsonx Assistant) to deliver faster, 24/7 service without repetitive repeats. - [00:03:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-bmHSZUYlI&t=186s) **Chatbot Training Links & Retry** - The speaker promotes further videos and a training course for building AI chatbots, then illustrates common fallback prompts used when the bot doesn’t understand a user’s input. ## Full Transcript
Representative.
"I'm sorry. I'm having trouble understanding you. Could you..."
Representative?
"Your call is important to us."
"Please hold on."
Get me some help here - I just have one simple question.
So, you've probably been through a similar situation
where you needed to get through to a live person.
You had to wade through 27 menu options
just to get to a human who could help you.
Or what happens to me, sometimes you end up in a dead end.
You have to hang up.
Call back.
Start the whole process over.
These customer service systems have the audacity to try and train you.
But you're the customer.
So, many of those times it's a simple transaction
that can be handled faster
and more securely through a virtual assistant.
Particularly as these technologies are advancing and infused with artificial intelligence.
"I'm sorry"
"I'm having trouble understanding you".
"Could you repeat that?"
Yeah, exactly.
Get me to the solution to my issue without having to repeat myself three times.
Here are three reasons why you should build an omni channel virtual assistant today.
Let's talk about skills.
Hiring a new customer service representative is going to take a ton of time.
Not to mention, think about if you have customers all around the globe.
You're going to need access 24/7.
So, question for you.
What if you could take your top customer service representative
and have them train a chatbot with everything they know?
This is possible with watsonx Assistant.
You don't have to have any technical expertise.
You don't have to know how to write code.
You just bring your subject matter experts and use the simple GUI.
So next, very important - let's talk about cost.
Think about how much it costs to actually hire and train and maintain a customer service representative.
That initial lift is going to be very high.
Now...
compare that to the cost of deploying and maintaining a virtual assistant.
That's going to be significantly less.
And, very cool, you can build this in just one day.
Now let's talk about the most important thing, our customer's.
They should be our number one priority.
So customers are not going to want to wait in a queue
for 20 minutes just to get a simple answer.
Nor do they want to memorize 27 different menu options
just to get to that answer.
They want their answers fast,
and we want happy customers.
Now, something important to note is that our customer representatives are not going to be replaced by these chat bots.
Our customer service representatives are going to be held for more complex answers
that may require a little bit of a human touch.
So, If you look at the framework,
chatbots help with your most valuable resources:
time and attention, resources and funding.
And most importantly, your customers.
If you'd like to learn more, consider these other videos on chatbots
or take some training so you can build your own chatbot using artificial intelligence at the link below.
"I'm sorry, I'm having trouble understanding you."
"Could you repeat that?"