Business Services Industry
How do you want your service? Web-based self service tools are all the rage, but nothing will ever replace the experience of talking to a live agent.
Customer Interface, July, 2002 by Perez, Jennifer Anne
Log on to the Web site for Defense Logistics Information Services and you'll likely encounter "Phyllis." With her sleek black headset, attentive gaze and eager grin, she's the embodiment of stellar customer service. Although Phyllis is modeled after a real person, she is not real. She'll never age, never get sick and never hang up her headset to go home at the end of the day. She is one of an array of virtual customer service representatives that some companies hope will inject humanity into online self-service.
Virtual agents like Phyllis are the latest faces of Web self-service, a technology that takes text questions and requests from customers, pulls the answers from a knowledge base, then bounces them back to the customer in various formats, including...
- 5 Rules for Immediate Annuities
- Death in the Family: 12 Things to Do Now
- Dumbest Things You Do With Your Money
- 6 Online Networking Mistakes to Avoid
- 401(k) Mistakes to Avoid
- 5 Economic Scenarios to Keep You Up at Night
- The Real ‘Best Places to Retire’
- Best Credit Cards for You
- 12 Tough Questions to Ask Your Parents
- The Real ‘Best Colleges’
- Home Buyer Tax Credit: How to Cash In
- Why You Shouldn't Bash Cash
- 8 Phony 'Bargains' and Better Alternatives
- Danger: 3 Debit Card Scams to Avoid
- 6 Myths About Gas Mileage
- 29 Fees We Hate Most
- Quick and Easy Ways to Boost Returns
- Best Stocks to Buy Now
- Lower Your Taxes: 10 Moves to Make Now
- New Jobs: 8 Lessons from Real-Life Career Switchers
- The New Job Market: Who Wins and Who Loses?
- Health Care Reform's Public Option: Everything You Need to Know
- Volunteer Work When Unemployed: Should You Work for Free?
- Whose Recovery Is This?
- Long-Term-Care Insurance: 4 Biggest Risks to Avoid
Most Recent Business Articles
- Fox Networks Group and Bright House Networks Strike Comprehensive Deal to Distribute Fox Broadcast Stations, National Cable and Regional Sports Networks
- Fox Networks Group and Time Warner Cable Strike Comprehensive Deal to Distribute Fox Broadcast Stations, National Cable and Regional Sports Networks
- Houston Radio D.J. Kevin Kline Completes 500-Mile, 13-Day Ultramarathon Across Texas for Kids with Cancer
- Seaspan Corporation Provides Information on the CSCL Hamburg
- Dodecylamine improves nanocrystal synthesis
Most Recent Business Publications
Most Popular Business Articles
- 7 tips for effective listening: productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires hard work and practice - Back To Basics - effective listening is a crucial skill for internal auditors
- FAS 109: a primer for non-accountants - Financial Accounting Standards Board's "Statement 109: Accounting for Income Taxes"
- LIFO vs. FIFO: a return to the basics
- Using object-oriented analysis and design over traditional structured analysis and design
- Design a commission plan that drives sales - Sales Commissions
