Meet Emma the new virtual AI concierge powered by IBM Watson

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IBM business partner, Replikr, together with global certification agency Exemplar Global, have created Emma, a virtual agent using IBM Watson Assistant that helps thousands of auditors globally navigate the vast number of training and career options provided online by Exemplar Global.

Emma represents the first phase of an AI strategy to scale personalised advice to Exemplar Global’s diverse and international customer base to a far greater extent than was previously possible. 

Exemplar Global CEO Andrew Baines, based in Cambridge, New Zealand, says that as the organisation registers higher demand for certification services, Emma will enhance the customer experience for key industry players seeking information on professional development and training.

“We want to make training and certification more accessible and attractive, especially to new generations of auditors, without adding to the overall cost of using our service. IBM Watson makes it possible for our relatively small organisation to scale up our services hugely using a digital concierge while improving the overall experience for customers as they develop their careers.”

He says that as Emma ‘learns’, she will in time become more integrated with Exemplar Global’s CRM and Learning Management Systems, offering optimised recommendations for training including conferences.

Replikr Managing Director Dr Peter Catt says, “IBM Watson Assistant is a trusted technology that allows Exemplar Global to service a large customer base with a very capable virtual agent, potentially speaking to hundreds of people from a range of cultural backgrounds simultaneously. Importantly, IBM Watson will also allow us to easily access information from other systems to improve the Exemplar Global customer experience.”

The implementation at Exemplar Global coincides with the announcement of new capabilities for IBM Watson Assistant which provides a higher degree of precision in natural language processing and foster greater trust in outcomes derived from AI predictions. These include:

• FAQ Extraction which uses a novel NLP technique from IBM Research to automate the extraction of Q&A pairs from FAQ documents. Currently in beta form in IBM Watson Assistant’s search skill, it is planned as a new feature to help businesses keep virtual assistants up-to date with the latest answers and reduce time-consuming manual updates.

• A new intent classification model in IBM Watson Assistant, designed to more accurately understand an end-user’s goal or intent when engaging with a virtual assistant . The model will reduce the time needed for administrators to train their systems, and provide more accurate results from less data compared to commercial systems. This can help businesses go live with virtual assistants in a few days while achieving high accuracy.

Watson Assistant can be deployed in any cloud or on-premises environment – meaning smarter AI is finally available wherever you need it. To learn more click here.

Authors: IBM Communications New Zealand