On-line Self-Service Customer or Technical Support

The web has become the primary way companies communicate with their customers, which has lead many companies to try to provide customer and technical support directly through their web site.  Often, support issues can be complex and simple FAQ approaches do not work and only lead to frustrated customers.   Exsys Corvid provides a way to build interactive on-line web based systems that interact with a customer in a way that emulates a conversation with a support expert to resolve issues quickly, correctly and consistently 24/7.

Self-service web-based support is highly appealing to companies that use the Web as their primary means of communication.  The degree to which problems can be resolved in a “self-service” mode depends on the complexity of the support issues.  Some only require “data” such as “What is the company address” or downloading a PDF of the product manual.  These types of requests are effectively handled by standard web design techniques.

Typically however, many support issues require more than a basic answer to a simple question.  There may be different possible situations or special cases that would determine what advice should be provided.  They require an interactive session to gather the relevant factors and determine what advice is appropriate for each circumstance.  Trying to provide support for complex issues by conventional web techniques is very difficult, since it essentially requires that the customer sift through all aspects of a subject, understand it and hope they can recognize what applies to them.   This is more than the customer wants to absorb, and more than they should be expected to do.

Exsys Corvid knowledge automation systems capture problem resolution knowledge of support experts in Corvid’s Knowledge Automation rule form. The Exsys Inference Engine uses the logic and process of the expert to drive an interactive session with end users.  Each customer is asked specific easily answered questions, just like talking to a support expert. The system then analyses their answers and provides advice tailored to their situation.  There is no need for them to understand the complexities of the issue.   The system will determine what applies, and present it to them.

For example, Technical Support often involves helping customers deal with a product that is broken or not working as expected.  This generally involves asking series of questions to determine the problem.  Slight differences in the symptoms may point to very different causes.  “Case-based” systems make a “guess” at a cause, which may not provide the best solution.  Instead, Corvid systems diagnose each situation using the same approach as a top human expert to give the best advice the first time, every time.   

Other support systems may be less technical but have more issues of company policy and how it is implemented.   Situations like product returns, discounts for high volume customers and damaged merchandise all can be complex.  Exsys Corvid Knowledge Automation systems will assure that all customers are handled individually, correctly and consistently.  

When support issues have special requirements such as integration with other IT resources or document generation, Corvid systems can do these automatically.  They can even keep watch on what customers are asking.  If there are a large numbers of problems with a particular component, or frequent issues with a new product, Corvid systems can compile the data and automatically email it to the appropriate person.  They can also be used as front ends to more traditional contact center software such as (BMC) Remedy.  The Corvid system can answer many customer questions, and when some new or unique situation comes up, it can automatically collect all the relevant information and open a support ticket for follow up.  Once the issue is resolved and better understood, it can then be incorporated into the system making it even more capable.