OPTUS VOICE ASSISTANT MAKES IT EASIER AND FASTER FOR CUSTOMERS TO GET SUPPORT

• Paving a new way for customer service using AI

Paving the way for telco innovation in customer service, Optus has announced its newly introduced in-call voice assistant, making it easier and quicker for customers to engage with them.

Using the Optus Voice Assistant, customers simply say why they are calling, and the new AI technology quickly routes the call to the right expert.

Customers save over 30 seconds using the Optus Voice Assistant instead of the phone menu. Since launching Voice Assistant in February, Optus has experienced a significant reduction of customers abandoning the phone menu when calling for support. 

Optus Managing Director of Customer Success Maurice Mccarthy said: “At Optus, we continually listen to our customers and work to resolve their queries, simply and efficiently.

"By enabling customers to speak instead of selecting from pre-configured menus, we’re taking a customer-centric approach rather than asking customers to fit to a one-size process. Optus Voice Assistant allows us to gain a greater understanding of the specific reason for the customers’ call and make more suitable routing decisions.

“Our experts also have more information about the customer’s needs when they connects and we can draw insights from the trends in what our customers are telling us.

“We continue to challenge ourselves to improve as we work to achieve our strategic vision of being a truly loved everyday brand. While I am pleased with this feature, I am excited about what’s to come.”

The Optus’ Voice Assistant uses both in-house and partners’ capabilities. This includes Google Cloud’s conversational AI platform, Dialogflow, that helps recognise and respond to the customers’ needs and improve the customer experience.

"The difference between good and great customer experience can come down to a matter of seconds," said Clifford Foster, Vice President, Customer Experience for Google Cloud Australia & New Zealand. "By leveraging Google Cloud's conversational AI, Dialogflow, Optus is able to facilitate high-quality conversations at scale, saving its customers valuable time and delivering a more intuitive customer experience."

Optus has delivered a world-first leveraging Google’s Dialogflow and NICE’s CX One platform to enable the Optus Voice Assistant to validate the identity of customers using conversational AI, simply and securely. This strengthens the identity verification and authentication process while maintaining a seamless customer experience.

Cameron Adams, Director of International CCaaS & Digital Solution Engineering from NICE said: "It's exciting to see this new generation of intelligent, frictionless experiences offered to Optus customers.

“With the migration of Optus' contact centre onto NICE CXone completed, we're now focussed on ongoing collaboration for Optus' AI-powered innovations. Automating identification and authentication makes a huge impact for customers and Optus employees alike, saving time and further securing the authentication process."

–ENDS –

Media contact:

Optus Corporate Affairs 
02 9037 8179
media@optus.com.au