Virtual Assistants in the Enterprise

VirtualAssistantsintheEnterprise

VinayDwivediHeadofProduct,Sapho

ThePromiseofEnterpriseSoftware

ExtensiveFeatures

AutomatedWorkflows

TonsofInformation

ImprovedProfitability

TheReality: Mostemployeeshavetroubleusingthem

Solittlevalueisderivedfrommanyoftheseexpensivesystems

Whythemissinglink?

• ComplicatedUIs• Toomuchinformation(oftenstale)• Dataondisparateapplications

Themobileeraoffersnewuser-centricinteractions

• ConversationalspeechfocusedUIs– Easiertoaccessandcaptureinformation– Rethinkstaleoldworkflows

• Notificationsandfeedstodeliverinsights– Bringinginformationdirectlytousers– Makingitrelevantandpersonalized

EnterpriseusecasesaboundforSiri andGoogleNowstyleapps

Userscan“Pull”informationeasierthroughspokenconversations

Systemscan“Push”timelyinformationviafeedswithoutusersneedingtoask

ExamplesfromtheEnterprise

OracleVoice– Aconversationalvirtualassistantforsalesteamson-the-go

TalkingtoSalesforceonAmazonEcho– CouldAlexabeyournextin-officevirtualassistant?

Sapho– Aplatformtobuildanddelivernotificationdrivenvirtualassistants

Oracle Voice

The problem with CRM applications• Mostsalesrepsdon’tusethesoftware

– Hardtoaccessandnavigateonthego

• Soinformationaboutsalesdealsbecomesstale

• Andacompany’sabilitytomakeforecastsanddrawinsightssuffers

Oracle Voice - A speech-enabled virtual assistant for sales teams

• Accessandcapturecontacts,notes andactivitiesforsalesopportunitiesonthego

• Speech-focused

• Conversational

• Multi-modal

Video

Fast, Friendly, Fun

SpeechtoTextandTexttoSpeechconversion

YourOpportunity

The Nuts and Bolts

User Benefits• Easilyaccesstocriticalsalesdata,wheneverandwhereverneeded

• Salesrepscancapturenewlydiscoveredinformationquicklyonthespot

• Currentdata drivesbettervisibilityanddecisionmakingcompanywide

Talking to Salesforce on Amazon Echo

Is Alexa your next in-office virtual assistant?• Alexa,thevoiceservicethatpowerstheEcho,offersmyriadEnterpriseusecasesgivenit’sopenSpeechandNLUAPIs

• Far-fieldvoicerecognitiontechnologymakestheEchoabetterdevicethanmobilearoundtheofficeorinaconferenceroom

Video

AlexaSkill

The Nuts and Bolts

AWSLambda EnterpriseSystem

Sapho

Getting work done isn’t easy• UsefuldataandeventsspreadacrossseveralEnterpriseapplications

• Difficultforemployeestofindinformationandtoremembertheactionstheyneedtotake

• Ifonlytherewasavirtualassistantthat“pushed”acrossrelevantinformationandactionstoemployeesattherighttime

Sapho - A platform to build notification focused virtual assistants

• Saphonotifiesemployeesaboutinformationtheyneedandactionstheyneedtotakefromacrossallthebusinesssystemstheyuse.

BusinessdefinedEvent Employeemobile feed

ProactiveBI

Information and actions, pushed to employees

ConsolidatedApprovals AggregatedMetrics

Video

User Benefits• Enterprisescanrapidlybuildanddeploynotificationfocusedvirtualassistantsthat

connecttoalltheirbusinesssystems

• Basedoneventsinthosesystems,relevantinformationissurfacedtoemployeesbeforetheyknowtheyneedit,deliveredinaFacebook-likefeed.

• Employeescantakeactionsandcompletetaskswithone-click,rightfromthenotificationfeed.

Takeaways

• Usersexpectconsumergradeexperiencesonenterpriseapps.– Desktopstylenavigationmenus,formsandworkflowsdon’tcarryoverwelltomobile– Newinteractions(Voice/NLU,Notifications/Feed)needtobewelltestedtoavoiduserfrustration

• Lessismore.Focusonwhatisrelevanttotheuser.– Askonlyforkeyinputswhencapturinginformation(defaultorpre-fillasmuchaspossible)– Deliveronlyrelevantandactionableinformation(limitedscreenspace,lesscognitiveload)

• Whereidentifiablepatternsexist,movethinkingfromtheusertothesystem.– Automaticallypromptusertocaptureinformation(rightaftermeetingforasalesperson)– Deliverinformationbeforeusersknowtheyneedit(meetingbriefing,earningsreports)

Observations and Lessons Learned

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Thank you!