Auckland, New Zealand: Local IBM artificial intelligence partner SPACETIME today announced the release of a new “plug and play” avatar-based
virtual assistant (chatbot). Powered by IBM’s world-leading Watson artificial intelligence, the solution allows
customers to select an avatar of their choice, ranging from simple animated cartoon characters right through to
hyper-realistic digital humans. The company says avatars make chatbots far more engaging and helps companies represent
their brand to customers better.
“We are offering an avatar-based virtual assistant, powered by IBM Watson, for the same price competitors charge for a
basic text-based chatbot. In doing so, we’ve dramatically improved the affordability of using avatars and digital humans
for massively scalable AI-powered customer experiences” says Dr Peter Catt, Director of Customer Solutions at SPACETIME.
LINK TO INTELLIGENT AVATAR VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/597616460
SPACETIME says its Intelligent Avatars can be easily embedded on a customer’s web page and interact with existing
content or even retrofitted to existing text-based chatbots. They can also seamlessly integrate with CRM and ERP systems
for highly personalised customer experiences like product recommendations or order histories. To further enhance the
customer experience, the avatars use machine learning to respond to user emotions and sentiment dynamically. This
emotional responsiveness provides a much richer and authentic experience than using text-based chatbots.
According to Gartner, self-service is becoming the norm as customers increasingly expect an effortless experience.
Organisations are turning to voice and other AI-powered technologies to give customers what they want and achieve higher
operational efficiency. The trend of customers assigning their endless digital activities to virtual assistants,
chatbots and other self-service tools will grow over the next ten years.
The SPACETIME Intelligent Avatar solution is available now for around the same price as a typical text-based chatbot.
For more information on Intelligent Avatars, visit https://www.spacetime.co.nz/virtual-agent
SPACETIME was founded in 2017 to help Kiwi businesses and government apply AI technologies for improved products, services and
experiences. We take a design thinking approach to create innovative solutions that combine user needs with business
objectives. These solutions, such as intelligent virtual agents, document OCR, and natural language search, allow
businesses to automate and scale processes, ultimately saving money and providing better team and customer experiences.