GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Application program interface (API)— A set of protocols that allow computer systems to communicate and share data with each other. For example, an API could allow a virtual agent system to query a banking system about a specific customer’s bank balance. Bot— Short for chatbot. Chatbot— Any automated system that a human can converse with by voice or by text chat. Virtual agents are one class of chatbot.
Containment— A term for calls or chats where the virtual agent can solve the problem on its own, without referring the question to a human agent. The percentage of calls or chats handled solely by the virtual agent is the containment rate. Corpus— A body of data, such as the complete transcripts of all the text chats that human support reps have had with customers, along with other data attributes about those conversations.
Conversational commerce— Using virtual agents and
chatbots to complete sales.
Customer journey analytics (CJA)— The science of applying data to get insights about customer journeys across all channels and all customers.
Intelligent assistant— A system designed to answer general questions posed to it by voice. Examples include Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft Cortana. While intelligent assistants answer general questions, virtual agents answer questions specific to a company, such as customer service questions.
Intent— In the context of a virtual agent system, intent is a determination of what a customer wants from an interaction with a company, picked out from a finite list of possible intents. Examples could include ‘return a product’ or ‘cancel a credit card’.
Natural language processing— A discipline of AI that allows computers to derive meaning from speech or written language.
Path bound— Describes a bot that follows a specific ‘ifthen’ sequence of questions and answers, as opposed to interpreting the user’s questions through AI.
Systems of engagement— Corporate computer systems built close to the channels where customers interact, such as mobile apps and websites.
Virtual agent (VA)— An artificially intelligent system that a human can converse with by voice or by text chat. VAS use all possible context to determine how to interpret and respond to questions from customers.
- From The Age of Intent by P.V. Kannan.