March 2015

Question: Why will natural language become all the more important for enterprises in

today’s digital world?

Kathy Brown, Chief Data Scientist and VP of Speech Sciences, [24]7

Customers now expect to be able to speak and text naturally with customer care systems. To ensure a

successful natural language experience for end consumers however, it is critical that natural language

technology be fused with predictive omnichannel technology in order to marry the current context with other

channel experiences, e.g. chat and social. The chat channel, for example, yields a wealth of customer data

that can be utilized to anticipate the customer’s need. Using data from other channels and coupling prediction

with natural language delivers the ability to more accurately guide the customer to the right resolution more

quickly and intuitively from the moment they enter a customer care journey in any channel.

Aphrodite Brinsmead, Senior Analyst, Customer Experience & Interaction, Ovum

Two reasons: speed and context. Customers want rapid answers to support questions on any device and

enterprises need to know which interactions they should act on. This is increasingly relevant as the volume of

digital data grows. Enterprises can use natural language to quickly discover the intentions behind customer

actions and then predict what is needed. It will help them to automatically route questions as well as push the

right responses and content to both customers and agents.

William Meisel, President, TMA Associates

The key challenge in our increasingly digital and mobile world is too much of a good thing. Service and

marketing content that requires extensive navigation and/or a large screen will frustrate customers. The key

feature of natural language is that it can get you what you want in fewer steps. Natural language interaction

supported on multiple digital devices will become a competitive necessity for companies.

Dan Miller, Senior Analyst, Opus Research, Inc.

Natural language is like magic when for enabling “average humans” to take charge of their digital lives by

using their own, ‘comfy' words and expressions. The digital world presents people with a plethora of choices,

including decisions regarding the firms with which they are most comfortable doing business. Enterprises that

invest in technologies that enable them to understand each individual’s intent make great strides in building

loyalty. This type of “intelligent assistance” leads to rapid completion of transactions and resolution of

problems by enabling people to speak, text or chat using their own words.

Daniel Hong, Senior Director of Marketing, [24]7

Enterprises are struggling to keep pace with customers as the proliferation of smart devices and channels

has introduced new complexities in tracking, managing and servicing customers as they jump channels and

devices multiple times in a single journey. In the channels customers touch there is a massive opportunity to

improve self-service and agent interaction through the effective use of natural language. The ability to quickly

derive meaning and intent from what a customer says or types is powerful, it becomes even more powerful if

you’re able to take data from the entirety of the journey and apply that to the interaction to be able to

anticipate what the customer’s needs are and service them with the right treatment.

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