AI-powered virtual agent developer Inference Solutions is expanding its customer care platform to WhatsApp. Customers will be able to build a responsive conversational interface over the messaging app. The company announced the news this morning at VentureBeat Transform 2019 while demonstrating the new Studio 6.2 release.

Demand for AI-based solutions that automate processes and assist human workers is skyrocketing — and for good reason. AI is poised to drive enormous economic value to the businesses that are able to effectively implement it. Realizing this, businesses are jockeying for a “first mover advantage” as they compete to be the first to leverage its’ economic potential.

Speech is emerging as the preferred platform for phone-based self-service applications. Although speech-enabled self-service solutions for customer care have been around for years, they’ve fallen short of mass adoption because, until now, they’ve been too costly and complex to deploy for all but the largest call centers. However, recent advances in conversational AI are removing those barriers to adoption. That, coupled with changing consumer behavior, is causing speech to become the preferred interface for self-service applications.

Many contact center vendors have based their business models around selling solutions that support live contact center agents. These typically sell at $100 to $250 per seat, with basic IVR functionality bundled in at no cost. In the past, this made contact center providers reluctant to promote self-service capabilities for fear of cannibalizing the sale of live agent seats (the fewer live agents needed, the fewer live agent seats sold). However, this has started to change.

Leading global provider of secure cloud communications, SD-WAN, and managed security, Masergy recently announced a range of updates to their customer experience strategy. The company has both launched a new AI virtual assistant and partnered with Cisco as a premier global partner, to better serve their full range of customers.

Virtual intelligent agent applications are one way in which businesses can enhance their customer communications. In partnership with Inference Solutions, Consolidated Communications, a leading business and broadband communications provider, is now offering a virtual agent solution to its customers.

After more than 10 years of working with contact center and customer service software solutions, I recently started a new career as a consultant. One of my first projects was to develop a buyer’s guide for virtual agents. Having spent the last three years working on automated self-service applications, I was thrilled to undertake the project. I've seen first-hand how intelligent virtual agents can provide businesses with tremendous value and are poised for growing market adoption.

A look at why businesses are adopting natural language for customer self-service at such a rapid pace

In this Executive Insights interview, Blair Pleasant speaks with Callan Schebella, CEO of Inference Solutions. Schebella discusses the Evolution of IVR – where it’s been, where it’s going, and how the cloud plays an essential role in this evolution. He also talks about how the integration with apps and event-driven workflows, as well as AI and machine learning, will change the way we think of IVR.

Inference Solutions has announced new SMS channel support for its Inference Studio platform. This adds a new way for customers to get the service they need in a manner that suits their needs, and further increases Inference’s end-to-end multichannel support.

This sense of urgency means one of two things, and probably both. The business has either had a security breach involving credit card fraud, or they have just been hit with non-compliance penalties. While it’s not known how often these things actually happen, what we do know is that businesses don’t want to talk about it, and the associated costs are usually buried where nobody will find them.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Callan Schebella, CEO of Inference Solutions. Inference Solutions started as spinoff from Telstra Research Laboratories in Australia, which is one of the world’s largest carriers. Inference delivers cloud-based IVR and call handling solutions for carriers and service providers.