VIA supports customers through two call centers, one for paratransit riders and one for general information, with live agents available during most hours of the work week. To improve service, the
Technology and Innovation and Customer Care teams added a service that reports wait times, and a callback feature designed to alleviate long hold times.
Given VIA’s focus on continuous improvement through innovation, the team sought to further enhance the customer experience by applying digital technology. “Our culture is to be really customer centric and rider friendly, and part of that is offering cutting-edge tools to provide better information,” says Steve Young, Vice President of Technology and Innovation at VIA.
Several informational issues were ripe for digital innovation. First was the need to offer customer support 24/7, during call center hours. In addition, the growing percentage of transit riders who
rely on smartphones, tablets and PCs would welcome a digital channel. Plus, in reviewing call center data, the executive team noted the repetitive nature of basic customer queries that could be
addressed with digital information tools, allowing agents to focus on value-added services.
“When is my bus coming? Can I bring my dog? What is the fare for my child? There are so many recurrent questions that are easy to answer,” explains Young. “We wanted to be able to answer them
automatically even when the call center was closed.”
The solution was an automated digital agent, a virtual assistant that would draw on call center data to answer FAQs. It would also need to interact with third-party APIs to provide real-time transit
information and directions. To support San Antonio’s diverse community, it had to converse in both English and Spanish. Operational analytics were a must. And it had to be based on cloud computing.
Read this case study and find out how Ava, VIA’s digital assistant:
- Has conducted more than 41,000 conversations since it went live
- Using AI and integration with third-party APIs, Ava has assisted almost 41,000 unique users
- Each month, Ava conducts around 3,000 conversations with VIA customers
For any questions or requests contact your IBM Representative today.
