SmartAction
SmartAction is a US company based in El Segundo, Ca. that provides artificial intelligence-based services to businesses across diverse industries including financial services, healthcare, insurance, retail, travel and hospitality and utilities. Originally founded in 2002 as a research project, SmartAction's Intelligent Voice Automation (IVA) is a hosted IVR platform that uses natural language speech recognition and is based on an object-oriented coding framework. SmartAction was founded by inventor and entrepreneur Peter Voss. https://www.smartaction.ai/about-us/
History
In the early 1990s, founder Peter Voss <https://www.linkedin.com/in/vosspeter/> developed a new theory of intelligence, outlined in the book Artificial General Intelligence. In 2001, Voss founded an R&D startup, Adaptive AI, Inc., to research and develop a prototype artificial general intelligence system based on his theory of intelligence Artificial general intelligence. In 2009 Voss founded Smart Action Company, LLC to commercialize this technology. Born out of Voss' research and development, SmartAction created its first practical application of this new technology focused on the management of inbound and outbound calls for contact centers. SmartAction has continued to develop the technology into a highly specialized purpose-driven. AI, identified by the company as Intelligent Voice Automation. In 2017, SmartAction developed its first chat applications as part of a new product initiative known as Omni-bot. In February 2018, the company was recapitalized, having been purchased by growth capital firms Staley Capital (Boston, MA) and TVC Capital (San Diego, CA).
Leadership
- Peter Voss Founder
- Tom Lewis Current Chief Executive Officer
- Major Partners- Five 9, Nice, inContact, Genesys
Technology
SmartAction uses two layers of technology in its systems. The first is speech recognition, which enables the system to understand natural language spoken words and phrases. Second is a proprietary artificial intelligence engine used to determine the meaning and intent behind the spoken words, drive the conversation with the caller, and improve over time. The AI engine's built-in knowledge and skills also makes development and updates to the system much faster and easier than with older technology. This integration of solutions enables SmartAction to solve real business problems including; streamlining customer experiences through voice and text, eliminate customer wait times using self-service options and creating the first Omni-bot solution which significantly increased success rates. Omni-bot is a conversational AI platform that combines voice and digital functionality to provide intelligent automation in every channel.
What is AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI, also machine intelligence, MI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence (NI) displayed by humans and other animals.[1] In computer science AI research is defined as the study of "intelligent agents": any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals. Colloquially, the term "artificial intelligence" is applied when a machine mimics "cognitive" functions that humans associate with other human minds, such as "learning" and "problem-solving".(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence)> SmartAction will use AI in the future to excel chat support, advance intelligent voice automation and improve the IVR interaction experience for the consumer through omni-bot technology. https://www.smartaction.ai/research-and-insights/omni-bot/.
Awards
-Customer Interaction Solutions, 2011 Product of the Year Award -Customer Interaction Solutions, 2012 Speech Technology Excellence Award -Contact Center World, 2012 Best Technology Innovation -TMC, 2014 Product of the Year -Stevie Award, 2014 Gold award for IVR or Web Service Solution -2014 M2M Evolution Award -TMC, 2015 Speech Technology Award -TMC, 2015 CRM Excellence Award -CIO Review's 20 Most Promising Telecom Solution Providers, 2015 -2016 Deloitte Technology Fast 500
Further reading
Goertzel, Ben, ed. (2007). Artificial General Intelligence (1st ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-23733-4. Amazon.smile.com