Talla: Transforming CX in the Age of AI

Rob May, CEO

In 1950, computer pioneer and artificial intelligence (AI) theorist, Alan Turing cracked the German Enigma code during World War II and came up with the Turing test to define intelligence in machines. A man ahead of his time, Turing was already toying with the idea if machines could think. Can a machine imitate human responses and mislead a human into thinking that he was communicating with another human? This idea formed the basis of Turing’s thought experiment and the criterion to deem a machine as intelligent. Fast forward to today, business across the globe are deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous algorithms that pass the Turing test every day, and find application in numerous spheres of activity—from robots forecasting climate change to computers driving financial decisions. Besides, the idea has gained traction and proved beneficial to companies that emphasize touchpoints—the many critical junctures involving customer interaction in their end-toend journey. Numerous companies across industries are tapping into the potential of AI-based virtual assistants proactively, which consistently pays dividends in the long run.

One such company, Boston-based Talla harnesses the power of AI, machine learning, and automation to equip the customer-facing business team with the accurate information whenever they need it. For virtual assistants, the other viable option that businesses often consider is chatbots. However, Talla is so much more than just chatbots. While the hype around chatbots has been there for quite some time, let’s face it, sometimes even they don’t tick all boxes when it comes to rising to the growing business needs. In line with the paradigm shift in customer experience, Talla adapts to the business needs of an organization, ensuring that the information in its knowledge base is up-to-the-minute, precise, and readily available at the click of a button. In case the answer isn’t available in the knowledge base, Talla goes the extra mile to find the accurate answer, without having the employees to ask around for help, which kills efficiency and productivity in the process. Talla brings forth a better knowledge discovery process by utilizing preeminent AI techniques that include machine learning, semantic matching, topic modeling, and active learning. The CEO of the company, Rob May, says, “We believe that digital workers like Talla are the future of work that can automate monotonous work, freeing up employees to concentrate on core tasks.”

Integration Not a Problem Anymore

Oftentimes integration with existing business platforms that business teams leverage surface as a major challenge, which entails architecting the perfect API for seamless interfacing. Talla effectively puts an end to this problem by integrating effortlessly with business systems that a client is currently utilizing.

We believe that digital workers like Talla are the future of work that can automate monotonous work, freeing up employees to concentrate on core tasks

In doing so, it returns accurate information instantaneously and automates processes that act as digressions from other value-adding work.

For instance, to provide access to the right information for driving better decision making, Talla enables employees to draw custom information from JIRA, GitHub, Salesforce, or ZenDesk promptly into Talla’s knowledge base. Consequently, organizational teams get a comprehensive view on the status of a customer or conversation in a single interface instead of searching relevant data on multiple systems.

That’s not all. Talla takes into account that information frequently and consists of instructions to follow in the next steps—sending an email, filing a ticket, adding information to other systems to name a few. As such, Talla allows customers to incorporate these workflows into a document so that they can complete a particular task without having to switch systems.

Say Goodbye to Stale Sales Information

Is your sales team losing deals because it doesn’t have the updated information at disposal? Are prospects opting for other providers thinking that you don’t offer something when you actually do? If yes, Talla is the solution to all your sales related issues. Be it pricing sheets, the latest demo check, or sales promotion, Talla empowers sales team by automatically validating information, making sure that it’s pertinent and up-to-date. Further, Talla can impart training, information, and updates automatically to sales teams so that they never miss out on opportunities.

What’s more is businesses can rev up their sales velocity with real-time answers that Talla provides. May emphasizes, “Talla integrates with a company’s chat platform, so employees can simply send Talla a message via Slack, Microsoft Teams, or TallaChat to get instant access to the information they’re looking for.” Added to that, Talla assists in pinpointing the gaps that are present in a client’s existing knowledge base so that organizations can generate the information that is of utmost importance to sales teams. In case a sales rep fails to find the relevant information, Talla will apprise the organization of the lack of data and even follow up with the rep, saving time in the process.

Latest Customer Success Information at Fingertips

Talla’s forte lies in equipping business teams with the latest information. For customer success teams, the company validates current information and can also invite others for contributing appropriate content to a page, thus enabling teams to have complete, accurate information at their fingertips. Talla understands the value of retaining existing customers and how it influences the bottom line of an organization.

In an effort to help clients build long-lasting relationships with their customer base, Talla trains organizational teams on service updates, customer promotions, and the latest product offerings.

Additionally, Talla’s virtual assistance goes a long way in boosting renewal rates and enhancing long-term customer value. On integrating Talla with a client’s existing chat platform or leveraging TallaChat, enterprise teams are enabled with instant access to any information they need from wherever they are. Be it a specific help document or a renewal pricing sheet, all one has to do is ask Talla.

It is crucial to keep customer support teams well informed of all the offerings their companies have to offer. To this end, Talla supplies critical information to these teams automatically to always keep them in the know, and scales them by automating the onboarding of new hires and product training.

"We go by the philosophy of ‘be a grownup’ because contrary to the culture in most companies, we want to work, innovate, experiment, and in the process deliver value to the customers"

May recalls an instance wherein one of Talla’s clients, a Fortune 100 company was trying to overcome an onboarding problem. The newly hired employees were struggling to keep up with the company information, and the management was too occupied in numerous tasks to set aside time for the new hires. On engaging with Talla, the client could successfully organize their onboarding materials and provide them to these employees whenever they were relevant to them. With Talla’s virtual assistance, instead of delivering multiple pieces of information to an employee on the very first day of the job, the client distributed them over the course of few weeks depending on how meaningful they are to the employees at a given time. Besides, Talla also assisted the company in automating answering internal questions so that employees are enabled with self-serve information.

‘Work, Innovate, Experiment, and Deliver Value’

Talla accredits its success over the years to its team of unique and interesting people from diverse backgrounds. The senior management suite at Talla brings immense value to the virtual assistance industry with rich experience in AI, advanced data science, and enterprise software. An avid problem solver and a go-getter, May himself is fascinated by almost anything that even loosely relates to computers, machine learning, economics, and Brain-Machine interfaces. May proudly says, “Our strength through the years has been the team, and that is one of the primary forces that drive the company forward.”

The DNA of Talla is “enterprise.” May adds, “We go by the philosophy of ‘be a grownup’ because contrary to the culture in most companies, we want to work, innovate, experiment, and in the process deliver value to the customers.”
The future indeed looks promising for Talla. The company is aiming to launch a number of new digital workers in an effort to automate different business processes. “We will connect more systems and move from automation around knowledge to the idea of broader workflow orchestration for more complex operations,” concludes May.

- Debarpita Ghosh
October 05, 2018