OuluBot is a smart, conversational AI virtual assistant that enables 24/7 service in the City of Oulu’s customer guidance and advice. Oulubot has been in production since 2022 and is continuously growing in popularity. In October 2023, Oulu was among the first municipality entities in Finland to introduce generative AI features. Generative AI is now also used to enhance OuluBot further. OuluBot is powered by Boost.ai’s conversational AI technology, with Digital Workforce and Front AI serving as the City’s service partners.

OuluBot spans a wide range of the City’s services. The virtual assistant can currently answer questions about hundreds of topics, including public transport, inquiries about lost travel cards, tourism, library, building control-related topics, general advice on welfare services, and many others.

Today, OuluBot employs 22 people, most of whom are AI trainers working on training the AI model. Last autumn, new features based on a large language model (LLM) from Boost.ai were made available to Oulu’s AI trainers. These features have allowed them to teach the AI and generate responses for the bot much more quickly and efficiently.

A more recent development in Oulu this spring was the introduction of generative AI. Generative AI enables OuluBot to independently answer questions based on the information it gathers, for example, from the municipality’s website. In addition to the municipality’s website, the bot can search for information from the North Ostrobothnia Welfare Region’s (Pohde) website, and, if necessary, the search can be extended to the websites of other actors who promote the well-being of the municipality’s citizens.

OuluBot is one of the first government services worldwide to use generative AI autonomously to use existing content for independent learning. Independent learning allows OuluBot’s scope to be extended almost without limit to all services provided by the City and other selected service providers. The main task of the AI Trainers will be to monitor the quality of the answers produced by Generative AI and the accuracy of the source material it uses.

“We are proud to be at the forefront of digitalization in the municipal sector and to set an example using Generative AI. The City of Oulu is responsible for several services that residents, businesses, and tourists have many questions about. Large language models allow us to add new topics to OuluBot’s repertoire faster than before and to answer general questions better, which will significantly improve the customer experience. All this is done in a safe and controlled way,” says Veli-Matti Keloneva, Development Director.

“Oulu has the best virtual assistant of any city in Finland. They were the first to test Boost.ai’s LLM features last autumn and are already using generative AI extensively. Many other customers are still in the exploratory stage with these technologies, but Oulu has already come a long way,” states Jari Annala, CEO, Front AI.

“It’s great to see how OuluBot continues to expand and develop. As a result of the breakthrough in generative AI, people are much more willing and used to talking to virtual assistants. Oulu is in an excellent position to leverage these changes with its years of experience in conversational AI, the culture of continuous innovation, and customer-centric approach,” says Jussi Vasama, CEO, Digital Workforce.

OuluBot is hosted at https://www.ouka.fi/ and can also chat in the Oulu dialect.

More information
Marja Heikkinen, Key Account Manager
Digital Workforce Services Oyj
marja.heikkinen@digitalworkforce.com

About Digital Workforce Services Plc
Digital Workforce Services Plc is a leading business process automation services and technology solution provider globally. Digital Workforce Outsmart services and technology solution suites allow organizations to save costs, accelerate digitalization, increase revenue, improve customer experience, and gain a competitive advantage. Globally, over 250 large customers use Digital Workforce’s services and technologies to transform their businesses with automation. Founded in 2015, Digital Workforce currently employs over 200 business automation specialists in the US, UK & Ireland, and Northern and Central Europe. Digital Workforce is publicly listed in Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland. https://digitalworkforce.com

Press release 18.6.2024 – The City of Oulu stands out as a pioneer in the use of Artificial Intelligence: OuluBot uses generative AI

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Varför väljer kunderna de servicekanaler de gör? Kanske av gammal vana och att företag inte tänker utanför boxen? Och handen på hjärtat, är det verkligen kunden som ska välja kanal? Nej, med tanke på dagens tillgängliga teknik ska val av kanal styras utifrån vad kunden önskar få hjälp med. Enkla frågor såsom öppettider ska hanteras automatiskt, de kräver inga telefonsamtal. Däremot riktigt komplexa kundärenden kan kräva telefonsamtal och då ska rätt typ av serviceproffs hantera dessa, för att uppnå högsta kundnöjdhet.

Kanalstrategi har därför blivit ett hett ämne inom kundservice. Trots enorma investeringar i självbetjäning, livechattar, AI-bottar och andra lösningar, är det dock telefonen som fortfarande är den primära kanalen för kundservice. Även när det finns skalbara 24/7-tjänster. Därför behöver vi börja tänka i helt nya banor och ta utgångspunkt i kundresan. I vilken fas är kunden och vilket behov har kunden när den önskar nå oss?

I detta webbinarium berättar vi och diskuterar om hur ni:

– kan skapa en kanalstrategi där ni styr era kunder till rätt kanal
– implementerar en kanalstrategi som utgår ifrån kunden och kundens ärende
– tänker kring kundresan och kundbeteende

Webbinaret är 30 minuter långt och anordnades tillsammans med branschorganisationen Kontakta.

Se webbinaret!

The post Webbinarium: Modern kanalstrategi i kundservice kräver att du tänker helt nytt! appeared first on Front AI.

We are thrilled to announce that Front AI has been shortlisted for the esteemed Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Finland 2023, a program that honors Finland’s 50 fastest-growing technology companies based on revenue growth over the last four years.

This recognition reflects our relentless pursuit of excellence, continuous growth, and the innovative spirit that propels Front AI forward. Being shortlisted amongst other pioneering technology firms in Finland is a significant milestone and showcases our commitment to delivering superior Conversational AI and customer service automation solutions to our clients.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program is a benchmark in the industry, celebrating companies that have significantly impacted the technology sector through innovation and exceptional growth. We are honored to be a part of this prestigious list, and it inspires us to continue striving for greater heights.

Our success is a collaborative effort originating from our talented team’s dedication and hard work, the trust and support of our valued clients, and our drive to evolve continuously in the fast-paced technological landscape.

We sincerely thank Deloitte for this recognition and congratulate all the remarkable companies that share this honor. This milestone fuels our enthusiasm to keep advancing and uphold our position as a leader in Customer Service Automation and Conversational AI.

We look forward to the ceremony on 16.11.2023, where the list and the positions are published.

Read more on Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Finland 2023 here

@Deloitte #Fast50

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“Teaming up with Simplifai allows us to offer our clients a more holistic service,” says Jari Annala, CEO of Front AI. “We’re excited about this new addition to our market-leading Conversational AI services and our game-changing Service Channel management solution, reChanneld.”

Simplifai’s standout product is an AI-powered platform that streamlines operations by automating the processing of written communications. Its user-friendly Intelligent Process Automation platform allows businesses to efficiently and accurately handle customer inquiries, claims, applications, and documents, all while adhering to GDPR and industry standards. The benefits are manifold: improved customer experience, employee engagement, and overall company performance.

About Front AI:
Front AI specializes in customer service automation, helping clients transform their customer service experience with automated 24/7 services. With a strong focus on Conversational AI, the company boasts an impressive customer satisfaction rate (NPS97). Since its inception in 2019, Front AI has successfully implemented over 50 customer service automation projects across the Nordics. Today, it employs over 30 AI professionals in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. Learn more at https://front.ai and https://rechanneld.com

The post Front AI has signed a partnership agreement with a new technology partner Simplifai.ai appeared first on Front AI.

Front AI Launches reChanneld: A Revolutionary Service Channel Management Online Solution

Front AI, a leading specialist in customer service automation and Conversational AI, today announced the launch of reChanneld, a cutting-edge, online service channel management solution designed to revolutionize customer service experiences.

This innovative product is designed to address significant market challenges identified by Front AI after interacting with over 500 customer service teams across four years.

“We are proud to introduce reChanneld as a direct response to the prevalent challenges we’ve observed in the customer service industry. The stickiness in legacy channels is strong, and investments in automation are underutilized. In addition, there’s a lack of reliable statistics on customer behavior,” said Jari Annala, CEO and Co-Founder of Front AI. “With reChanneld, businesses can optimize their service channels and provide round-the-clock service for their customers.”

reChanneld empowers businesses to take control of their customer service channels by nudging customers toward their preferred channel. This easy-to-use online solution provides an intuitive interface, making customer interactions more efficient and enjoyable.

reChanneld provides various features, including effortless website integration, cloud-based channel management, real-time content control, and customizable branding. It’s the ideal tool for businesses to streamline customer contact, guide users to preferred channels, and maximize their service channel investments.

Furthermore, reChanneld offers real-time analytics across channels, unlocking the potential in self-service, automation, and other heavily invested channels. This provides businesses with much-needed reliable customer behavior statistics, revealing why customers are contacting them in the first place.

The solution is available in three subscription tiers – Entry, Pro, and Enterprise – designed to cater to businesses of different sizes and needs.

“Through reChanneld, we’re bringing our commitment to customer satisfaction (NPS97) and our successful track record of over 50 Conversational AI projects in the Nordics to solve these pressing industry challenges,” Jari Annala added.

For more information about reChanneld, visit https://rechanneld.com

About Front AI

Front AI is an expert in customer service automation. We help our clients reimagine their customer service by providing automated 24/7 services. Front AI excels in Conversational AI and prides itself on superior customer satisfaction (NPS97). The company has successfully completed over 50 customer service automation projects in the Nordics. Founded in 2019, Front AI currently employs over 30 AI professionals in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.

https://front.ai

The post Front AI Launches reChanneld: A Revolutionary Service Channel Management Online Solution appeared first on Front AI.

Visit us at our booth! We’ll show demos and share advice on how companies can benefit from and utilize enterprise Conversational AI to reimagine their customer service.

Kontaktadagen is the biggest conference of the year in Sweden for those who work with customer service and want to create tomorrow’s customer experiences.

We look forward to insightful presentations like Avanza’s Customer Relations Director Annika Cederbrand sharing their journey with a Conversational AI bot, enjoying Strindberg food and drinks, and wonderful mingling with good friends at Münchenbryggeriet, which offers a magnificent view of Stockholm.

The conference summarizes what is happening today, tomorrow and in the future by mixing broad industry topics with exciting deep dives from the Swedish markets and international perspective.

Learn more about Kontaktadagen https://www.kontaktadagen.se/kontaktadagen-1

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Collector Bank, listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, is a modern Nordic niche bank specialising in financing solutions for corporates and private individuals. It has a customer service that handles over 55,000 monthly interactions and achieves top ranking in their segment for customer satisfaction. It was imperative for them as a company to find a digital solution that enhanced this expertise and strength. The partnership with Front AI gave birth to Penny and their journey to customer service automation began.

Focusing on financing solutions for corporate and private individuals, particularly in the SME sector, it would be natural to assume that a chatbot could only go so far in supporting Collector Bank’s specialist area of expertise. However, the company was not only impressed by how much Penny could support the customer service team during peak demand but also how satisfied existing customers were with the solution.

Even as an option was introduced for pre-authenticated customers to switch to a human agent, customers were so satisfied with Penny’s service that only 10% needed to change. The success has given Collector Bank the opportunity to scale and realise new potential.

Find out more specifics on Colector Bank’s path to chatbot automation with Front.ai.

Read case study

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Voice is a natural way of communication for people. So, why haven’t we seen many voice bots, especially in the Nordics? I assume this is based on three challenges: technology, culture and volumes: 1. Technology has not been mature enough, 2) Nordic countries have strong self-service culture 3) We are a bit exotic and have a reasonably small language area.

ChatGPT has, of course, brought AI-based bots to everybody’s awareness. Suddenly, a virtual customer service agent, often regarded as a bit boring, has become a valuable, intelligent asset that everybody is talking about.

But what else has changed in the market: I assume the culture is not changing that fast and may be helping us launch voice-based self-service on the market. What is changing today at astonishing speed is technology: AI models are getting more widely spread and more common. They are, of course, the main building block for a well-functioning voice bot. Also, Speech-to-text and text-to-speech translators have incredibly high-quality today. It is impressive how speech-to-text services can introduce, e.g. subtitles to a video or Teams meeting in real-time today. The same algorithm is needed for voice-bot as well since it works so that speech is first translated to text and then analysed by text-based algorithms. It is astonishing how today’s speech-to-text translators can capture even local addresses and names. You can quickly try this with Google Maps or Siri/Google Assistant on your mobile.

Anyway, back to voice bots. Why now? And why are they even needed? Even if you introduce the most advanced self-service facilities in your customer service, you can be sure that there is always a customer segment that needs help finding any other point than a phone number from your website. They all too often pick up the phone and call you. Especially older people feel that voice is the best way to sort out their needs. This is the user group from which we can see excellent user experience feedback!You can steer many of them to alternative channels with a clever channel strategy implementation. Still, most likely, many will give you a call.

I firmly believe that our strong Nordic self-service “heritage” will help us here. Many customers who call your service line are still willing to try the voice bot instead of waiting in a queue for an actual human. And with the latest technology, the level at which the voice bot can understand the speaker is excellent, even in Nordic languages.

One of the vital voice bot benefits we have seen in our projects is scalability – You can get an instant voice response 24/7, and the bot can handle thousands of parallel conversations — no more waiting in line.

One of the latest voice-bot implementations we made with Nets as the client serves thousands of callers every month with impressive quality: voice-bot understands 90% of the customer questions are correct and can help them with 85% of the questions.

How well-equipped is your human customer service? Could they match the results of the voice bot today?

So I claim that voice bots are here because:
1. Technology is mature for voice today and improving daily.
2. Our Nordic self-service culture will work in our favour here.
3. Nordic languages are no longer problematic with voice-to-text services or voice synthesis.

Want to give it a try? Call us and book a Voice Proof-of-Value project, and you will see yourself.

The post Is 2023 finally the year of the voice bots in the Nordics? appeared first on Front AI.

“We are thrilled to welcome Marko to Front AI. Marko brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our team. He profoundly understands conversational AI and end-to-end automation, having worked in intelligent automation and multinational customer service projects across various industries. Marko has a proven track record of delivering value to clients through a solution-oriented approach to sales. He has a passion for delivering exceptional customer experience, and will play a key role in furthering Front AI’s commitment to client satisfaction, says Jari Annala, CEO of Front AI.

“I am excited to join Front AI, a team driven by ambition and customer experience. Business leaders are now looking into the possibilities business process automation, which touches very much upon customer service and customer experience. This presents significant new opportunities for conversational AI as part of customer service automation. With advancements such as voice-enabled technology and other new R&D projects, we continue to revolutionize customer service,” says Marko Vanhatalo, Regional Sales Manager of Front AI.

Marko will work alongside Ray Byman in Sales Finland until Ray retires on May 1, 2023.

“I take this opportunity to heartfeltly thank Ray for his invaluable input in Front AI’s sales and business development over the past three years, and we wish him all the best for retirement days ahead”, says Jari Annala CEO of Front AI.

Front AI specializes in providing AI-powered virtual assistants that can fluently understand natural language. The company is leading the charge in reimagining customer service with their game-changing AI solutions. With over 1.5 million automated conversations each year, Front AI has saved over 100 FTEs and achieved an exceptional client satisfaction rate of 97 NPS.

The post Front AI Welcomes Marko Vanhatalo as Regional Sales Manager in Finland appeared first on Front AI.

“We have operated for over three years in Sweden. The market has matured significantly during these years, and we are seeing strong demand and growth for top-quality, secure, easy-to-buy enterprise conversational AI solutions. We are delighted to have Peter join our team and expand the Swedish sales and client management capacity, representing our company, building relationships with customers, and managing sales opportunities in this region. We are confident that Peter’s sales and business development expertise and experience will help us build lasting relationships with our customers and positively impact our business, said Jari Annala, CEO of Front AI.

“Front AI is a rising company operating at the forefront of reimagining customer service and delivering business value with technology. The use of AI among enterprise customers is growing. End-users are becoming increasingly familiar with virtual assistants and expect personalized customer service anytime, 24/7, with superior service quality and no waiting times. In addition to writing, the communication can be voice-based, which will open massive new opportunities for us since voice is the dominant channel in customer service, said Peter Gerward, Sales Manager Sweden,

Front AI.Front AI, a Game Changer for Customer Service, specializes in intelligent AI-powered Virtual Assistants that fluently understand natural language. Front AI has automated over 1,5 million conversations yearly, saving 100+ FTEs from customer and internal services with extraordinary client satisfaction (NPS 97).

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