Meet IP Australia's new virtual assistant – "Alex".
Personalized, conversational online engagement for improved customer experience.
Company profile
IP Australia is the Australian Government agency that administers intellectual property (IP) rights and legislation relating to patents, trademarks, designs and plant breeder’s rights in Australia. It contributes to the innovation system more broadly by using its specialist skills and experience to assist Australian businesses and individuals to make the most of their IP and to provide advice to government. IP Australia performs the critical role of protecting Australian innovation through registered IP.
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“ Since 2012, we have focused on transforming our business model. Then, only 12 percent of customers undertook transactions online. Today, over 99 percent of the 800,000 plus customer transactions we manage each year are done digitally. ”
Patricia Kelly
Director General
IP Australia
Challenge
- Deliver a more agile customer-centric experience online
- Respond to customer inquiries 24x7x365
- Static self-help tools (like FAWs) can be difficult for customers to navigate due to the volume and complexity of IP right information
- Increase efficiencies
Solution
- Nuance intelligence virtual assistant Nina – named Alex
- Human-like, conversational customer engagement with Alex
- Seamless integration and functionality of Alex with live chat for complex customer inquiries two months after deployment
Results
- 80% of customer inquiries directed to Alex are resolved by IP Australia's virtual assistant
- 15% reduction in calls to contact center agents
- Broad customer acceptance
- Increased CSAT
- Seamless transition from Alex to human‑assisted support for complex queries
Background
Though IP Australia customers were willing to use static website self-help tools to resolve some questions or issues online, IP Australia found that these tools were not delivering satisfactory results; they were difficult for customers to navigate due to the sheer volume and complexity of IP rights information. IP Australia identified that their customers wanted to communicate in a conversational way online to enable them to express their needs naturally.
If customers decided to call in, phone agents offered customers a personalized experience with high‑resolution rates, but live calls with an agent come with a much higher price tag. In addition to long wait times, the contact center has limited availability of operating hours for customers seeking responses outside a 9-to-5 working day.
Since 2012, we have focused on transforming our business model. Then, only 12 percent of customers undertook transactions online,” said Patricia Kelly, Director General, IP Australia. “Today, over 99 percent of the 800,000 plus customer transactions we manage each year are done digitally.”