Elena, "electronic girl" from the support service



    Hi, Habr. Today we would like to talk about one wonderful girl. More precisely, about the "girl". This is a virtual operator in a support center call center, and her name is Elena. She is able to recognize and respond to voice requests.

    What is it for?


    Typically, subscribers call support to ask various questions. In many cases, these questions are the same. Once upon a time, in order not to force subscribers to wait for an operator's response, a voice menu (IVR) was invented. You all came across them: “... for communication with the operator - press” zero “”. However, progress does not stand still, and now there are new, more convenient technologies. One of them is a voice recognition recognition system, which allows you to maintain the degree of automation of the support service.

    So we introduced the virtual operator Elena. Or an assistant, as you like. So far, Elena cannot be attributed to full-fledged systems of artificial intelligence. At the moment, it is a kind of add-on over IVR, redirecting a person to specific sections of the menu. But, in general, Elena is closer to systems such as Siri on the iPhone, or to mobile consultants on Android. So far, her capabilities are much more modest, and she will not be able to tell you where the nearest metro station is or how to catch bloodworms. But Elena can already recognize the most popular questions and give answers to them. And in the future it will turn into a wonderful conversationalist. But more about that below.

    What does Elena already know?


    So far, the system has been put into trial operation, and only clients of the Moscow branch can use it. Now Elena is processing typical and most demanded questions. Elena’s database is constantly growing, but if she cannot recognize the question or cannot find the answer, she transfers the call to the corresponding item on the voice menu.

    To date, the system is able to recognize about 70 different questions. For example, she can answer which paid services are connected, how to set up a “favorite number”, what is the subscriber’s phone number, etc. In this case, there is no kind of template formulation. The continuous speech recognition technology allows Elena to "understand" freely constructed phrases.

    How to work with Elena?


    The system operates in the “Question-answer” mode. When Elena answers your call, she asks you only one question: “How can I help you?” You can ask something in a free form, like a living person. No need to try to simplify the phrase or communicate, as with the savage: "My yours to say." We teach Elena with ordinary human speech.

    Elena also has excellent hearing, so speaking louder is not required. But it’s better not to use the speakerphone, this can degrade the quality of recognition.

    Elena can ask clarifying questions, they should also be answered in the same way as an ordinary person. If Elena gave you an inaccurate answer, then it’s better to ask or rephrase your question.

    You can talk with Elena by calling 8-800-550-07-67.

    How is Elena arranged?


    The system is based on the development of the Speech Technology Center (MDG) company from St. Petersburg, specializing in the creation of speech recognition and synthesis systems. For example, this year, MDG announcer identification technology won first place at the worldwide contest of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) I-vector Challenge 2014. The

    project is expected to pay off within a year by offloading operators. While the trial operation is ongoing, Elena’s work is constantly monitored by a team of developers and employees of the call center. At the moment, the percentage of correctly processed requests is twice the estimated.

    The system database consists of metathemes, each of which combines different queries. Adding a new query to an existing metatheme takes several minutes. But the duration and laboriousness of creating a new metatheme depends on a number of factors: the presence of a similar basic metatheme for the MDGs, the availability of examples of real appeals on this metatheme, and so on.

    Currently, the system’s resources allow you to process 1 million requests per year. After launching commercial operation in the Moscow branch, Elena will process 12 million requests in Moscow. And with access to the federal level - 60 million.

    Further development of the project


    By the end of the year, it is planned that Elena will take on a substantial share of requests from subscribers of the MegaFon Metropolitan Branch. According to our estimates, as a result, this system will reduce the load on support service operators by a third. But for this, much more needs to be done:

    • Conduct further tuning of the system based on the analysis of communication with subscribers.
    • Significantly expand the list of questions to which the system can provide answers.
    • Expand Elena's ability to ask clarifying questions.

    Future plans are to make the service available throughout the country, as well as expand Elena’s functionality so that she can communicate in a support chat on MegaFon’s sites. Next, we want to create a full-fledged mobile application in which Elena will “live”. She will not only communicate by voice, but she will be able to display various information on the screen, send emails.

    In the long run, we want to make Elena a real person. So that she was not just a talking guide, but gained her own character. We will try to make Elena a real interlocutor with whom it will be just interesting and pleasant to communicate.

    By the way, Elena already has her own “face”, a visual image. And the girl at the beginning of this post is a surprise! - not Elena. We do not plan to show it yet, still there must be a mystery in a woman. But if we talk about the capabilities and nature of the virtual assistant, how would you like to see him? What would you like to ask Elena?

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