edrone AVA: 12.5 mln of investments in Voice Commerce

“Based on carried out research, salesforce states that 81% of eCommerce consumers prefer to contact sellers via chat. At the same time, the study says that more than 50% of customer care employees spend most of their work hours on trivial tasks, which can be easily performed by artificial intelligence. That time could be used less on routine, more on creative work.” – explains Michał Blak while asked about the motivation of the project.

The Quick Path is a program organized by NCRD, supporting innovation in Polish enterprises. The beneficiaries receive funding for R&D endeavors carried out under a project in which the purpose, scope, and also process and technological innovation are assessed during the competition.

The Commission assessed 166 applications, of which only 48 were classified for the grant. The total amount of funds granted in competition equals 234 442 467.52 PLN.

To create Virtual Sales Assistant

edrone application covers the development of artificial intelligence technology. Thanks to the natural language processing algorithms (gMAP, MAP developed under the R&D work) team will create edrone AVA – a platform allowing eCommerces to assemble and implement virtual sales assistants. Such assistants will be able to freely talk to the customer in the same way as a salesperson would do when conducting sales in physical stores. Something more than simple bot based on a predictable and finite set of questions and answers.

“Voice Commerce is the natural direction of eCommerce evolution.”

“This year, more than ever before, consumers appreciated remote shopping. We have already, in Q2, observed record in terms of brand new eCommerce customers.” says Michał Blak, edrone CEO.

edrone is the Instant ROI Platform, helping its customers monetize on-site traffic via available digital communication channels and providing hi-end shopping experience. What is worthy of mention, the shopping experience is gaining importance year-by-year, as it’s becoming a primary factor influencing customer decision making.

The most natural form of communication

“Voice Interfaces are not science fiction, yet there is still much work to be done in this field. It’s the inevitable evolution of the way we use electronic devices. The same way as graphical interfaces displaced text interfaces. It’s the same process. Ultimately, the conversation is the most natural form of communication. Thanks to artificial intelligence, computer, and therefore e-shop, can talk about the products with humans, the same way, as does a salesperson when conducting sales in physical stores.

You can ask about everything, starting with the order details, trough delivery status, to terms of return. We will teach a machine how to understand the client’s intentions and equip it with comprehensive knowledge about the product to make sales conversation as natural as possible. Such an assistant can help the client to choose the right item, perfectly matching his needs. E-shopping will become once again accessible for everyone – no matter the age and technology acknowledgment” — adds Michał.

Team

The head of research and development in the project is Prof. Grzegorz Nalepa – President of the Polish Association of Artificial Intelligence. He works at the Faculty of Electronics, Automatics, Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering of the AGH University of Science and Technology. He specializes in knowledge management, process analysis, and intelligent data mining. The staff also includes the doctor of technical sciences Szymon Bobek (knowledge engineering, machine learning, and mobile context-conscious systems specialist) and doctor of philosophy Grzegorz Gawinowski (specializing, among others, in multiple correlation, factor analysis or cluster and linear ordering analysis. He conducted research for universities: Oxford, Cambridge, and Berkeley).

The project is also being developed in close cooperation with Arek Flinik – a graduate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Wroclaw. Arek has over ten years of experience in the IT industry, mainly in the NLP area. CTO of Lekta.ai, co-creator of the most renowned virtual assistants’ implementations on the Polish market in the banking, insurance, and telecommunication industries.

edrone is the leader of available digital marketing and customer experience solutions. The best CRM, according to CIO 100 List IT Managers. Year-by-year awarded “Best in Cloud” contest hosted by Computerworld Magazine. edrone company established in 2015, since 2016, grown-up to over 1000 clients, in 25 countries, across five continents.

“According to Business Insider, in 2022, up to 90% of customer care tickets will be served by AI. We want all of these interactions to be humanlike, therefore simply pleasant for customers”, concludes Michał.