{"id":1571,"date":"2021-11-19T19:39:06","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T19:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/"},"modified":"2023-05-09T20:57:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T20:57:47","slug":"learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the different types of virtual agents?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are four different types of virtual agents these days. Not long ago, the sound of a single computer-generated voice answering the phone may have filled the caller with a sense of dread. Early generation automated agents were often so limited in the answers they could provide that they were often seen as simply a roadblock to a live person.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies have matured to a level where many virtual agents can successfully answer questions and fulfill customer service requests with no human intervention at all, providing faster service to callers and greater value to businesses. In fact, according to an article in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2019\/07\/08\/virtual-agents-to-drive-1-2-trillion-in-business-value\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">VentureBeat<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, virtual support agents are expected to drive $1.2 trillion in business value by 2030.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The four types of virtual agents are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voice agents,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Artificial intelligence (AI) agents,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chatbots, and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visual agents.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voice agents use scripted rules while AI agents speak naturally with customers to recognize needs. Virtual chatbots do the same but online or through text. Visual agents provide animation or virtual reality-based services.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is a learning agent?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Types of learning agents use a combination of AI and machine learning to increase its ability to recognize and respond to customer requests. If customers continually use new terms to express the same thing, the learning agent will add responses to its own library to minimize the customers\u2019 need to repeat themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s the difference between virtual agents and IVR?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Growing in popularity at the turn of the millennium, interactive voice response (IVR) is defined by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/cloud\/learn\/interactive-voice-response\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IBM<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as \u201can automated telephone system that combines pre-recorded messages or text-to-speech technology with a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) interface to engage callers.\u201d IVR is based on programmed menu options, routing calls that cannot be answered to live representatives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Virtual agents go beyond IVR technology as they don\u2019t rely on keyword matching to be effective. Instead, they allow customers to speak naturally and automatically detect multiple intents if a customer has several questions or switches topics quickly. Virtual support agents do not aim to deflect or re-route calls, but to resolve customer issues fully.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the most important factors in selecting virtual agents?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Organizations that are considering employing virtual agents should keep the following factors in mind before making a final selection:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Effectiveness<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The best virtual agents should be able to serve customers as well as or better than live agents. Both AI and ML capabilities should be mature enough to handle natural language processing as well as \u201clearn\u201d from previous customer interactions to improve future performance. If needed in rare cases, they should be able to intelligently transfer calls that require human intervention.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Data<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Based on customer interactions, virtual support agents should be able to provide the business with data insights about the types of calls received, the typical call flow, the answers provided, and customer or problem categories. This data can then be analyzed to make systemic changes or improvements in products and services.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Integration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A best-in-class virtual agent solution should seamlessly integrate into a company\u2019s contact center, CRM, and telephony systems, making it easy to share and access needed information.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Features<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Virtual agent systems will vary in terms of features such as speed-to-deployment, outbound capabilities, data visualizations, security and maintenance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replicant\u2019s Intelligent Solution<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replicant\u2019s AI-driven solutions for contact centers welcome natural language conversations with customers. They can be trained to detect multiple intents, help to resolve customer issues quickly, and provide insights and analytics. Learn more about our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/capabilities\/intelligent-virtual-agent\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">intelligent virtual agent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> now. Let us help you improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your call center.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"om-ou5hbocxwkn476jzlkv0-holder\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the different types of virtual agents?\u00a0 There are four different types of virtual&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.2 (Yoast SEO v21.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI | Replicant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are different types of virtual agents to handle customer service calls. Which one does your business need? Get the best AI solution for your call center.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are different types of virtual agents to handle customer service calls. Which one does your business need? Get the best AI solution for your call center.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Replicant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReplicantAI\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-19T19:39:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-09T20:57:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/What-are-the-Different-Types-of-Virtual-Agents.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Replicant\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@replicant_ai\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@replicant_ai\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Replicant\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Replicant\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/32e6e4f1a95de5f4c5808f4271e55b62\"},\"headline\":\"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-19T19:39:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-09T20:57:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/\"},\"wordCount\":615,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/\",\"name\":\"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI | Replicant\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-19T19:39:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-09T20:57:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"There are different types of virtual agents to handle customer service calls. Which one does your business need? Get the best AI solution for your call center.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/\",\"name\":\"Replicant\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Replicant\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Replicant-General-Feature-Image.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Replicant-General-Feature-Image.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Replicant\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReplicantAI\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/replicant_ai\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/29011835\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCg-GDAYCyLsTTam64PlyBPQ\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/32e6e4f1a95de5f4c5808f4271e55b62\",\"name\":\"Replicant\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/904c62d298aa92b00e901417423630a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/904c62d298aa92b00e901417423630a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Replicant\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/author\/replicant\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI | Replicant","description":"There are different types of virtual agents to handle customer service calls. Which one does your business need? Get the best AI solution for your call center.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI","og_description":"There are different types of virtual agents to handle customer service calls. Which one does your business need? Get the best AI solution for your call center.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/","og_site_name":"Replicant","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReplicantAI\/","article_published_time":"2021-11-19T19:39:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-09T20:57:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/What-are-the-Different-Types-of-Virtual-Agents.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Replicant","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@replicant_ai","twitter_site":"@replicant_ai","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Replicant","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/"},"author":{"name":"Replicant","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/32e6e4f1a95de5f4c5808f4271e55b62"},"headline":"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI","datePublished":"2021-11-19T19:39:06+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-09T20:57:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/"},"wordCount":615,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/","name":"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI | Replicant","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-11-19T19:39:06+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-09T20:57:47+00:00","description":"There are different types of virtual agents to handle customer service calls. Which one does your business need? Get the best AI solution for your call center.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/learn-the-different-types-of-virtual-agents-by-replicant-ai\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Learn the Different Types of Virtual Agents by Replicant.AI"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/","name":"Replicant","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization","name":"Replicant","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Replicant-General-Feature-Image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Replicant-General-Feature-Image.png","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Replicant"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReplicantAI\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/replicant_ai","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/29011835","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCg-GDAYCyLsTTam64PlyBPQ"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/32e6e4f1a95de5f4c5808f4271e55b62","name":"Replicant","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/904c62d298aa92b00e901417423630a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/904c62d298aa92b00e901417423630a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Replicant"},"url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/author\/replicant\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}