Conversational AI tool launched by holiday company

Ami is one of the world’s newest and most advanced augmented reality customer service and sales tools that has helped Emirates Holidays improve customer experience and sales results.

“Ami has been an incredible addition to our team,” said Niel Alobaidi, MD of Emirates Holidays for the UK and Ireland, which launched in Ireland last year. “She has online conversations with our customers using a natural, non-robotic tone and deals with all but the most complex of their enquiries. If there’s something she can’t answer, she knows who to go to in the company for support, such is her level of intelligence.”

Ami was developed by UK online marketing company ActiveOMG, and Emirates Holidays, one of the world’s leading holiday companies, is Ami’s flagship client.

She differs from other next-generation AI programmes as she acquires her knowledge by reading the Emirates Holidays website, rather than being programmed with keywords to monitor. She uses verbal reasoning to understand language and independently knows what to say and how to respond to customer queries. Because Ami understands structure, context and slang she doesn’t use stock answers to frequently asked questions and crucially, her GDPR is native.

Niel Alobaidi explains; “Like any other team member, Ami is given her objectives and for us, these are to generate sales leads and provide customer support. She then taps into her intelligence to figure out how to optimise sales by asking the right questions at the right time of those browsing the Emirates Holidays website. On a daily basis, she answers questions ranging from the weather forecast in Dubai to the flight times for a trip to Thailand. She helps customers select hotels that best match their requirements and identifies resorts that she thinks will suit their holiday needs. She knows the best restaurants in Sri Lanka and the best value theme parks in Dubai.”

Niel explains that Ami has not replaced the role of Emirates Holidays’ call centre staff but has instead unburdened them of the time previously spent providing information that might never result in a sales lead. “Ami frees up a lot of time for our staff, which allows them to focus on their targets of generating more sales, rather than answering questions about the weather. This has proven to be invaluable to our business and instead of fearing Ami as a possible threat, our staff have embraced her as our newest team member.”

Emirates Holidays operates across almost 40 markets, but Ami has the ability to understand different vernaculars and content so does not have to be ‘retaught’ or ‘reprogrammed’ to deal with the nuances of language. This works by way of a neural network whereby algorithms are in place to control other algorithms.

Ami reduces customer waiting time, is available 24/7 and her accumulated experience drives her success, which means she is constantly learning and improving.

“We are really pleased with the contribution Ami has made to our business,” said Niel Alobaidi. “I don’t believe that Ami will take the place of our highly trained staff, but she complements their work and we are excited at the prospect of what’s to come from ActiveOMG, the team behind Ami’s development.”

For more information visit www.emiratesholidays.ie