noHold Connects its own Albert with Amazon’s Alexa

March 30, 2017, MILPITAS, CA – noHold is excited to announce the availability of a connector that can link SICURA™ QuickStart to Amazon’s Alexa. QuickStart empowers non-programmers to create a bot (Albert) from any existing documents such as, product manuals, employee manuals, training documents, etc. Through the connector Albert can now easily turn a document into an Alexa skill. For example, say you want to extend Alexa to answer questions about your home. Today, to be able to achieve this goal, you would have to be a programmer, or at least very technically savvy. With Albert this is no longer the case. All you have to do is:

1. Create a document that contains FAQ’s about your home (i.e. where is the main valve for the water? Where is the electrical panel?)
2. Use QuickStart to create an Albert by ingesting the document
3. Use the connector to link Albert to Alexa

From that moment on, you can say, “Alexa, ask Albert where the water valve is?” and Alexa will answer back from the knowledge she obtains from Albert. This can be a pretty useful system, especially if your guests are accidentally flooding your home. 

Other use cases involve creating an Albert/Alexa combination that can answer questions in the boardroom, at a hotel concierge, in a company lobby, at the post office, in a classroom, etc. The possibilities are endless.

The next step is to take the connector from the lab and make it available to everybody with the click of a button. Diego Ventura, CEO and Founder of noHold said, “I am looking forward to the day when everybody with a QuickStart account and an Amazon Echo will be able to expand Alexa’s capabilities in minutes without having to be a programmer. With a bit of luck, that moment is around the corner.”

Exclusive Breakfast with Albert

Happy Friday! 

We are excited for next week as we prepare for our first Breakfast with Albert event. In the heart of Silicon Valley, we will be joined by enterprise executives and small business owners to talk about all the new updates to Albert, and introduce PRO. All while enjoying some fresh pastries, coffee, and giveaways. 

Since the beginning of the year, we have had a tremendous amount of diverse use cases that we would have never thought of if it wasn't for our customers. A few of them will be at the breakfast to share there experience with Albert, and how bots have added value to their business.

If you have a small business that is interested in learning more about chatbots, please contact us via the web. To sign up for a personal or business Albert, please visit www.albertai.com. 

Cheers!

Albert Debuts in Popular Science!

With the official launch of Albert PRO and announcement of Albert upgrades, I wanted to take a second to share this article from Popular Science.  http://www.popsci.com/albert-bots-from-documents

Cheers!

noHold Releases Next Generation of Albert

February 27, 2017, MILPITAS, CA – Last month, noHold announced SICURA™ QuickStart, the first platform designed to allow non-programmers to create a chatbot (Albert). Today, noHold is excited to introduce the next generation of Albert. There are many new features implemented to make creating a quality bot easy for anyone.

Here is a list of the new features offered on the platform:

• Phrases Digital Signature (PDS) – This is a new algorithm that allows Albert to no longer rely solely on the Headings to retrieve information. Now, Albert can analyze the entire document (headings and content) to determine what the end user is asking and provide the most accurate solution. 
• Synonyms list – Directly within your document, you have the ability to create a list of synonyms for words that are specific to your business. For example whether Joe asks about “Droid settings”, or “Android settings”, Albert understands they are the same questions, because “Droid” and “Android” are set as synonyms.
• Albert Etiquette – This feature gives users the ability to add some personality to Albert. Simply add a few phrases and answers to your document that you would like Albert to answer in a certain way. For example, if someone asks Albert a silly question like “what is your favorite color?” or “why is the sky blue?” You can let Albert know exactly how you would want him to respond. This sort of one off phrase adds character to Albert. 
• Dialog configuration – Users can now manipulate the dialog settings. This includes changing greeting messages, escalation phrases when Albert does not know the answer, and escalation links for further assistance. 

In addition to the new features mentioned above, noHold also introduces SICURA QuickStart PRO, making Albert available for commercial use. Features that are exclusive to PRO users include: 

• Commercial Use – Companies are able to create and distribute business chatbots, either for external or internal use for little cost. 
• Customization of the User Interface (UI) - The free version offers a standard UI that is not customizable. With PRO, account holders have the ability to easily change colors, add company logos, and more all without touching the HTML. 
• Multiple Alberts – There are many advantages to having more than one Albert. For example, a company can leverage different Alberts to be knowledgeable about various business units. There can be one bot that knows all about support questions that is positioned on the website for external purposes. Then, another Albert can know about HR policies/company manuals used internally for employees.
• Key encrypted URLs – An extra level of security was added to ensure that Alberts that contain company sensitive information (particularly for internal use), stay private. 

Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold says, “Companies are surprising us every day in how they are using Albert. A dealership uses Albert to train and onboard new employees. A technology company is connecting Albert to Near Field Communication (NFC) tags to activate Albert when a user phone gets close to a specific device. A design agency uses Albert to rapidly prototype new bots. We would have never thought about these applications if it weren’t for our customers.”

It is great to be able to offer a more dynamic option to users, still without needing programming skills, and for very little cost. To upgrade your personal account to PRO is as little as $100/month. To sign up for a PRO account, please click here.

About noHold, Inc.

noHold is a privately held company established in 1999 and is headquartered in Milpitas, CA, USA (Silicon Valley). noHold is the acknowledged leader in Web based Self-service solutions with a mission to deliver real answers to real questions – real fast. Simple to use, easy to implement and as close to human as you can get, noHold turns automated customer support into cognitive customer interactions. noHold customers include Cisco, Dell, Intel and a host of industry leaders. More information can be found at http://www.nohold.com.

What Would You Do With Your Own Bot?

Hi Francesco, noHold is excited about the response we have received from the BETA program of our latest platform, SICURA QuickStart. If you don't know, QuickStart is a platform designed for anyone, even non programmers, to create a chatbot out of a Word or GoogleDoc. We call these bots, Albert. Get your own Albert here! Small businesses are adopting the concept already. One example is Revolve Robotics, creators of the teleprescnce robot Kubi. Check out the video below to see how Albert has helped enhance customer service without requiring much effort at all.  In this instance, Revolve Robotics is using Albert to answer support questions, but Albert is versatile and can be knowledgeable about whatever you want. It can be used for internal purposes including employee manuals, sales processes, and general IT information. Individuals are also using personal accounts to create customized AI assistants from documents they already have such as recipe bots, teacher assistants, and more. For more small business use cases, please click here. If you would like to sign up for your own free, personal account you can visit www.albertai.com, and click 'sign up' in the top right corner. Already have an account? We would love to hear how you are using Albert! Tag us on Twitter (@albertai2)/Facebook (@Albert) or contact us via the web, and share your story for a chance to be featured on our website. Cheers!

ASK Albert | Contact Us | 408.946.9200 x 311

Small Businesses Adopt noHold’s Newest Product, Albert, Adding Value for Little to No Cost

January 24, 2017, MILPITAS, CA – A little over a month ago, noHold launched the BETA version of the platform, SICURA™ QuickStart. This platform empowers anyone, including non-programmers, to easily create, implement, and maintain a Virtual Assistant (Albert) through a Word or GoogleDoc. The BETA program is now officially over. People can get a free personal account at www.albertai.com and clicking sign up in the top right corner.

Since the launch, Albert has received positive feedback from large enterprises to personal users. Top press publications such as The Next Web, Forbes, PCWorld and more have also recognized the advantages that stem from SICURA QuickStart, and the simplicity of operating it. In addition, small businesses are also finding this technology to be extremely powerful, allowing them to provide customers with the self-service options they crave, without breaking the bank.

Here are a few examples, just from the past month, of small businesses that have leveraged Albert in various ways already. Each example includes a short video showing how each company is utilizing Albert.

• Filosano is a curated marketplace for sustainable fashion. They needed a way to take existing content on the website such as vendor information and product materials, and package it in a way that can deliver that information to end users efficiently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytvyAX_HANw
• Centro39 is a high fashion online boutique centered on clothing from Italy. Just like many small businesses, customer service departments can be small or sometimes nonexistent. Centro39 is leveraging Albert to fill that gap, being a part of the team to answer support questions 24/7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLRo41CvQaY
• Revolve Robotics, creators of the telepresence robot Kubi, is using Albert to enhance the customer experience. Klaudia Izabella, Customer Success Manager at Revolve Robotics says, “…bringing affordable telepresence and robotics technology to those in the world who need it is our goal, and with Albert we can focus on the bigger picture.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77LJ8bbhTbM

To learn more about the SICURA™ QuickStart platform and other companies that are using Albert, visit www.albertai.com.  Also, noHold’s Founder and CEO, Diego Ventura, will be speaking at the Conversational Interaction Conference on January 30 in San Jose, CA. He will share his expertise on chatbots, the Internet of Things, and where he sees the industry going. To register, click here.

“We are surprised every day by the way in which people are deploying Albert,” says Diego Ventura, founder and CEO of noHold. “The smaller companies focus on customer relationships to answer pre and post sales questions. The larger companies instead are finding ways for Albert to bring efficiency to internal processes. For example, if you work at a company employing 20,000 individuals, just finding access to the right resources may be a challenge. Albert can help with that easily, and with the documents you already have.”

About noHold, Inc.

noHold is a privately held company established in 1999 and is headquartered in Milpitas, CA, USA (Silicon Valley). noHold is the acknowledged leader in Web based Self-service solutions with a mission to deliver real answers to real questions – real fast. Simple to use, easy to implement and as close to human as you can get, noHold turns automated customer support into cognitive customer interactions. noHold customers include Cisco, Dell, Intel and a host of industry leaders. More information can be found at http://www.nohold.com or subscribe to noHold’s vlog to hear more from CEO, Diego Ventura.

Press Contact

Veronica Cech

Marketing Associate

vcech@nohold.com   

408.946.9200 ext. 356

All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners.

Catch noHold's CEO speaking at Conversational Interaction Conference

Greetings!

Wanted to give you guys the heads up that noHold's CEO, Diego Ventura, will be speaking at the Conversational Interaction Conference in San Jose, California. On Monday, January 30th, Diego will be presenting "Connecting Humans and the Internet of Things." In his talk he will be discussing the significant impact Virtual Assistants are having on our lives. He will answer questions such as how Virtual Assistants can be leveraged at every stage of the product life cycle, not just support, and how Virtual Assistants will improve the way humans connect to the Internet of Things. 

After 17 years of being of major contributor in the Virtual Assistant space, Diego is excited to give an insiders perspective on where the market is, and where it is heading. "The CI Conference will discuss how companies and application developers can take advantage of this trend - including resources for creating bots and digital assistants, delivering customer service in natural language, best practices, examples of deployed solutions, and other commercial opportunities generated by the trend."

If you are interested in hearing Diego, and other acknowledged leaders in this space, visit www.conversationalinteraction.com to register and reserve your spot for this 2-Day conference. 
We hope to see you there! Cheers!
#CIcon2017
www.nohold.com