Autonomous customer/field support platform Quark.ai on Wednesday (May 18) launched its autonomous support platform for B2B eCommerce after completing a pilot program of the offering with a Fortune 500 company that sells millions of high-tech products online.
According to a company press release, Quark.ai Autonomous B2B eCommerce Support provides accurate product information to potential buyers by automatically interpreting their inquiries, both as a physical customer support agent and through its chatbot.
Quark.ai said the platform combines deep learning, natural language processing and computer vision to deliver accurate, reliable and quick resolution for mission-critical customer issues.
“Quark.ai is proud to extend our best-in-class Autonomous Support Platform to B2B eCommerce, which is one of the most powerful drivers of enterprise digitization,” Quark.ai co-founder and CEO Prosenjit Sen said in the release. “We are especially pleased to have piloted this powerful functionality so successfully with one of the top B2B high tech product marketplaces in the world.”
The release noted that in the last two years, B2B eCommerce has nearly doubled in size to become the preferred method for B2B procurement, accounting for half of all B2B buying, according to a study by Digital Commerce 360-B2B News.
Customer service is going to look different in other industries as well, with major quick-service restaurant (QSR) Jack in the Box joining the list of restaurants leveraging automation to reduce labor needs.
Read more: Restaurants Leverage Automated Solutions to Mitigate Labor Needs
In April, it began partnering with food service industry Robots-as-a-Service company Miso Robotics to pilot test the robotics company’s Flippy 2 frier and its Sippy automatic beverage dispenser.
Many restaurant brands are turning to robotic solutions to weather the labor challenges they are facing. Fast-casual chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, for instance, recently announced the test of an artificial intelligence (AI) autonomous kitchen assistant created by Miso dubbed “Chippy,” which prepares tortilla chips according to the brand’s recipe.
Meanwhile, Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s Grill and Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy, is testing a server robot entitled “Rita,” created by Bear Robotics, at dozens of Chili’s locations.