AustraliaEnergy and utilities2020 – ongoingAGL Energy
AGL Assistant virtual agent for customer chats
AGL Energy's virtual assistant handled about 36% of customer chats without a human agent
Problem
AGL's first customer chatbot, released in 2017, could only help customers update account details. Many routine questions and transactions still went to frontline agents.
Approach
In early 2020 AGL replaced the old bot with a virtual assistant built on IBM watsonx Assistant, later named the AGL Assistant. The Australian integrator ISW helped connect it to AGL's ERP software through Watson Actions so it could carry out transactions. AGL added features over the following years, such as adding concession cards digitally, and was exploring generative AI.
Results
Takeaway
Linking the assistant to back-end systems let it finish tasks rather than only answer questions, which is what kept chats away from agents.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Energy and utilities
- Business function
- Customer service
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Conversational and voice AI
- Adoption
- Vendor solution
- Evidence
- Vendor case study
Sources
Source summaries
The page describes how AGL moved from a basic account-update bot to an IBM watsonx Assistant virtual assistant. About 125,000 customers start a chat each month. Roughly 36% to 38% of these chats are served without a frontline agent.
Full details are in the original sources.
