Building on its proprietary AI platform, URC launches next phase of dealer support program with new Virtual Assistant
The new URC Virtual Assistant, powered by AI (artificial intelligence), is now available to the URC Certified Dealer Community through the company’s Dealer Portal. This tool complements URC’s technical support team and permits 24/7 information surrounding URC’s Total Control and Complete Control product lines, including the Accelerator and CCP operating systems.
At CEDIA 2022, URC announced efforts to integrate AI into its products and services. The company’s Virtual Inspiration Smart Home was part of Phase 1. Phase 2 involves the services to URC’s dealer community.
“As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve and grow in applications, we are carefully considering how this trend and computer learning can help URC deliver elevated, affordable smart living experiences. As we plan for the future, our focus continues to be squarely on aiding our dealers in growing and evolving their businesses in the changing marketplace,” stated Chang K. Park, founder and CEO of URC.
To continue to elevate service to its dealer community, URC researched channels and tools to drive efficiency and effectiveness. In a recent study, URC dealers identified its Dealer Portal as the most valuable resource to speed installations (81% of respondents ranked #1). In fact, URC’s Dealer Portal receives millions of visits each year. Additionally, URC dealers recognized innovative products (73% of respondents ranked #1) among the top reasons for loyalty along with technical support and training. Considering these insights, URC created a propriety, AI-generated Virtual Assistant as a step to deliver valuable dealer solutions.
URC’s Virtual Assistant provides dealers with answers to a vast range of technical questions by quickly sourcing information from the company’s technical library, proprietary user guides, partner manuals, videos, and product documents. This AI technology continues to learn and update with the latest answers based on these areas of information. Should users need additional assistance, the URC Virtual Assistant will provide a link to start a technical support ticket.
This new feature expands products and technical support tools to URC’s domestic and international dealer and distributor communities, around the clock and around the globe.
A soft launch or beta version was launched on Wednesday, December 20. This phase began the process of answering questions based on existing sources, like manual and guides. Early reviews were positive with URC’s technical support team helping to guide the tool and identify areas in need for further development and hundreds of interactions aiding in the development of content.
Based on today’s launch announcement, URC is releasing this tool more broadly to existing and future dealers. A recent round of AI enhancement was just completed that updated the available information to make answers more robust and accurate.
While the Virtual Assistant will continuously evolve and improve, the current solution is immediately useful for URC dealers in need of 24/7 answers to technical questions.
“Integrating advanced technology, like AI, is a strategic imperative which URC has been developing over the past few years including launching a Virtual Smart Home experience in 2022 leveraging ultra-realistic, Virtual Reality,” stated Ron Pence, URC’s marketing lead. “Creating tools and support for our dealer community is the first phase of a broader plan to leverage advanced intelligence to accelerate innovation across the business model accelerating marketplace growth and acquisition.”
