back to article The Clippy of NetApp is an IBM Watson-powered cartoon robot called Elio

NetApp has reinvented Clippy with a Watson-powered chatbot called Elio, and is taking a leaf out of Nimble's book by using automated and predictive/proactive support called Active IQ. Elio is a customer service AI assistant that responds to users' questions. Built with IBM's Watson machine-learning technology, it analyses an …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    AI Chatbots - The automated phone systems of the future.

    What a time to be alive...

    Why are his legs jointed but his arms bendy?

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      "Why are his legs jointed but his arms bendy?"

      Must be a first generation Bender unit prototype...

  2. John Mangan

    At least it is flagged as a 'bot' . .

    I'm sure some of the 'live chats' I've been involved in were actually bots but with no 'admission of guilt'.

    1. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

      Re: At least it is flagged as a 'bot' . .

      Yup. A lot of companies (including my own) do this, at least partly.

      “Hi, thanks for contacting xxx. My name is John, give me a second to look over your details” - BOT

      “Thanks for waiting. What can I do for you?” - BOT

      “So you have a problem with xxxxx?” - BOT

      “Sorry to hear that. Let me see what I can do.” - BOT

      ”(Depending on problem):“

      “Right. I’ve had a look and... “ - HUMAN

      The call centre software triages calls automatically - many can be dealt with without human interaction (e.g. FAQ lookup, scheduling appointments), and only those calls which require a human are actually answered by one. The software we use is Watson-based, I believe Engagement Advisor and something else (Callcentre Manager or summat). Works very well, although we do get a fair few customers who spot that they’ve been ‘botted.

  3. Ol' Grumpy
    Coat

    Clippy

    I still chuckle inwardly at the "hidden Word options" screenshot that did the rounds years ago with the option "Annoy me with that sodding paperclip: constantly or when I least expect it".

    It doesn't take much to amuse me.

  4. Androgynous Cow Herd

    Not like Nimble!

    Nimble does not use a user facing bot, and doesn't do cartoon creatures in the interface at all because Rod Bagg cannot draw hands!

  5. Flakk
    Joke

    Me: "Where are my keys?"

    Elio: "Ask your wife."

  6. richsouth

    Why the robot?

    "NetApp says it gets answers up to four times faster than if the user searched the support base"

    Why not improve the support base search?

    1. Excellentsword

      Re: Why the robot?

      Because CHATBOTS.

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