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| Microsoft Purchases Colloquis  Microsoft has acquired privately owned Colloquis, a provider of conversational online business solutions that feature natural language-processing technology. Microsoft will offer services based on Colloquis technology to businesses with online operations, as well as incorporating the technology into its own products. Initially, Microsoft will offer a managed service called Windows Live Service Agents based on the existing Colloquis Automated Service Agent offering, which has been implemented by companies such as Cingular Wireless, Comcast, Cox Communications, Panasonic of North America, Time Warner Cable and Vonage Holdings. Windows Live Service Agents provides businesses with a hosted Web-based customer service application that interacts with end users in conversational language, combining the ease of traditional online support with the valuable insight of natural language logic. Windows Live Service Agents will augment Microsoft's existing contact center solution, Microsoft Customer Care Framework.Xbox will be the first group within Microsoft to use Windows Live Service Agents. Colloquis technology will be a strong contributor in enabling Xbox customers to rapidly find helpful information related to their support needs. The conversational tone and ease of use of the product will offer customers another approach with which to address commonly asked questions, providing quick resolution to customer issues. The product's technical flexibility makes it an excellent fit with other self-service options that Xbox plans to release in the fall. In addition, Microsoft plans to take advantage of Colloquis Internet bot technology in an application called Windows Live Agents, a conversational application that users can interact with via Windows Live Messenger. These "agents" are used to entertain, encourage engagement with products or services, provide a new advertising opportunity for brand advertisers, and drive search and information retrieval. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Computing News :: home page |