Uome adds AI Virtual Assistant capabilities
I saw an update from Kent Vorland, Chief Operating Officer at Uome this afternoon, announcing the startup's latest feature update: An AI Assistant.
Uome is a platform that was created to make self-employed life simple and enables users to run their businesses from their phones. Users can build client relationships, send invoices, get paid, do their tax preparation, and send project updates all in one place.
Adding an AI Virtual Assistant makes a lot of sense – anything that can help augment Uome's customers and help them get more done is good news.
This is another example of the extension of Conversational AI. I think we're likely to see so many more situations like this, where an existing company will seek to augment their existing offerings with a Virtual Assistant.
Kent comments:
We're thrilled to announce the beta release of our latest AI product: the Uome Virtual Sales Assistant. This innovative tool is set to enhance e-commerce operations for solo entrepreneurs and SMEs.
🛍️ For Business Owners:
1. Seamlessly integrates with your online shop, providing real-time product information to customers
2. Enhanced customer engagement, guiding shoppers through their journey
3. Personalised recommendations based on customer preferences and requests
4. 24/7 streamlined customer support, freeing up your time
🏦 For Banks and Financial Institutions: Empower your SME clients with cutting-edge AI technology. By white-labelling Uome's platform, you can offer:
1. Increased value-added services
2. Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention
3. A competitive edge in the rapidly evolving fintech landscape
The Uome Virtual Sales Assistant transforms the way you do business. Ready to experience the future of e-commerce? Try it in Beta now in the Uome app under E-commerce settings!
How did the team do it? Did they build or buy? Well, I reached out to Kent to ask him.
"It's entirely built in-house," he replied.
I can hear a collective sigh from many vendors reading!
Is this, dear reader, a failure of the Conversational AI marketplace? Many companies could have easily helped out the Uome team with an API or SDK. But are these companies doing enough to make sure they are known, especially by engineers? Are vendors marketing themselves correctly to this audience? I'm not so sure.
For example, I'm sure that Uome didn't build its own SMS gateway. They probably integrated something like Twilio. There are quite a few best-of-breed companies that you can use as building blocks for these kinds of capabilities. Likewise, hardly anyone uses their own internal mailing gateway for sending and receiving emails. They use something like (my personal favourite, Postmark).
I daresay if the offering was easily packaged and deployed (and marketed) the Uome technology team might have opted for that.
Instead, they built it themselves.
Interesting times!
Irrespective, nice work Team Uome!
If you'd like to learn more about Uome, reach out to Kent Vorland, Chief Operating Officer.
