Rudi the Reindeer – novominds newest IPI-Agent advises customers on Otto Versand Online

The mail order firm Otto has asked novomind Inc to develop a very special advisor as part of this year's on-line Christmas shop: Rudi, the virtual reindeer. He was set up using novomind's Interactive Personable Intelligent Agents (IPI-Agents™) software. IPIs carry out real-time dialogs with on-line customers, identify their particular needs and wishes and react by providing flexible responses and information.

Rudi answers queries about Christmas purchases, suggests which gifts might be suitable and provides the user with ideas. These cater for the individual and personal wishes and preferences of the person for whom the gift is intended. Rudi welcomes the customer with a friendly wave, woos him with a mischievous flutter of his eyelashes and shrugs his shoulders when he cannot fully understand a query.

This collaboration is helping Otto get closer to its customers. A strategy that is increasingly paying dividends in the anonymity of the internet.
By addressing customers directly, Otto is also making its webpages more acceptable, as well as more attractive to users. "Compared to other customer-oriented initiatives, such as conventional on-line prize draws, the introduction of a virtual IPI-Agent™ to our site has greatly increased customer acceptance" comments delightedly Dr. Thomas Schnieders, Otto Versand's Director of New Media.

Rudi was on-line in the Christmas season 2000 at: www.otto.de

About the company:
novomind Inc. was founded in 1999 and is one of the leading providers of intelligent software solutions that open up new dimensions in internet company-client relations and allow companies to increase turnover and cut costs.The novomind systems bring the human touch to the internet and allow future-oriented customer services to be integrated into eCommerce.The novomind IQ™ standard software enables virtual web agents to be developed to guide the user interactively through internet events, provide him or her with personalized advice and create intelligent user profiles. novomind TrueTALK™ enables users to be connected to a Live Operator based in a call center. There are currently over 40 employees working for novomind Inc. The company’s clients include well-known concerns such as Bertelsmann (bol.de/bol.uk), Gruner +Jahr, Otto and the Heinrich Bauer Verlag publishing house.

Press contact:
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