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| For Immediate Release | Contacts: Rich Otterman, 412.227.0854 rotterman@eidoserve.com Wayne Scholar, 412.227.0254 wscholar@eidoserve.com |
| Risk Diary: Who needs a real person when there is 'Abby'? |
Don Hammonds, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: February 05, 2004 Would you buy a car from a "talking head?" You just might do so in the future if Downtown-based Eidoserve has anything to say about it. Eidoserve designs and develops virtual employees -- called avatars -- that basically are animated or real video talking heads that can perform a number of functions, such as scheduling appointments, pre-qualifying sales leads and answering customer questions. The firm has a number of clients, including the No. 1 Cochran dealerships. R.F. Culbertson, who founded the company, discussed it with the Risk Diary.  
Describe, in as simple terms as you can, what it is that Eidoserve does. Eidoserve designs and develops avatars -- basically talking heads on Web sites. Avatar is a $10 word for cartoon characters in my world. The big issue for us is putting real character behind the talking heads, whether they are animated or real video. In the beginning, avatars mainly conveyed a constant message, distributed information and answered questions because you can ask questions of avatars and they will answer for you. That was a whole realm of what we call customer self-service.
Lately, what avatars have been doing is selling. "Abby," as we refer to them individually, sold her first car for Cochran about a month and a half ago. The individual buying the car had built a relationship with the character of "Abby." The customer trusted "Abby" and interacted with her character and bought a $24,000 Hyundai from her. Sales done on the Internet are very different from selling things in the store. If you are looking at cars at 2 in the morning, no car dealer can really staff the showroom and help sell a product. The best you'll be able to do is get an e-mail response ten hours later. "Abby's" different. She can "talk" to you and help you sell a product. What did you do prior to founding Eidoserve? I sold a business back in 1998 called Leasetek and retired. But Carnegie Mellon called me and asked me if I wanted to teach in the Don Jones School of Entrepreneurship. What I had found at the time was that while I was retired, my skill set was going downhill. I was losing the entrepreneurial edge. How Eidoserve actually got started was that there was an idea at Carnegie Mellon -- a virtual interview -- that just needed to be commercialized, so the tech transfer office called me and asked me if I would take this whole idea own. I probably couldn't say no at that point only because I loved the juice that entrepreneurship gives you. It's a love of the game. Your family accounts for another reason why you took on your company, right? I just need to stay in touch with technology. My biggest risk as a parent is not being in touch with my children. I can't play basketball one on one, and at least some of my children's time is spent in front of a screen. I need to understand their world and not lose touch with what's going on, especially with videos and computers, so I thought about the opportunities of Eidoserve, and I said to CMU, "OK, let's do it." Don Hammonds can be reached at dhammonds@post-gazette.com or by calling 412-263-1538. Photo: Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Click photo for larger image. |
About Eidoserve... Eidoserve (pronounced "I do serve"),a Venture Beginnings company, develops virtual employees to help its clients optimize their knowledge management and adds value to existing customer relationships. Eidoserve's virtual employees improve operations efficiency in areas such as scheduling and appointment setting, pre-qualifying sales leads, and providing answers to customer questions that exceed the capabilities of standard FAQ lists. For more information on Eidoserve, call 412.227.0254, or visit Eidoserve. |
To arrange an interview with Eidoserve, please contact: Rich Otterman at 412.227.0854 or rotterman@eidoserve.com |
Eidoserve | p 412.227.0254 | f 412.227.0853 | e info@eidoserve.com 445 Fort Pitt Boulevard. Suite 501. Pittsburgh, PA 15219 |