Maybe an idea?
Backblaze has it:
1 Like
I do not like them. If I need support, these assistants are rarely useful, I feel them as a just slow down filter.
6 Likes
Real support is one thing. Sales and passing information to potential users is another thing and should be doable. I mean Storj is talking about AI a lot and I guess there could be a lot of questions that such an AI could answer.
Maybe. However, we are not AI developers, we provide a platform for such developers.
I passed your idea, but I do not like these kind of bots anyway.
4 Likes
+1. Never once AI solved any of my problems. Because coherent customer before reaching to support will usually exhaust all the avenues to help themselves and now needs a human, not “are you sure it’s plugged in? the button on the side, is it glowing?”
It’s just an insult to a prospective customers intelligence. Only real people please. it’s OK if response takes few hours, time zones and all, it’s much better than instant nonsense.
I changed bank, insurance provider, and credit card issuer, becuase the old ones had a maze of a phone tree and new one I get a human in my city picking up the call on first ring, or answering emails within an hour.
Customer support availability is the only thing that matters; regardless how good the product is – if customer support sucks – only people who don’t value their time and can put up with nonsense will be willing to use it. Not the kind of customers you want to attract.
3 Likes
Thanks. But really it is not about personal preferences. If it helps then it is good and any user who does not like it is free to abstain from using it.
I think it may be useful to find answers, of course depending on how it implemented.
An example what a VA could do is the journey Storj has on the website anyways:
That is just one simple example that could be run through a virtual assistant. Imagine somebody could simple type “Hey VA, I need SOC2 compliance, does Storj offer that?” and the VA responds “Yes of course. The great Storj Select product offers SOC2 compliance for your data.” and links to the website resouces or to the trial sign-up.
Well, just an example.
I understand your sentiment and it is totally fine. But I believe that the trend is shifting towards more conversational and instant interactions. Users are increasingly accustomed to typing their queries in a casual manner and receiving relevant answers, much like they do on Google or with Siri or Alexa. As a result, they will likely expect a similar experience on websites, where they can quickly find the information they need without having to navigate through menus and subpages.
2 Likes
I have a feeling that LLM lovers will probably ask this question on their phone and will probably get an answer. But that’s my opinion, after all, I just know how it works.
I just did that:
Hey, I need SOC2 compliance, does Storj offer that?
Storj, a decentralized cloud storage provider, does offer SOC 2 compliance. They have completed a SOC 2 Type II examination, which is a widely recognized standard for evaluating the security and availability of a service organization’s controls. This examination assesses the design and operating effectiveness of Storj’s controls related to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
The difference is: If it is your AI then you can control the answers.
Yes. However, as a consumer I want to have an independent opinion, right?
Because all these VAs are intended for consumers who are not our target yet.
Not necessarily. When I’m on a company website, I don’t expect independent information, but rather accurate and easily accessible information.
I don’t see it this way. If you would for example provide your customer self evaluation through a VA interface I don’t see why this should be considered only for consumers.
People are looking for quick and easy answers and a VA might be able to help with that. If I had to choose between reading through a website to find out which certificates Storj has or simply asking a VA, I might prefer the latter. So basically you can see such a VA as different (additional) presentation of the information you have already on your website. Of course it can be used also to dig deeper and it could even be a driver for the making an appointment feature with Storj reps: www.storj.io/contact-sales
1 Like
i mean c’mon? its obvious why Alex don’t like the machine agents.
As of he being agent itself. 
But yea as much as i love how this forum works (best forum ever), the search could be really upgraded to more interactive. i want the search bar to understand what i want, and not only look for exact words, because i might lack a proper vocabulary, or technical terms to name what i want. had this problem many times, and too many results comes with the exact words, but not the desired meaning. Because of how many posts has been made over last 5 years. So there comes handy, a custom AI!
Feed with all forum posts, and all docs. Its only lately those are supposedly working correctly, so nothing lost to start late. Some friend of mine recommended me to check “NotebookLM” in this matter. But i see many other brands are offering documents feeding Ai to help find what You want quicker.
i mean its where You put it, dont like the chat bot windows also, in the FORUM side, c’mon? (just ask ppl if You need something, its why we’re here, to answer!)
but the search! Search could be Ai empowered please!
I would prefer to call and ask a person.
AI maybe useful in 50 years. Today it is not trustworthy. It can hallucinate. It always does for me because answers on questions I ask are not easily available. (And yes, I studied prompt engineering).
If VA gave me an answer I would not believe it. I would want confirmation from a human. So, why waste time with middlemen machine when human can do? “— Hi there, hello, are you’d SOC2 certified? — Yes, but,…; No and…; Actually, by the way… — big sale. Win-win.
Life it too short to waste even a second of it talking to dumb machines. I immediately think less of a company if they have virtual assistant or any sort or “smart” ai or phone tree of more than 2 items. Hire a dude, give him a phone. No, not in overseas call center. Local, in the room.
Your suggestion that a human is automatically more trustworthy tells me you never had to deal with the likes of UK insurance companies or Tesla Customer Service over the phone 
2 Likes
Oh I did; on the other end of this
was an incompetent, unempowered, underpaid, overworked poor soul in some call center that even if they wanted to could not help me.
With humans there is a chance to get a good support. With machines – it’s almost universally waste of time. After which if you are lucky you get to a human. Which may or may not be in another continent in a call center… it’s pretty bad.
no, just because they can be misleading and make the wrong suggestion since it is a neural network trained on samples. If it would find this forum, it would get controversial opinions and the weight of the wrong information could be greater than the weight of the correct information, and will result to an incorrect response. It’s true for a NI too, we are learning during our life, but usually have not scan all internet for information to be trained
3 Likes
whaaat? i thought u r son of Neo 
.
Anyway.
yes, im talking A.i. setup only in terms of finding objects of interest in forum posts, not to judge whether they are true or not. (and in documentation)
Shhh. I’m - Neo. Did you see my avatar?
For some reason it shows for me only on the pricing page: https://www.storj.io/pricing
But it is a start…
1 Like