SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Goodyear plans to begin offering automated virtual assistance and multimedia chat to visitors to its consumer-facing websites as part of its goal of making the tire-buying process easier.
After testing virtual assistance systems from nine vendors, Goodyear selected eGain Corp., a Sunnyvale-based developer of such systems, as its provider of a "digital-first, omnichannel customer" engagement.
The eGain chatbot system uses artificial intelligence to answer questions, resolve issues and recommend products to consumers, retail stores and OEM clients, eGain said.
The deployment is being expanded to the company's e-commerce and consumer care divisions as well, eGain said. Goodyear did not say when it expects the services to become active.
According to eGain, Goodyear wanted to deliver a "cutting-edge" customer service experience to help match consumers seamlessly with answers to their questions. The company also wanted to control costs and enable a seamless experience for contact center agents.
"Service is where the customer experience rubber meets the road," eGain CEO Ashu Roy said. "We are proud to help this storied company offer innovative experiences."
Sunnyvale-based eGain is a publicly traded software company best known for its suite of software applications designed for customer engagement across various online platforms.