Google Cloud on Thursday announced the general availability of Contact Center AI. The contact center software enables businesses to deploy virtual agents for basic customer interactions, and it offers an "agent assist" feature to transcribe calls, recommend workflows and provide other kinds of AI-driven assistance.

Google also announced updates to Dialogflow, the development suite for building conversational interfaces such as chat bots and interactive voice responses (IVR). With a new agent validation feature, designers can get feedback on the quality and performance of their virtual agents. Dialogflow also now supports compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standards.

Additionally, Google has improved its natural language processing to provide a more accurate and natural conversational experience. Google has also expanded the Dialogflow Telephony Gateway to include IVR partners, which can help organizations set up IVR systems and access Dialogflow vitual agents with existing phone numbers.

Several integration partners are now working with Google to help organizations implement Contact Center AI, including Avaya, Mitel, 8x8, Cisco, Five9, Genesys, Salesforce, Twilio and Vonage. Businesses can expect to start seeing results about three to six months after integrating Contact Center AI into existing workflows, Google said.

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