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LISA ARRIVES TO HELP YOU!
NATIONAL Rail
Enquiries (NRE) has just launched ‘Lisa’, a new online
Virtual Assistant. Lisa is now poised, ready to answer your train
travel questions, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.
Who is Lisa?
Lisa is a state of the art virtual assistant - known as a 'Lingubot'
and is a virtual interactive assistant capable of holding
conversations with internet users in real time, 24/7.
Working for National Rail Enquiries, she knows a great deal about
travelling by train and is there to provide you with information
that will help make your journey smoother. She will help you with
every step of your enquiry from helping you choose the best ticket
for your journey, to telling you about what facilities are available
at your local railway station. She can even take you on a step by
step guide of our Online Journey Planner.
Lisa is the 1st Lingubot to use Flash Video of a real person, rather
than animated cartoons or photograph stills - another 1st for
National Rail Enquiries.
Where is Lisa?
Lisa can be found on the National Rail website, under the ‘Site
Help’ tab.
Lisa is always learning – and we realise that she will not know
everything just yet, but we regularly review the conversations that
Lisa has with people, so we know where there are gaps in her
knowledge.
Chris Scoggins, Chief Executive of National Rail Enquiries welcomed
the latest addition to National Rail Enquiries;- “At National
Rail Enquiries we are committed to providing excellent customer
service to everyone looking for train travel information. There is a
wealth of information on our website,
www.nationalrail.co.uk and Lisa will help people to
find the answers to their questions quickly and with a minimum of
fuss. We hope that Lisa will make the experience easier for everyone
and encourage more people to travel by train.”
Nick Wilson, Director of The Virtual Zone, whose team created Lisa
said;- "We worked very hard with the National Rail Enquiries
team to build a knowledge base that was as comprehensive and
foolproof as possible and having internal staff involved with the
project from the beginning will ensure that it continues to be a
success. Our objective was to make the user experience as real
as possible. Working with video images and the fact that Lingubots
are based on real language is the key. The conversations with Lisa
are certainly longer than with a traditional eFAQ application and
more questions are asked. Of course Lisa will get the odd frivolous
comment but at the same time she will be providing essential travel
information to 1000s of genuine questions everyday.
We are looking forward to further developing this project to include
features such as helping the traveller complete on-line forms and
helping to demystify peoples complex travel arrangements."
Managing Director of the digital design agency, Fortune Cookie,
whose video work brought Lisa to life, Justin Cooke says;- "At
Fortune Cookie we put our clients' customers' needs at the heart of
our design process. National Rail Enquiries asked us to help them
create an exceptional customer experience that would at the same
time deliver excellent return on investment by persuading thousands
of customers to use their website rather than the phone. Lisa will
help NRE achieve both of these aims.”
‘Eye 2 Eye’
Support for Those with Sight Loss
A first for Southport! A new Community
Information & Support Desk for people with central vision loss
caused by Macular Disease is launched in Southport on Thursday
August 2. The ‘Eye 2 Eye’ service, which will be available
the every Thursday between 10 am and 12 noon and 1pm till 3 pm at
Southport Library, Lord Street, Southport will be provided by
trained volunteers from the local Macular Disease Support Group.
Group Leader Pat Holden together with her husband Mike has been
pushing hard to find a suitable venue for this much-needed service.
At present the Macular Disease Society has three other Support Desks
all based in the South of the country.
For further information phone the Macular Disease Society on 0845
241 2041 or to contact your local group leader Pat Holden on 01704
549706 |
Letter to the Editor:- "Calls for local swimming champions
in St Helens"
"I write to you at an exciting time
for us, as we call for nominations for our annual ASA/Kellogg’s
Swimtastic Awards, which celebrate the extraordinary achievements of
ordinary people in the pool.
Swimming is the country’s most
popular leisure pursuit and although 12 million people across the UK
swim regularly, still 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 3 children under 11 are
unable to swim.
Since 1997, the ASA
has worked in partnership with cereal manufacturer Kellogg’s to
promote the benefits of swimming. During that time 11 million
Kellogg’s ASA Awards have been presented to swimmers of all
abilities. In 2006, we announced an expansion of our
partnership by committing to a new three-year agreement that saw
Kellogg’s make a £3million commitment to sponsoring the ASA from
grass roots to gold medals and together we expect to get 140,000
people back into swimming.
We ask now for the
support of the people of St Helens by encouraging them to think of
friends and family who they believe should be recognised for their
personal achievements in the pool. The Swimtastic Awards are not
about elite swimmers, they celebrate the accomplishments of swimmers
of all ages and abilities. Last year the Collinson family from
Newton Le Willows, Merseyside, were awarded the Swimtastic Family
Award, will this year see the success repeated?
Closing date for entries is Friday 27 July 2007 and a judging panel
that includes representatives from the Department for Children,
Schools, and Families; Sport England, the Youth Sport Trust; the ASA;
and Kellogg’s will decide on winners, who will be announced at an
awards ceremony in October. Nominate today at
www.swimming.org."
David Sparkes Bruce Learner,
ASA Chief Executive Community & Social Responsibility Manager
Kellogg’s.
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