- Customers can use Artificial-Intelligence-enabled chatbot to obtain information about their incoming and recently delivered packages
- UPS is first U.S. package delivery company to offer chatbot designed for authenticated users
- Artificial Intelligence supports UPS global logistics network
UPS (NYSE:UPS) on Monday said it has integrated its customer-facing chatbot with UPS My Choice®, allowing customers to obtain information about their incoming packages and recent deliveries without providing a tracking number.
UPS is the first U.S. package delivery company to offer a chatbot experience specifically designed for authenticated users. The chatbot enables a customer to log in to their UPS My Choice Account. It then can provide customized information, including package location and delivery detail – all without a tracking number.
The company launched the chatbot, an Artificial-Intelligence-enabled platform that mimics human conversation, last fall through Facebook Messenger, Skype and Amazon’s Alexa voice service. The chatbot initially helped users find UPS® locations, get shipping rates and track packages. Now, it lets UPS My Choice members retrieve detailed information about their shipments more easily.
“The integration of our chatbot with UPS My Choice is a big leap forward for the customer service UPS offers,” said Stuart Marcus, UPS vice president of customer technology marketing. “It also marks an important step as UPS continues to deploy leading-edge technologies to bring better, easier and simpler experiences to our consumer and business customers.”
UPS has a long history of exploring new and emerging technologies that can benefit its operation and improve the services it offers.
“Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, along with big data and the internet of things, underpin many of the technologies that support UPS’s global logistics network,” said Bob Myrick, UPS principal architect of customer engagement technology. “They also enable important customer-facing technologies like UPS My Choice.”
UPS My Choice is a service that provides more control over how and where packages are delivered. Members receive email or text messages when their packages are on the way. UPS My Choice membership provides the ability to re-route eligible packages to a workplace, a neighbor’s home or a nearby UPS Access Point™ location. More than 35 million people use the service in 15 countries.
The UPS chatbot now provides UPS My Choice members with a convenient and conversational interface. For example, they can ask the chatbot “are any packages coming to my house?” or “has anything been delivered to my house?” and receive an easy-to-understand response.
Facebook Messenger and Skype users can find the UPS chatbot by searching for “UPS Bot.” Amazon Alexa users can find it by searching for “UPS” in the Alexa Skill store and enabling the skill or by saying “Alexa, open UPS.”
For now, the updated chatbot focuses on providing information about incoming packages. But UPS plans to add even more sophisticated UPS My Choice functionality to its chatbot in the near future. In the next planned iteration, members will be able to sign up for notifications via Facebook Messenger and Skype. They also will be able to manage the delivery time and location of incoming packages through this interface.
