Getting Emotional Online

If you traded an e-mail or two with Tom Rearick, Director of Self-Service Products and creator of eGain Assistant, you wouldn’t know that he’s a music aficionado. But get into a discussion with him about online customer service and a music lesson gets thrown in for free.

At the eGain Web site, you have the opportunity  to chat with Lisa the Klone, who can answer questions and solve problems automagically. Beyond the initial intrigue of communicating with a chatterbot, it’s engaging. Why is this interface so compelling? To start with, it’s the first step toward making the computer think like a human, rather than making the humans think like a computer.