Ask Jeeves, PWC Alliance will Provide HR Information Services
Ask Jeeves, Inc. recently announced a global alliance with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Through this relationship, PricewaterhouseCoopers intends to make Ask Jeeves' suite of corporate services available to employees who access human resources and benefits programs through PricewaterhouseCoopers. The suite includes Jeeves Answers, Ask Jeeves, an intuitive question answering service, and Jeeves Live, its live help technologies.
PricewaterhouseCoopers intends to deploy Ask Jeeves to help employers improve HR customer service and satisfaction, reduce support costs and enhance the online experience of employees who access their benefits and other HR services over the Internet. Jeeves Answers will provide an intuitive, natural language method of answering frequently asked HR questions such as "How can I take a loan from my 401(k)?" "How do I change my W-4 withholding?" or "How do I get healthcare coverage for my new baby?" Jeeves Answers delivers information in response to these and hundreds of other questions rather than requiring employees to search through an on-line help guide or cumbersome HR facility. By providing round-the-clock access to questions, PricewaterhouseCoopers believes that Jeeves Answers can supplement existing call center, voice and Web applications.
Once deployed, Jeeves Live will enable employees to access PricewaterhouseCoopers' customer service representatives on-line and in real-time via live help dialogue boxes that enable text-based communication. By making it possible for employees to speak with HR specialists during Web sessions, Jeeves Live will provide an interactive Web experience. Jeeves Live also allows employees logging in from home on a single phone line to remain on line and resolve their issues quickly, instead of requiring them to log off their computer and call HR.
Through Jeeves Insight, Ask Jeeves' analysis and tracking tool, Ask Jeeves will enable PricewaterhouseCoopers and its clients to gather usage information. This data reporting service can aggregate the online questions, language and selections of users to gain insight into their needs and interests. Ask Jeeves will analyze frequently asked questions and provide detailed online reports that PricewaterhouseCoopers may use to provide a better resource for its clients.
Interest in the new service has been intense, according to Mike Boro, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Clients are jumping all over this," he said. Employee reaction to the company's beta testing site has been equally positive, reports Boro.
Although specific numbers are not yet available, Boro believes that clients will derive significant cost benefits from the Jeeves suite of services, specifically because employees will be able to self-service their HR questions instead requiring of face time with management.
"We see the relationship with PricewaterhouseCoopers as a key milestone as we expand the Ask Jeeves' Corporate Service worldwide," said Ask Jeeves' president and CEO Rob Wrubel.