Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence Chat Robot  (Chatbot), is essentially a computer program which conducts a conversation via auditory and textual methods.  Chatbots are designed to simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner.  For various practice purposes Chatbots are typically used in dialog systems increasingly in customer service or information acquisition.  Simpler systems scan for keywords within the input then put a reply with the most matching keywords, or host similar wording patterns from a database.

Chatbots are frequently integrated into the dialog systems of perhaps virtual assistants, giving them the ability to small talk or engage in casual conversations connected to the scope of their primary expert systems.  Chatbots are generally found integrated into Instant Messenger platforms like Facebook, WeChat etc or as part of  B2C marketing and customer service.

How to use AI Chatbots to your advantage & remain competitive.

With the help of artificial intelligence chatbots companies can improve the customer experience, automate work processes, augment employee performance and develop intelligence agents to help with a lot of repetitive business processes.  Today’s consumers require a prompt and effective response to queries, this indicates the need for companies to provide faster and more integrated customer service responses. With over 75% of consumers aged between 18-25 using Instant Messaging everyday, intelligent digital agents are the answer to providing customers with the quick and easy chat service they require. AI Chatbots capture signals a business might miss, finding correlation and sentiment in customer data. This is important in terms of building customer relationships, as a business can preempt any problems a consumer may be facing and turn the situation around in good time.

Artificial Intelligence technology also frees up employees time so they can focus on important work rather than spending time on mundane, easily automatable tasks like password resets and company policy related questions.   These tasks would normally  take up to 80% of the total transactions currently being handled by human workers.  This is a huge expense to a company, considering these tasks add little to no value to either the customers or the company itself.

Artificial intelligence can also be used for sales technology as it automatically builds and monitors a businesses pipeline so that the focus can be put on closing more deals, rather than manual data entry.Chatbots can perform the function of a sales assistant, finding the data required, reminding agents about follow ups on certain proposals, thereby ensuring nothing falls through the cracks, Chatbots can even do predictive forecasting.

Early adopters of AI robots have the advantage of pulling ahead of their competitors.  This is especially true for small and midsize businesses or companies, working hard to build a customer base.  The addition of smart software not only differentiates SMS’s from their peers, but allows them to compete with the big giants in their market.

Artificial intelligence is not to be compartmentalized into just sales, customer service and marketing departments alone as it can also be integrated into other departments.  For instance, the finance division can immediately follow up when sales close on an opportunity.  The point being to optimize productivity of every department, and in turn helping to grow the business faster.

A few points to remember on how Chatbots save you time:

Automate the small stuff

• Customer service – respond accordingly and measure customer sentiment.
• Human Resource – respond to questions and score CV’s.
• Marketing – Send welcome emails or targeted promotions.
• Accounting – Set payment reminders, automatically follow up on outstanding invoices as well as prepare invoices or quotations.
• Sales – auto update customer records, schedule calls and score leads.

The work landscape is undergoing some massive changes, as such most human functions will likely be taken over by automated machines, thereby decreasing business overheads.