Imagine if everything your employees needed could be accessed from a single interface, and they could interact with this interface simply by talking to it. How much easier would their experience of work be? And how much more efficient would your organization be?
What is the value of a chatbot and when should I use one?
- A chatbot should solve a specific problem. For example, it should make a particular type of information easier for a customer or staff member to access; facilitate performance of a particular task, e.g. browse the range, track an order, put in a complaint; or help the business reduce costs or save resources in performing a particular process.
- While solving the chosen problem, the chatbot should also provide a good experience for users.
- As well as talking to customers or staff members, a (chat)bot can talk to other bots to link multiple existing systems or functional areas together and create a streamlined and automated journey/workflow. So (thinking about a bar or restaurant example) your bots could be dealing with everything from finding out what the customer wants via a chat on the website to ordering, collecting payment, and arranging delivery. But obviously for this you need a professionally implemented system that is resilient and secure.
What are the success factors for chatbots?
- It’s important that implementers thoroughly understand the business issue to be solved. This way, they can orient the chatbot technology to the problem that has to be solved and make sure that it enables appropriate conversations and workflow.
- A chatbot is only as good as the services it’s communicating with. When we’re asked to implement one, we first have to make sure that there is sufficient automation of the processes that the client wants to address. If not, we may have to perform an additional step first. For example, if the client wants their chatbot to front an order processing system but they currently only have a contact center with staff writing down orders, then an order processing system may have to implemented first.
- However, if the client has several different systems for order processing, shipping, and so on, the chatbot can integrate all these systems together to fully automate the process of responding to customer queries. • Therefore, integration with other systems is an important part of implementing a chatbot.