Demystifying ChatBots

Introduction to ChatBots

Chatbots, also called as “Voice Bot’s”, have become enormously popular over the last few years. A chatbot can be anything from a simple service giving you a local weather forecast, to a complex enterprise-grade integrated IT solution.

In simple words, a chatbot is an opportunity for a brand to engage consumers in almost-human levels of conversation. The best uses of chatbots arise when a user’s time and requirement are respected and understood.

One of the best examples of ChatBots/VoiceBots are Amazon Echo and Google Home, these voicebots not only interact with it’s users with utmost intelligence, but also carry out simple tasks from booking a Taxi to turning ON a light!

Overview

A chatbot is a piece of technology that allows a computer program to communicate with people just like a human would. In other words, the chatbot “pretends” to be a human being in conversation with a customer. All of this communication is made possible due to the complex technology invloved in building these applications.

With the advent of Natural Language Processing(NLP), advancement in Deep Learning (DL) and Artificial Intelligence(AI), building these types of applications is possible and feasible. The backbone to build these types of applications is generally Data; the DL and AI algorithms process the data and produce meaningful conversations based on them.

Data and Technology goes hand-in-hand in building a complex application such as ChatBot, the data quality always makes a difference in getting a respone from the bot. One thing to understand here is that regardless of what you call the bot, there are usage patterns and differentiation that make chatbots distinct.

ChatBot Applications

In fact, chatbots are trained to provide gentle and kind responses. Aside from a few problems, one can use these programs to keep in touch with prospects and customers when you are occupied with other tasks. The ChatBots can make marketing your business easier by automating some of your communications, for example, a ChatBot can;

• Provide simple customer queries
• Find products which customers need
• Interact and Entertain the customers (Keep them engaged)
• Upsell and Downsell products
• Automate responses

While, these are some of the few areas where ChatBot’s can be applied upon, there are a few verticals where ChatBot’s have already been implemented and worked upon, these verticals are;

• Financial Services
• Insurance
• Human Resources
• Retail and E-commerce
• Healthcare
• News & Publishing
• Travel

Conclusion

A ChatBot is a piece of technology that converses online with people as though it were a human being. It’s programmed to respond in specific ways when asked questions or given responses.

ChatBot’s, can be really helpfull and can play any type of role you ask it to be. It can either be a Support ChatBot, Skill ChatBot or Assitant ChatBot. They can be programmed in roles best suited for the organization.