From the dawn of the information age, we have been relying on technology to tackle and automate the most routine yet complex tasks. Another promising entry into this area is a Chatbot. A chatbot is a name for a robot that simulates human conversation. These bots are poised to be the center of a great paradigm shift in how we use technology and all that it has to offer. Just a few years ago, web browsers were the only access point to the internet, today apps have followed – and very soon, bots could be our primary digital gateway.
Well, chatbots are not a completely new concept – Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana are powered by bots and have been around and popularly used for quite a while now. Bots, however, will be implemented in many more ways in the near future and will behave more like humans too.
Here are five areas where chatbots could be used to emulate human conversations:
Customer care executive
Chatbots answering customer queries will definitely put an end to the tiresome and lengthy IVR menus that ask you to press one and then two and then place you on hold listening to piped music indefinitely. It is a known fact – that around 80% of the customer queries are repetitive and it makes perfect sense to have automated bots address them. The good part is that they would never get tired of answering the same question over and over again! Not only that, bots are programmed to ‘learn’ over time and they become smarter by the day and more sophisticated. They can definitely give customers a superior experience interacting with your business and increase customer satisfaction.
Office assistant
There are many offices that do not require too much of human interventions in the day to day activities. There are a number of tasks that can be easily handled by programmed bots. Today, bots can manage the work more efficiently than any office assistant could! Asking for the manager’s office or the Wi-Fi password need not be an ‘assistant’s’ job anymore. Simply chat with a chatbot and get all the answers you need! Some bots can also schedule meetings and set reminders!
Accountant
One of the most excruciating tasks – accounting can be completely simplified by leveraging the power of bots. These bots can collect information – even by using receipts as input and turn them into a machine-friendly format. The information is encrypted and then associated with certain accounts. They can learn and remember and can smartly process such information in the future. Further, since everything is programmed, compliance will never be an issue.
Web designer
Just as physical robots can be used as a replacement for workers on an assembly line, bots, which do not have a physical form can be used to perform certain web designing tasks that are repetitive and do not require a lot of human intervention. They can also be programmed to make changes as per feedback.
Travel agent
Well, every answer to every question that you might have regarding traveling to a certain place could be provided to you by a chatbot. Further, scheduling trips, making reservations and providing you with an end to end travel plan – is not a farfetched idea!
The world today appears to be on the cusp of a big burst of technology innovation – Chatbots are here and will definitely change the technology landscape forever!
