What Are ChatBots?
Chatbots are software programs that interact with humans via chat interfaces.
Chatbots are similar to phone trees, which are used by businesses around the world. However, instead of using scripted voice recordings, chatbots typically use text to respond to user inquiries.
Businesses use chatbots in place of humans for a variety of customer-facing roles, such as:
- Customer service
- Technical support
- Search and personal assistance
- Recommendation engines
Modern chatbots often implement a variety of AI technologies to interact with customers, such as natural language processing and sentiment analysis.
Businesses undergoing digital transformation can see a number of benefits when implementing chatbots:
- Reduced human labor costs
- More staff time for higher-level activities
- Decreased time-to-fulfillment for customer inquiries
Additionally, analysis of chat data can provide business intelligence insights into customer needs and behavior.
It is almost certain that automation technologies — such as chatbots — will become standard facets of the digital workflow.
For example, software training can be a very costly aspect of employee onboarding. Digital automation platforms (DAPs) that employ chatbots, though, see exceptional ROI — reductions in human labor time, employee frustration, and support tickets translate into savings.
Though chatbots are an emerging technology, we will certainly see more of them in the future. As they grow in sophistication and complexity, we can also expect to see more of them implemented in various places throughout the digital workplace.
