How simulated human conversations work

A chatbot is a software application designed to simulate human conversations with users through text or voice.Chatbots are also called virtual agents, interactive agents, digital assistants, or conversational artificial intelligence, and are usually integrated into applications, websites, or messaging platforms Provide user support without using on-site manual agents.

“A chatbot is a natural language processing application that allows two-way conversations between the user and the digital interface, which are usually text but increasingly voice-based.” He claimed Liz MillerVice President and Chief Analyst of Constellation Research.

The chatbot was originally used as a user option menu, decision tree, or keyword-based tool Who is looking for a specific phrase, such as “cancel my account”. The current iteration uses artificial intelligence and machine learning Create a more humane experience.

With the improvement of artificial intelligence systems, the use of chatbots may increase substantially. According to Mordor Intelligence, the global chatbot market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 35% from 2021 to 2028. When it reaches 102 billion US dollars.

Examples of chatbots

Chatbots are used for customer and employee communication platforms and channels, such as websites, social media platforms or corporate communication systems, And increasingly integrated into major company software systems, such as customer relationship management, Customer experience, human resources and help desk platforms.

They are used to answer common questions through natural language processing engines This allows them to understand the questions posed with unusual formulas. Chatbots can also be used to guide customers or employees to complete common tasks or teach them how to use products and services.

Examples of chatbots include:

• The World Health Organization’s WhatsApp chatbot Health Alert can answer COVID-19-related questions in English, Arabic, Hindi, Italian, Spanish and other languages
• Erica of Bank of America, this is a more advanced chatbot, embedded in the bank’s mobile application, which can answer various questions in English
• Eno, a chatbot similar to Erica, available on CapitalOne’s website and mobile app, and via email and text messages
• Dom from Domino’s Pizza, helping customers process orders

Main use cases of chatbots

He said that the most common use of chatbots is customer service Your jones, Nerdery Experience Design Director. But there are also useful examples in healthcare, financial services, and many other industries.

Chatbots have also become a relatively popular tool in companies. Take human resources as an example, Chatbots can help employees register for benefits or apply for permits. IT chatbots can handle password reset requests or help diagnose connection issues.Chatbots can also be used for sales to suggest the best potential customers to call later or in the finance department Answer questions about business performance numbers.

He said that when starting to use chatbots, it’s best to solve the common and relatively simple problems of using them. Bill Tanglan, Executive Vice President of Customer Experience at Capgemini Digital. For example, when used for customer service, chatbots can accept simpler requests, Donlan said. “Liberate service agents to solve the most complex problems.” Used in appropriate situations and combined with human support, chatbots can improve customer satisfaction, Reduce costs, increase service availability and increase overall efficiency.

But just because a company owns a chatbot does not mean that customers will use it. “Most websites have them, but they are often ignored” He claimed Evelyn McMullen, Head of Human Capital Research and Enterprise Content Management, Nucleus Research. “In my opinion, they are not necessarily a substitute for human interaction, because the answer is pre-packaged.”

Software chatbot

Major cloud providers have chatbot APIs, and companies can use these APIs when writing tools. Open source packages are also provided, And chat bots integrated into leading customer relationship management and customer service platforms.

Many companies also provide independent chatbots. According to Grand View Research, the leading chatbot vendors include 7.ai, Acuvate, Aivo, Artificial Solutions, Botsify, Creative Virtual, eGain, IBM, Inbenta, Next IT and Nuance. “In the organizations we talk to, there is usually at least one chatbot platform, even if they don’t necessarily know it exists” He claimed William McCann-White, Forrester research analyst. “Indeed, there is a proliferation of chatbots. The organizations we talk to sometimes have as many as 13 platforms, all of which compete internally.”

For example, developers can use open source chatbots to help automate their work. They may have one in Microsoft Teams or Slack Or integrated into other platforms, such as Jira, McKeon-White said. Other business users may start to use the built-in chatbot features of platforms such as Salesforce or ServiceNow.

Chatbot

Chatbots initially provided users with a simple selection menu, which then evolved to respond to specific keywords. “But human beings are very imaginative in the use of language”, Said McKeon-White of Forrester. People looking for a way to reset their password may say that they have forgotten their password or cannot log in to their account. “There are many different opinions about the same thing”.

This is where artificial intelligence comes into play. Natural language processing is a subset of machine learning, which allows the system to understand the meaning of written language and even spoken language. Even if there are many changes in language. To be successful, chatbots that rely on artificial intelligence or machine learning must first be trained using data sets. Generally speaking, the larger the training data set and the tighter the field, the more accurate and useful the chatbot will be.

“I am more and more able to recognize the similarity of different expressions, but we can all point out some negative cases encountered by chatbots because it is difficult for software to interpret human conversations. It is like taking a child and throwing him a dictionary. Tell him to deal with this complex problem. The greatest success will be achieved when the company pays attention to what went wrong with the chatbot and continuously strives to improve it.”, Summarizing McKeon-White.