What are Chatbots | The future of Communication, banking and Technology???

image source

Going back a couple of years, and the first thing that must have come to your mind, when you read mobile-first was perhaps apps. And no doubt, apps have given extensive leverage to businesses looking to explore
newer markets and attract different classes of customers. But come 2018, we've all been seeing signs of app usage and growth plateauing.

So does this indicate the imminent death of mobile apps and a doomsday scenario for mobile-app businesses? Well not necessarily, the key here for businesses is to evolve as technology does. One such technology that is being touted as the one to replace mobile apps and websites is that of AI-powered Chatbots. Now bots are at a nascent stage and most people don't even know what these bots are. Whether they can truly fulfill their potential is there to be
seen, but one thing that is certain is that they can't be ignored anymore.

So if you are wondering what these bots are, why so much fuss around them, what can they actually do and how to build one, it should be one's urge you to read more. And by the time you finish reading, you might just
be as crazy as I am about these super powerhouses.

What is a Chatbot?

Chatbots are your mechanised pals, powered by a set of rules and some artificial intelligence, that you can interact with via a chat interface. Essentially they can be looked at, as automated systems that reside inside your messenger apps (Facebook, Slack, In-app Messenger of your apps etc.). They are designed to imitate human conversations and carry
out pre-defined actions, based on voice commands and/or text inputs.

image source

Let me help visualise with an example:

If one wanted to book hotels for your next travel pursuit, typically they would:

1. First visit one of the travel search marketplaces like Makemytrip
2. Feed in the location and duration of stay
3. Set other filters like type of hotel & no. of rooms required
4. Then shortlist the best available option
5. And finally make the booking.

Instead of browsing a website, this interaction Now if one of these travel planning marketplaces decides to make a bot,
you can then make and manage your bookings by simply telling the bot one's requirements. It would then ask one all the relevant questions and they just need to answer and that's it. The bot will fetch the best results based on one's preferences and assist one in making their itinerary.

The bot helps to mirror a typical retail point of sale moment where one receives personalised service based on their
unique requirements. With chatbots one has endless possibilities and preparing their travel and itinerary is just one of them. Most people must be wondering about what else can a chatbot do and how businesses can leverage them to improve user-experience.

What can they do?

Soon there will be a chatbot for everything, from pizzas to flowers and for every other noun. Does that sound like a far cry to you? In coming times, over I hope that 85% of customer interactions will be managed without human.

Now whether there can truly be a bot for everything or not is there to be seen, but one certain thing is bots have entered our lives and are leaving no time soon.

Some of the most popular use cases that bots are serving and assisting their human counterparts in are described below:

1. Bots as sidekicks to customer support agents.

There had been many apprehensions against the popular belief that bots can one day replace customer support agents. Can they or can they not, I believe they can't because they lack the empathy and sensitiveness of a human agent. But what they can definitely be are assistants to these support agents and do the simple tasks like answering FAQs, suggesting help articles and routing queries.

2. Chatbots in Banking:

image source

It is believed that in the next three years majority of them will deploy AI interfaces as the primary mode of interaction with customers. Testimony to this belief is the fact that leading banks have already started rolling out their bots. For
example:

1. HSBC has made customer support a 24X7 affair with their virtual assistant 'Amy'

2. The updated version of American Express' Amex Bot will allow customers to query any information regarding their card and account.

3. Masterpass enabled bots by Mastercard creates a seamless shopping experience within FB Messenger. It allows customers to transact with leading brands like Subway, Freshdirect and The Cheesecake Factory, all without leaving Messenger.

3. Chatbots for Sales & Marketing.

Most sales teams are made up of humans and that's a good thing, but sadly humans can't work 24X7. That means a missed opportunity on capturing a lead. Chatbots like Driftbot, can plug the gap by engaging users with welcome messages, answering simple questions, qualifying them and finally passing them to a qualified human agent.

4. Chatbots as your friend

Chatbots like Xiaoice and Mitsuku are more like personal companions that you can simply talk to. As one can see the possibilities are endless with chatbots. It is possible to build anything imaginable. But is it worth investing the time and effort that it takes to build one. Sure it looks cool and super advanced, but will it be a forerunner or fade away
like any other fad?

Why Chatbots Can Be, What They are Touted They Can Be?

Chatbots have existed for years before going mainstream. One of the many reasons for taking them seriously is they stood the test of time. However several recent global trends have given relevance to chatbotsand made way for a once-in-a-decade paradigm shift.

How to build chatbots?

Before one move into how to buildchatbots, it's important for one to understand the different types of chatbots that are there.

image source

Typically to build a chatbot, one needs to:

1. Identify the problem it is going to solve, and design a conversational user flow to solve it

2. Choosing the platform where the bot will reside (Facebook Messenger,
   Slack, In-app Messenger etc.)

3. Server setup to run the bot from.