How AI chatbots are impacting businesses

Image source: techcrunch.com

“Bots are the new apps.” This was the bold declaration of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during the company’s Build Conference in 2016. AI technology has already become commonplace in businesses – and not just in Fortune 500 companies.

Ever since 2011, when Apple’s Siri made digital assistants mainstream, natural language processors have shown potential to be useful in accomplishing basic and advanced tasks. The challenge was processing and parsing human language, which was obviously not easy for computers to do. But hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in developing this technology.

What has emerged is another useful AI technology called chatbot. While digital assistants are commanded through voice commands, chatbots respond to text. Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook are just a few of big-time organizations that publicly touts the value of the technology.

Image source: chatbotnewsdaily.com

There are small businesses that have already adopted the AI chatbot technology. And 80 percent of companies, based on a survey by Oracle, expect that they would be able to implement chatbots in their operations by 2020. The reasons for the optimism are the following:

Conversational commerce

Conversational commerce, the latest buzzword brought about by AI chatbot technology, means that a product or service is purchased because of a conversation with an AI. Currently, chatbots are already capable of carrying a coherent dialogue with humans. Soon, they could become the primary channel used for online marketing and shopping.

Customer service

Chatbots are also extremely useful in the customer service aspect of business. Some companies have already customized chatbots to communicate with clients to discuss their concerns, to answer frequently asked questions, and to even process payments. These businesses can save time and money in responding to numerous inquiries.

Personal assistance

Secretarial and administrative tasks, such as scheduling appointments or meetings, ordering office supplies, and many others, can be assigned to AI chatbots. Not only is it an affordable tool, but it can also save valuable time.