Digital transformation is a whole new way of doing business using new technological tools and processes whereby you can keep yourself abreast of customer requirements, customer behavior, and business challenges. The use of artificial intelligence-based software like chatbots can make customer interactions easy, quick, and round the clock.
As the days go by, interacting with computerized systems becomes normal. Whether it is with Alexa or the door of your smart home, you are interacting with technology more often than not. The scenario is ripe for something like a chatbot to take over customer engagement. This is one of the most powerful digital transformation tools these days. These bots can converse with customers and make them feel like they are engaging with a real person.
What is a Chatbot?
These are applications that can communicate with human beings and perform some basic tasks like answering customer queries, helping them purchase a product, or something else. The responsibility of chatbots is to streamline customer interactions with businesses be it an insurance company, a product manufacturing company, or any other business.
Chatbots have advanced to such a degree that even if you have interacted with a chatbot in the last few days or months, you might not have even realized that it was a bot.
How Chatbots are Beneficial?
Chatbots are beneficial not just for businesses but also for customers. If you are convinced that digital transformation for your business is the way to go forward, you can start with a chatbot. According to a study by Gartner, artificial intelligence will take over 85% of customer engagements by 2020.
The following arguments can showcase the benefits of chatbots:
They are Good for All
Chatbots are not just good for businesses; they are also good for customers. They are good for businesses for the simple reason that developing a chatbot is cheaper than hiring and training customer representatives. Moreover, with the help of chatbots, businesses can offer round the clock customer service.
For customers, interacting with an app is easier and smoother than interacting with a human agent. Most customers these days prefer to have a brisk mobile interaction over talking to representatives in a call center. It can help customers in a number of ways completely independent of human interference. Whether the customer is planning a vacation, searching for the perfect dress or anything else, the chatbot can help.
Apps are everywhere and consumers are overwhelmed by them, but messenger apps are immune to that aversion. Consumers still prefer to converse through messenger apps. Billions of people are using messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Kik, etc. This is why people like to interact with bots through messaging apps than talking to customer representatives.
They are Far More Advanced than their Previous Avatars
Previously chatbots were powered by keywords. This means that those bots were unable to come up with specific answers to specific questions. However, advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence have made sure that chatbots are now very good listeners, accurate, and can learn from events. This has made chatbots more reliable and advanced. Nowadays chatbots can take up cues from conversations and written lines and understand what the customer is trying to ask. If different customers ask a chatbot about the same thing but in different ways, the bot can comprehend the essence of the query and deliver the right answer or guide the customer in the most appropriate way.
They Let Business Owners Test the Waters of Digital Transformation
One of the most significant benefits of using chatbots is that it lets the business owner test the waters of digital transformation by first implementing a chatbot for customer interactions.
Conclusion
A digital transformation can often start with something as significant and as cheap as using a chatbot. It can help the business in a number of ways, but the most significant of them is that it can give a sense of direction to the business in its digital transformation drive.
