The computer is incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Man is unbelievably slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. The marriage of the two is a force beyond calculation. The 1977 prediction by Leo Cherne is now a reality.
With us immersed neck-deep in the era of robotic evolution and automation, what is the future of customer service operations? Will it completely replace the human workforce? Will its disruption eliminate the need for websites and apps?
Twenty-five percent of customer service and support operations will integrate virtual customer assistant (VCA) or chatbot technology across engagement channels by 2020, up from less than two percent in 2017, according to Gartner, Inc.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will create 2.3 million jobs in 2020, especially with AI augmentation, a combination of human and artificial intelligence, where both complement each other, while eliminating 1.8 million. In 2021, AI augmentation will generate $2.9 trillion in business value and recover 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity.
What is a chatbot?
Chatbots or Chatter Robots, are computer programs that mimic human conversation by utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning. They are robots that are programmed to have textual or verbal communication that can listen to the user’s request, analyze the user’s request, make a decision, and learn as they are being used, extracted from How AI-Chatbots Can Make Dubai Smarter? by Mehrdad Mohasses, IEEE.
In simple words, a chatbot is a computer program designed to have a conversation with a human being, especially over the interne t (Cambridge Dictionary).
How does chatbot differ from RPA bots?
The RPA bot, essentially does not have a chat element and is a process-centric bottom-up approach governed by structured data inputs applicable to routine, repetitive, rule-based, or predictable processes.
On the contrary, chatbots, are smarter, with the application of Artificial Intelligence and Natural language processing, with data and conversation-centric, top bottom approach whose main focus is on efficient front-end customer processes. It’s a simulation of human conversations and understanding the human intent to perform automated tasks. It’s a transformation rather than pure automation.
Chatbot Use Cases:
Chatbots can be used to address a number of challenges in Dubai including
Tourism:
With dubai becoming the global tourist hub with 15.8 million visitors in the city, Chatbot can help in customer service by paying more attention to personalizing messages than broadcast messages, 24*7 access to information as against waiting times, smarter speech-enabled applications.
Export-import (Customs):
With China being its largest trade partner at 189 AED billion, followed by India at 116 AED Billion in 2018, according to the official Dubai customs website, the data becomes huge. Chatbots can automate the regulatory compliances, and update on the product status, and serve as a bridge in answering all queries between the customers and manufacturer/retailers.