The Future Trend of Chatbots

Receiving multiple inquiries from potential customers is exciting. Unless you don’t have enough staff to deal with the influx. That’s just one common business problem chatbots have been developed to solve. A chatbot can talk to a number of customers who are vying for a company’s attention. With recent technological advances, chatbots are not able to fulfil customer requests all on its own.

Chatbots are Everywhere

Interact with any large business and you’ll find yourself speaking with a chatbot. Leaders in many industries have built their own, from Paypal to Dominoes. More companies are expanding their infrastructure to include chatbots,  even outside of the realm of customer service.

Dell Technologies projects that chatbots will be designed as personal assistants for everyone in an organization, taking on tasks like organizing meetings and booking vacation time. Chatbots can take on other tasks too, like ordering supplies, invoicing clients, or receiving employee’s sick calls.

Essentially every business model has a place for a chatbot, creating large demand. Experts project that the chatbot market in the U.S. will grow from its existing $703 million to a startling $3 billion by 2021. What’s pushing this growth? Some great tech advances!

Technological Changes

In the past, chatbots were somewhat unwieldy. Think of SmarterChild, the bot that entertained instant messaging users, but was easily confused. While many people spoke to Smarterchild every day it felt more like a novelty than a program that provided value to users. Those days are gone.

Advances in the understanding of natural language means that bots are ready to respond to more complicated queries from users. While scripts are a useful part of a bot’s repertoire, the best can predict what other information they should offer to the customer. If the information is the main request, then integration with a search engine like Google or Bing is possible.

One of the most surprising elements of a chatbot is its personality, which developers insist is a key part of creating an engaging and popular bot. Robert Hoffer, a creator of SmartChild, told NPR that “In order for your bot to be popular, it has to have a personality, and in order for it to have a personality, it has to have a soul.”

NPR details how Digit, a banking app, sends a GIF called “making it rain” when users have a high balance in their savings account. And, they explain that Amy and Andrew, two bots designed to schedule meetings, and even apologize differently depending on how many times they’ve had to reschedule a meeting.

Your Chatbot

While there are companies specializing in creating your chatbot for you, the project is best left to an in-house tech team. Chatbots are still extensive projects that require a time and large investment to get completed correctly.

Finding web developers with experience in these areas may be a difficult task, considering the technology is new. Technical expertise is not the only quality you’ll need in a developer. You’ll also need a creative-type who can build your bot to have a personality that reflects your business’ brand.

If you’re looking for team members to help build your company’s chatbot, you need an IT recruiter to help you find the right people. At Live Assets, we can get you connected with the best developers to craft the kind of chatbot that works right for your business. Contact us today for more information on how we can help connect you with qualified candidates.