Virtual assistants and a chatbot are powerful business tools that provide a strong return on investment while enhancing the customer experience. By 2030, chatbots and virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence will handle 30% of customer interactions that would have otherwise been handled by a human agent, a significant increase from the current 2% in 2022. Despite these benefits, there are still many companies that have yet to adopt this solution.
Implementing a conversational AI platform can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it can ultimately bring significant benefits. However, one obstacle to implementing this technology is the need for specialized technical experts, such as data analysts, AI professionals, and graph technology specialists. These experts can be in short supply and often command high salaries, often exceeding $175,000 per year. While this can be a challenge for many companies, there are more cost-effective options available for creating a chatbot to provide an optimal support experience.
It is important to note that not all pre-developed tools are the same. In the past, conversational AI solutions have generally fallen into one of two categories:
Some pre-built tools may be easy to use but ultimately provide poor customer experiences. These chatbots often rely on hardcoded responses or minimal artificial intelligence and machine learning. They are designed to provide fixed responses to specific questions, rather than adapt to the needs of the customer. As a result, they may provide the same response every time, regardless of whether it is accurate or appropriate.
At the other end of the spectrum are tools that enable you to create more sophisticated and personalized customer experiences, but they may be difficult and costly to use. For example, these tools may use advanced natural language processing to power their AI, but creating a customer-facing solution with them may require specialized technical skills such as computer science and front-end development. Additionally, integrating the chatbot into your website can be a complex process.
If your organization lacks the technical expertise or resources to build and manage a complex, expensive AI solution, you may want to consider a conversational AI platform that offers “low code” or “no code” interfaces. These interfaces allow non-technical business users to quickly develop and deploy conversational AI applications that can handle dialog, process natural language, and integrate with existing systems.
Watson Assistant has introduced a no-code visual chatbot builder that allows users to build customer conversations using actions. The tool is designed to be easy to use, even for those without technical expertise, and includes a build guide that is tailored to customer-facing professionals.
IBM’s approach to building customer conversations with actions focuses on logical steps and powerful artificial intelligence that can understand the user’s intent, identify specific pieces of information from the message (called “entities”), and keep the conversation on track without being repetitive. For example, if a customer says “I want to buy one large cheese pizza,” the assistant should not ask for the size, toppings, or quantity, but rather move on to the payment process. Watson Assistant’s AI is designed to understand that if the conversation progresses to a certain point, certain steps can be skipped.
Want to know more about IBM? Visit our course now.
Creating a virtual assistant that can ask clarifying questions is straightforward. If the assistant does not understand something that is said in the chat, it can automatically ask for more information to help get the conversation back on track. This means that the chatbot does not have to be perfect from the start, and can automatically recover if the conversation veers off course. You can also program the chatbot to have predetermined responses, such as asking for an account number and clarifying that it is looking for a numerical value only.
Using Watson Assistant, you can quickly identify and fix any issues with your chatbot, rather than going through a lengthy traditional development cycle. This can save you time and resources, as you can avoid having to go through IT and wait for a developer to make changes that may take weeks or even months to implement.
Low-code and no-code interfaces such as Watson Assistant’s visual chatbot builder allow companies to empower a new class of citizen developers, who may not have professional development or technical skills. With these tools, businesses can easily build chatbots for customer service without needing to know how to code. This gives them more control and flexibility to quickly create chatbots that meet their needs and improve the customer experience.
Dive deeper about a chatbot that requires a coding skills, by clicking here.
Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.
For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com