We thrive in a world that is rapidly evolving in terms of digitalization. New inventions are transforming the way we work, connect, and live, thereby positively transforming the quality of our lives. The buzz word ‘AI’ (Artificial Intelligence) continues to trend as smart machines furthermore develop with human-like intelligence to improve efficiency and save man-hours.

What Are Chatbots?

A chatbot is powered by AI and is used by businesses to engage with their audience through the exchange of automated messages. There are more than 300,000 chatbots on Facebook which are majorly focused on marketing and customer support processes. These virtual agents assist customers with their concerns and tend to queries of potential users. Nearly as many as 40% of internet users worldwide prefer interacting with a chatbot, rather than speaking to agents. Whatever industry you cater to, whether it is healthcare, consumer goods, or even banking, chatbots are taking over and are here to stay.

Categories of Chatbots

Some categories of Chatbots that have become popular:

#1 Menu Chatbot

In this fast-paced world, users don’t have much time to navigate through a website and read the content on each tab. They want the required information, without browsing through too many pages and opening numerous links. The ‘menu bot’ basically gives the audience a chance to choose from several drop-down options an item which they want to learn more about and later showcase some more options – based on what you clicked on, ultimately helping the user reach the required info. A nicely drafted welcome message and presenting the correct data with every click are the key to designing a helpful menu bot.

#2 Smart Chatbots

What if a chatbot could understand emotion and have a free-flowing conversation with you, just like a human would do? It is now possible to devise a ‘smart robot’ that can understand intent, language, and sentiment. These chatbots are slightly complicated to program and it requires skill to make the Robot react the way it should in an appropriate scenario. They work as a virtual assistant, in a real-time manner.

#3 Voice Bots

‘Alexa play my favorite tune by Ed Sheeran’, ‘Alexa when is my next meeting scheduled?’…We have become so dependent on Alexa and Siri, our friendly virtual assistants, that we can’t imagine our day without them. Voice bots are convenient, they are pretty smart, and they speak in a language that we understand. Also, it is way more convenient to speak or give out instructions rather than type them out. Hence, voice bots present a rather favorable experience to the end-user.

Advantages of Chatbots

Chatbots are indeed very versatile and user-friendly and they boost engagement by 3X levels, thereby bringing some obvious benefits such as;

Better Service Experience

Chatbots act as a guide and answer relevant questions related to a product or service, that probable customers are interested in. Having a satisfactory response enables the buyer to make a more informed decision and thereby feel happy in making the purchase. A multi-lingual chatbot communicates with people in their local language, thus improving the level of comfort and free flow of communication. Example: Customers from Dubai or other parts of the Middle East, speaking only Arabic, will find ease in sharing their concerns with the bot in their own regional language.

Keeping A check on Budget

Having to hire employees at a service center and set up a 24×7 hotline, is indeed a costly affair. Rather than paying hefty salaries and spending money on rent, it makes sense to automate the process by replacing human efforts with a chatbot. Chatbots can be customized to play a role under different scenarios, and fully tend to the query, or at least answer it partially, before passing on the ‘ticket’ to an employee within the organization.

Seeking feedback

The fastest and most authentic way to get feedback from the customer is to allow the chatbot to do it on your behalf. The bot collects MCQ data and passes it on to the sales & marketing teams, to take it forward from there.

Code Monkey was introduced to challenge the old-fashioned way of studying, by introducing learning aids that are engaging & fun for the learners. With an in-depth understanding of technology, Code Monkey designs modules’ for teaching coding to students, as young as fourth graders. Schools across the world, especially in tech-advanced countries like the UAE and other regions of GCC, encourage parents to make use of the Code Monkey platform. Amongst many of its interesting modules, the most prominent one is ‘create your own chatbot’. Here children 13+ years, build their own chatbot in Python language and solve real-world problems by using their skills.

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