During one of my meetings with a CEO of a notable company, I was questioned on the efficiency and legitimacy of Chatbots… With so much anger apparent on his face as if to say that he really could not get what the fuss was all about, his expressions said it all; needless to say, he seemed as though he couldn’t but feel helpless against not fully grasping the idea of how chatbots work. Nonetheless, he wanted to have a Chatbot in his organization, and it was his right to do so. Our firm conviction at Chatbot Agency has always been that a Chatbot will bring value to any business.

For this reason, I decided to dedicate a small article to explaining and simplifying what chatbots are all about, with hopes that this former CEO- and all those who have not grasped the concept- finally do understand the underlying benefits that a Chatbot brings to any organization and become able to envision what it entails.

Hence… What is a Chatbot?

A Chatbot – also known as a conversational bot, chatterbot, interactive agent, conversational interface, or talk Bot – is typically defined as a computer program or an artificial intelligence model that conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods.

Beyond chatbots, Conversational AI refers to messaging apps such as FB Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, KIK, and WeChat, among others, as speech-based assistants and chatbots to automate communication and create personalized customer experiences at scale.

Further, chatbots generally use sophisticated Natural Language Processing systems, but many simpler ones scan for keywords within the input; accordingly, chatbots generate a reply with the most matching keywords, or the most similar wording pattern, from a database.

How Can a Chatbot Benefit Your Organization?

Chatbots have several benefits over traditional GUIs and can be highly effective in answering customers’ queries, directing them to the desired segment, and even taking their order requests.

With the correct programming, the conversational UIs that chatbots offer are optimized; in other words, they can understand natural language and translate it into actions. Rather than navigating through an interface or website to find information, Chatbots process what users say or type. Given that the bot gives that human-like feel over the traditional channels, many underlying tools- but into effect- would enable companies to effortlessly communicate with multiple users at once, in more than one language.

Although these tools do not allow companies to communicate with people on an individual level instantaneously, a suitable representative can be summoned at any point; simultaneously, individual targeting is enhanced, and mass amounts of people are reached.