Chatbots are changing the world, sit back and relax

I’ll be honest, sometimes I find communicating with people exhausting - it’s probably one of the reasons I got into technology in the first place. It’s not that I don’t like people, but in business, face-to-face communication can be a real drain on your time and resources. We’ve all sat in meetings we didn’t need to be in, or answered the same question day in, day out to a revolving door of people - and it’s not like the experience is any better for the person on the other side of the conversation. Have you ever called a customer service line, given them your details (over a phone line that sounds like an AM radio in the middle of a thunderstorm) then been transferred, only to be asked to repeat everything? Amazingly in our connected world, in some places this is still considered a customer experience.

Online chat is rapidly becoming the norm - a friendly little box in the bottom right of a website asking if someone can solve your woes - but with the same stressed out contact centre people behind it, at best it’s a Band-Aid fix and it’s starting to peel under the pressure. I was complaining to a colleague about it one day, and he responded with the 5 most soothing words I’ve heard in a long time:

“There’s a bot for that”

Five minutes later I’m talking with a Chatbot who is walking me through checking, paying for, and adjusting my phone plan – I was having a conversation with a computer, but not in the disjointed, clunky, “I’m sorry I didn’t quite get that” way you’d expect on those lovely interactive voice recognition systems. I talked to a few more Chatbots that day, each painlessly holding up the other end of the exchange while steering me to the end goal, whether it is ordering a pizza, transferring money or booking a holiday.

To me, Chatbots are a turning point in technology, up there with the likes of Cloud Computing and Social Media - and the impact is going to be profound. These remarkable little robots have boundless potential, and a quick search online will show you how creative developers are getting with them. There are the usual suspects - shopping, paying accounts, and booking flights - but there are also the pioneers. Healthcare bots that talk to a person to gather details, then make suggestions and connect them with Doctors. Amy Ingram, the Personal Assistant Bot, has fooled users into thinking she was a real person. Kip polls a group of people to simplify group purchases, and can even make purchases using Emojis (much to my teenage children’s disgust).

At work the other day I found one of my employees seemingly holding a conversation (discretely) with himself. I went over to investigate, and he was integrating a Chatbot he had written to work with the voice-activated Google Home. This little helper will check anything from your bank balance to that graffiti you reported to your Council last week. Sit back and relax - the bots have it covered.

Interested in learning about ChatBots? Magia is running free events in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney in November.