Intelligent Service is Ready for Business: AI and Chatbots

Jermaine Lindsay | September 2017

Technology has transformed our lives, our work, and the level of service we expect. Over the past 25 years, we’ve seen technology and software systems usher in productivity gains, integrate disparate customer experiences, and produce a connected network of applications so companies might compete through speed. The next phase is upon us – the application of artificial intelligence (AI). 

According to a recent Gartner study, 85% of customer interactions will be managed without human intervention by 2020. This trend accelerates what is currently happening today. The power of brand and loyalty from a customer experience is already well known. According to TechEmergence, chatbots are expected to be the number one consumer application of AI over the next five years. At Slalom, we want to help you and your organization be ahead of the AI curve. That’s why we recommend getting acquainted with chatbots now.

What is a chatbot and how might I start?

A chatbot is software that responds to conversational cues in a manner resembling a human-to-human interaction. An early example from fifteen years ago is SmarterChild, a chatbot developed by ActiveBuddy Inc., in the early 2000s. Chatbots work by processing patterns or phrases to determine exactly what sentiment, or request, is being posed. With the help of AI, they can intelligently determine the context of a conversation and take appropriate action.

Chatbots are available twenty-four hours a day. They can predict a customer’s needs and suggest relevant next actions, including initiating workflows to speed and simplify the customer’s support experience. With each advance in AI technology, bot logic becomes less and less distinguishable from human thought/action, and presents enormous opportunities for organizations.

An easy place to starting work with AI is within your customer relationship management (CRM) system. Salesforce is one such platform that continues to invest heavily in innovation around their product offerings to enable their customers to produce more efficiently and move more nimbly. For instance, with chatbots, a single agent can maintain between four and ten active customer dialogues, compared to a single dialogue over the phone. Chatbots connected to a workflow completed simple customer requests and for more complex requests chatbots acted as delegators. Specifically, they determined how to disposition, update, or route a request without interrupting a service professional. 

Some Final Thoughts

The time to start is now. Your customers want and expect the highest level of support and brand experiences. While AI is capturing imagination and grabbing major headlines, Chatbots are quietly maturing with little fanfare, despite delivering tremendous value across a variety of industries. We see AI and bots as delivering complementary value – value that companies like Salesforce are poised to deliver. At Slalom, we can help you explore the potential for your business and discover how to take advantage of AI and bots to benefit you and your customers.

Want to learn more about our approach to AI? Contact me at [email protected] or comment with questions below.

Jermaine Lindsay is a Principal Consultant within the Slalom Chicago Customer Engagement practice.