My Name is Bot… Chat-Bot

App Overload

Remember back in 2008 when App Stores were launched, how people used to be excited - "Wow! There is an App for this". And, now 8 years and a few million Apps later – we are all suffering from an App-overload. Last month I talked about how App Stores are getting irrelevant and now I'm convinced that I have developed an "Appathy" and I'm not alone. One of the most frequently heard statement now is "Shit! There is an App for this". The wow is not only gone – it has turned into an App fatigue and refusal to install any more meaningless Apps. Here are a few of my unusable use cases:

• My fridge was leaking water and I wanted to contact the manufacturer's support center. Guess what? There is an App for that. They expected me to go to the App store, search and install their App. I guess this way - I would end up with 10 different Apps for all the different manufacturers and appliances I have at home. Some manufacturers even claim to have a 'smart diagnosis' App. Not going to happen - I ended up calling their toll free line.
• I was a at a movie and while watching aliens invading our planet – for a strange reason I developed a craving for nachos. And, you guessed it – the movie theater had an App for ordeingr food. I didn't install that App and instead I disturbed many people twice – to go out to get nachos and then coming back munching.

I am sure there are many such possible scenarios where you were also forced or at least tempted to install a new App and then delete it after 30 minutes. That begs the question – why are people still developing Apps that no one wants to use?

Messaging rules the internet traffic

Messaging services are ruling the internet right now. Since 2014, chat messages have taken over phone calls in the US. WhatsApp has about a billion users and so does Facebook messaging – the messaging platforms have become a serious business platform just by the sheer reach of it. Satya Nadella sees the future as 'Conversation as a Platform' and that makes a lot of sense. The messaging platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook, Wechat, Telegram) and conversation platforms like Siri, Cortana are the future. The advantage for a business to piggy-back on these messaging Apps is tremendous - mainly, they don't have to convince a user to install another stupid App.

AI and Analytics are the future

Anything that we see or touch today will be run by AI and analytics very soon. Google has silently transformed itself from a search company to a AI company and the others are on their way to the AI nirvana. There is no escaping from AI and analytics - from Tesla to Boeing all our transports are rules by them, from Amazon to Uber - our daily lives are aided by them. Deep learning is embedding itself in multiple technology and business stacks and Chat-Bots are taking it to another level.

Enter Bots.. Chat-Bots

You probably have heard the news of a Chat-Bot working as a lawyer that overturned 160,000 parking tickets in London and New York. There are many more examples of Chat-Bots helping users across domains – they are providing shopping assistance, healthcare counseling, food ordering to name a few. And, it has just started. Chat-Bots are basically computer programs that mimic conversation with people using Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning. They can transform the way we interact with the internet and can handle a lot of self-initiated tasks to a quasi-conversation.

The advantages of Chat-Bots over an App are plenty:

• No need for a download, so users can use them instantaneously
• They can utilize an already established messaging platform, hence no need to change user behavior
• Much better customer intelligence and service
• Good deal for small business as they can play on a level-field with the big players
• Ultra personalized and can be tuned for marketing and sales - a great tool for up-selling and cross-selling
• Extremely scalable and in fact the service does not need to scale up - the messaging platform does
• They reside on the server and hence upgrading is easy - no download for the users when a new version is released
• Servicing via multiple chat platforms is very easy as the front-end needs to change, the bac- end remains the same

I see the reference architecture for a Service Oriented Chat-Bot as follows: 

Now, let's go back to my starting scenarios and let’s convert them to use cases. For the servicing of a home appliance - I will simply have to go to the 'service area' of the Facebook/WeChat/WhatsApp messenger. The Chat-Bot will ask me what type of appliance I have, the brand, model and automatically run the appropriate support and/or diagnostic programs. I neither need to remember any website or App name, nor do I need to go anywhere outside my familiar messaging platform.

For the movie theater - all I need is a code printed on the back of the chair in front of me. I will just scan it and it will automatically load the correct Chat-Bot from where I can order some food in a few words.

The future

There are a lot of startups experimenting in the area - some that caught my eye are:

• The weather bot is pretty good
• The H&M chat-bot tags along as an enthusiastic sales associate into your online shopping experience
•  https://niki.ai/ looks really promising

• https://purplle.com/ has had some success
• https://www.fitcircle.in/ does some serious stuff, and of course there are a lot more.

By no means the Chat-Bot has matured as a technology - the future is yet to be discovered. The Kik Bot Store already has quite a few bots, including the Weather Channel, H&M, Vine and Funny or Die. The open platform will allow developers to add their own programs, as long as they comply with Kik’s standards.

We have seen how Microsoft failed with their Tay Chat-Bot - but, make no mistake, they will be back. If you thought MS-DOS ruled the world - wait for MS-BOS (Bot Operating System) to rule again.