Many organizations and companies feel the need to automate their internal business processes, with the goal of reducing operating costs and improving productivity.
Automating business processes in your organization can be incredibly beneficial as they can reduce the cost of job tasks by 30% while doubling your efficiency.
Chatbots are a perfect tool for this, by using a messaging interface, such as Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Slack, or web-based chats.
They use artificial intelligence to understand what their user has said and access an underlying logic model to decide how to respond.
Also, modern chatbots have the ability to interact with third-party systems to retrieve information that they may need for a response, but also to trigger actions.
The first thing you should do to select the best process to automate is to understand the differences between humans and machines.
Humans are better when it comes to dealing with uncertainty and the new, as machines can't handle it yet and often can't deal with unexpected changes. Computers cannot completely replace humans under these conditions.
Repetition of routine tasks affects concentration, which can lead to mistakes. Computers, on the other hand, excel in this field. Additionally, tasks performed by computers can be massively scaled, which is not easily accomplished with human workers.
These differences define the factors to consider when selecting the correct process for automation.
Select a process that is based on rules. A process that follows a strict set of rules is more suitable for automation than one that is open to judgment.
About 3/4 of all tasks in organizations are rule based and can be automated with the right tool. Even if the process requires judgment, it can be broken down into smaller parts, some of which can be automated.
Make sure the process is repetive and standardizable. The automated process needs to be established and cannot change frequently. The tasks should be the same, carried out in the same order, and have very few exceptions.
Defining the process as a good fit for automation is not enough. After you've selected your use case, ask yourself: Does the automation create value?
Not all use cases that can be automated are worth it. The automation of business processes should have a positive impact on your organization that exceeds the resources spent: reduced costs, greater precision, elimination of human errors, etc.
Even if the potential for process automation is very high, that doesn't mean it should be automated.
A Chat application can provide an effective communication channel to solve many business processes through an integrated Chatbot. Let's take a look at a few areas:
Enhanced Lead Generation and Conversions: Marketing Campaigns, Lead Generation, and Conversions, can be customized and delivered to specific customers.
Customer Service: Chatbots provide a quick interface to resolve your customer inquiries. As the chatbot continues to learn from customer interactions, it can gradually begin to tackle more complex queries.
Payment services: Payment services that use a chat-based interface can provide a truly seamless customer experience. For example, WeChat customers in China can pay for certain verified businesses and restaurants from within the chat app itself.
PayPal has also announced a Chatbot that customers can use for payments.
Media and News: Chatbots provide another dedicated channel for personalized distribution of news and media content.
Direct and cross selling. Direct and cross selling can be automated with chatbots. For example, when placing an order for a meal at dinner time, the chatbot may recommend placing an order for dessert and drinks.
When combined with paid services, Chatbots serve as a complete shopping solution.
As a business, you may be tempted to implement a chatbot to reach your customers. Before hiring a Chatbots service, here are some important things that you should take time to reflect on:
What business process does the Chatbot automates or simplifies? You must have a communication related business process or use case where chatbots can improve customer communications.
Whether the identified business process can eliminate human interaction. It's important to understand that while AI and NLP-based ChatBots are getting smarter, there may be areas where they are not a good fit. Better employee training could be a better solution.
Use customer feedback to gain insight into their processes. Analysis of customer feedback can point to areas of communication that have lower levels of satisfaction. These communication areas can be a good candidate for ChatBot development.
Chatbots can be an effective tool to improve communications with your customers, improve customer engagement, and give your end users a better experience. Chatbots are an answer to a large number of problems based on customer interaction. However, you should analyze the applicability of Chatbots to your specific business problems.
