AI and Machine Learning MARKET REPORT
15%interactions via a chatbot
Convince and Convert
INDUSTRIES THAT COULD BENEFIT FROM BOTS
According to SmartMonkey Advisors, while virtually every industry can
benefi t from both hardware and software robots, there are some specifi c
industries that can benefi t from an analytical, smart bot that learns and
grows based on experience.
FINANCE ADVICE BOT
Financial analyses have become huge in the age of data science and
business intelligence. Likewise, a smart bot that monitors the fi nancial
systems on a global scale, and communicates with the pertinent offi cers,
can greatly aid in increasing a company’s effi ciency, and can help to
mitigate costly fi nancial mistakes. Such a bot could integrate with fi nancial
enterprise suites, or be the personal assistant of CFOs. Such a bot could
help with a user’s personal fi nances and banking by offering key advice
based on the AI bot’s complex fi nancial analysis and “learning” of the
pertinent markets.
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN BOT
Along with virtually any campaign, a political bot could greatly aid in
helping politicians to craft their campaigns based on the analysis of data,
and the AI’s ability to process numerous factors could help campaigners
operate in a more strategic manner.
MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT BOT
Chatbots that reach fans in a more engaging and customised way could
help virtually every facet of the entertainment industry. Apps integrated
with Chatbots, smart TV’s (with entertainment apps), or media stations
that utilise bots could guide fans in a way that increases TV/social media
views and help to advertise the pertinent videos or music to the correct
demographics.
RESTAURANT INDUSTRY BOT
Restaurants could benefi t largely from chatbots by streamlining customer
order delivery, aiding customers with making reservations online,
answering customer questions about their menu, and much more.
your product is, but they can
use a combination of preprogrammed
and typical user
questions to point a user in the
direction of a troubleshooting
guide, article or assess which
department to direct an enquiry
to.”
Bots as part of a marketing
strategy
ere’s a far wider picture to be
looked at when considering the
use of Chatbots and their use
needs putting in perspective.
As reported by Convince
and Convert, a study - by
SurveyMonkey Audience -
revealed that telephone/email
still represents the most common
form of communication between
customers and companies, with
60 per cent of adults surveyed
indicating that they had used
such mechanisms within the year
to communicate with a business.
Contrasting this, 38 per cent
indicated that they had used an
online chat system in the prior
year, while 30 per cent indicated
that they had used a company’s
mobile app to interact with the
brand, which is more than the 28
percent who indicated that they
had engaged with a business via
social media.
What is really interesting about
these gures is this. Compared
to these numbers, 15 per cent of
adults have indicated engaging
with a brand via a chatbot in the
past 12 months, which equals the
approximate percentage owning
a smart speaking system (e.g.
Amazon Alexa, Google Home).
Additionally, according to
Bloomberg, chatbots (as of 2017)
had already outpaced mobile
apps in development rates, and
sadly, according to Gartner, by
2020, most people will ‘talk’ with
chatbots more often than with
their spouse.
While some may doubt the
usability and practicality of AI
and chatbots - and may see them
as impractical novelties or a
modern business “fad” - the fact
is, chatbots have a myriad of reallife
uses that many companies
have already leveraged to make
life easier for both personnel and
customers.
Asked what were the best
ways to use bots in your digital
marketing strategy, Emily
Nerland of Masergy says there are
several established methods:
“Research aggregation – bots
can collate information much
quicker than the best researchers.
Usually, a string of text
commands like ‘what are the top
articles on billing?’ for example,
can be used to automate research
that may take hours.
Customer Communication
and Lead Management – Hightra
c websites receive a lot of
simple enquiries that can be
addressed by a bot. rough a
list of pre-programmed questions
and resulting actions, bots
can facilitate requests for basic
information (articles, FAQs,
contact details, troubleshooting
guides) and personalise the
content sent. bot’s can also use
the same methodology to identify
where a prospect or website visitor
is in their customer journey,
which can be helpful for a sales
team to subsequently follow up at
a later time.
Customer services – Much
like the telephone services that
ask callers to ‘press 1 for this, 2
for that…’ bots can assess the
needs of a customer needing
technical or account support,
in order to direct the user to the
right contact details (or transfer
them to a representative) far more
e ciently than through a call or
email enquiry.”
What do we understand from
the term ‘Machine Learning’
in the context of current
applications?
According to Emily Nerland
of Masergy Machine Learning
programs have speci c functions
and are only aware of a limited
amount of information.
“If we’re talking Natural
Language Processing (how
bots learn to speak), bots are
fed thousands of conversations
to develop a vocabulary and
sentence structure and certain
functions are coded to ensure
the bot isn’t talking about the
weather when they should be >
Emily Nerland, Channel
Director EMEA, Masergy
www.commsbusiness.co.uk December 2019 | Comms Business Magazine | 31
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