Bots are on the march.
No longer just rudimentary Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solutions, AI is turning them into clever speech and messaging attendants capable of delivering an (almost) human-like communication experience.
Flourishing thanks to the continuing evolution of Natural Language Understanding technology, increasingly sophisticated bots are delivering user enhancements, increased efficiencies, and productivity boosts wherever they are deployed.
For organisations and their communication technology providers, the opportunities to leverage these gains are everywhere. All that is required is a vendor partnership capable of helping to maximize them.
“They used to be called chat bots, but AI bots is now an altogether more appropriate name because they are no longer specific to voice or web chat – Natural Language Understanding makes that possible, and it is changing everything,” says Dennis Menard, Application Design Specialist at global enterprise-class provider ComputerTalk, whose ice Contact Center platform boasts a plethora of feature-rich, next gen bot functionality.
“AI bots can be used across all communication channels, including voice, SMS, social media, and third-party messaging apps such as WhatsApp and others. Leveraging natural language to do so means organisations are no longer limited to old school IVR functionality which invites voice callers to press one for this or two for that. The door is now open to a new art of the possible, and the returns on investment are significant.”
Among the recent innovations is ‘call steering’ – where a bot asks voice callers what they are looking for and is automatically able to route calls based on their spoken response. This replaces nested menus of choices previously relayed to callers who use their phone keypads to select an option. Call times are shorter because playing multiple prompts takes time. Also, the user experience is enhanced for mobile callers who, for example, are driving or otherwise constrained by an inability to press touch tones.
ComputerTalk’s ice platform also offers ‘Say My Name’ bot functionality, where callers speak the name of the person to whom they wish to be connected, rather than requiring that person’s extension number; and ‘Slot Filling’, where, for example, a large hotel chain can deliver group-wide information to callers as well as insert separate, specific information relevant only to an individual hotel being called.