By: Merve Cicektakan Gogus, Associate Consultant

Who is on the line – a robot, or human?

The answer to this question used to be so simple not long ago. Now, with advances in conversational AI, the gap between humans and robots is diminishing so much that we may not be able to distinguish them from each other. And robots are everywhere!

Oracle describes a chatbot as ‘a computer program that simulates and processes human conversation (either written or spoken), allowing humans to interact with digital devices as if they were communicating with a real person’. Although the chatbot’s invention goes back as far as the 1960s, it has started to be used widely in the last decade, with advances in AI, NLP (Natural Language Processing, ML, ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition), and given the fact that they have been enabled on messaging platforms. Conversational AI in chatbots has been a life changer as robots’ understanding of human language, interaction, and ability to keep up with changes in conversations minimized the friction customers experienced back then.

One of the most benefited sectors from this new technology is finance. Some examples show as much as a 75% decrease in the cost of solving customer questions and problems in this sector alone. Although customer care is the first use case that comes to mind, there are many more ways to utilize a chatbot. There are so many resources on why a business should utilize a chatbot. Now, I want to focus more on the forgotten stakeholders: customers and employees.

Let’s look at what can an NLP-supported, conversational chatbot do for them in real world cases.

Source: 99firms

How can a chatbot help a customer?

It can solve problems:

Think of a simple problem – Let’s say a customer wants to close his banking card to online shopping. His shopping account is stolen, and he fears the perpetrators might steal all his money. He checks out his mobile banking application, but there are so many menus that he finds it complicated. He wants to reach out to the bank, but waiting on the line is time-consuming.

Then, he sees the small chat icon and clicks on it. He states his problem, and the bot does the rest for him. No waiting time, no hassle. It also warns him about possible problems and offers to freeze his card for a day. After completing the transaction, the customer is content.

Here, I am not talking about an FAQ bot or a rule-based algorithm that adds to a customer’s anxiety. Bots are getting smarter every day – IBM’s Watson understands 79% of what the customer intends to do. The ideal chatbot is conversational and smart, can understand his complex language, gives him the solution he needs, and even more. It can generate automated solutions for complex problems, and ensure fast, borderless, and seamless customer service.

It can offer personalized advice:

For instance, a chatbot can understand a customer’s spending and saving habits and come up with a plan on how debt can be better managed.

Think of a situation where a customer does not have enough money in his account but instead has a credit card-related debt. When he is thinking of how the payment can be made, the chatbot says “Hey, would you like me to split the hospital bill into installments? I see that this is quite a sum and a one-time cost.”

Although this recommendation seems like a straightforward one, it is quite personalized in the sense that the bot knows the customer’s income and spending habits. What is best is, the smart bots can do this in bulk, which eases the path to scaling up.

It can perform transactions:

Chatbots can be used in both written and spoken engagements and are there for the customer when she is not able to perform a transaction manually.

Let’s say a woman is at home, sitting on the sofa, when she realizes that she must send her son some money. Normally, she would have to reach out to her phone which is charging on the wall, and perform the transaction manually. She then remembers that she has a virtual assistant. She calls out to her assistant and asks to send money to her son. Without any inconvenience, her transaction is completed.

Financial transactions are a part of our daily life – we need to pay bills, send money, check out our investments, keep a tab on our debt, if any, etc. Chatbots should be able to help regardless of when we need them, or how we communicate. Google mentions that 53% of people have a voice-activated device, and the users are getting more and more comfortable using them every day. Utilizing chatbots in all devices is becoming more of a necessity. The location is not limited to the physical world either, as monetary transactions are expected to soar virtually.

How can chatbots help employees?

It can ease a frontline worker’s job:

Chatbots are adept at handling repetitive tasks and huge volumes of queries. This helps frontline workers focus more on meaningful tasks or complex problems, thus shortening the waiting times for customers.

Every day, a call center agent receives a large number of calls – talking to people non-stop and trying to solve their problems. There is a huge waiting line for customers (who are naturally annoyed). Although most problems are repetitive and can be easily solved, the agent still wastes so much time trying to mitigate them.

Now, imagine a chatbot in this situation. The agent can now talk only to the customers who really need assistance as the chatbot handles the rest. Since the customer would have mentioned the problem beforehand, the agent will have all the information without asking again (repeating a problem is annoying, again). Considering the agent’s workload is much lighter now, the customer does not have to wait for long, and the problem is solved quickly.

A customer’s and agent’s happiness levels are strongly interlinked. A frustrated, anxious customer who has been waiting on the line for long will not be easy to handle. When a customer asks the same question again and again, the agent would get angry as well (as we are all human). Studies show that stressful working environments and heavy workloads are two of the key reasons why a frontline worker is not happy at work. When customers handle most of their problems through chatbots, it will help relieve frustration and ensure a smooth problem-solving process.

It helps employees communicate their questions and problems within the company:

Onboarding is a process of confusion where the new employee not only have questions about the job itself, but also the most basic HR rules and procedures.

Let’s assume the new employee wants to learn about the vacation policy but is hesitant to ask her manager fearing whether it would look good or not. The employee also does not want to ask her colleagues, since she doesn’t know any of them too well. Finding the right HR representative is a time-consuming process, albeit the best option.

The employee then sees a chatbot on the company’s intranet. The bot knows who she is, when she started working, what are her roles and responsibilities, in which country she is in, etc. She asks her question, and the answer is provided immediately.

An employee, from the first engagement in recruitment to the end of employment, may have many questions about various processes, leaves, company rules, HR policies, training, etc. Considering 31% of new employees leave a company within the first six months, creating a strong onboarding experience with the help of a chatbot is essential. According to Glassdoor, organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%. Also, 65% of employees mentioned that they feel “optimistic, excited, and grateful” to have an AI bot as a ‘co-worker.’ These bots are not only chat icons, but trusted peers that help us when needed.

Conclusion:

While chatbots have started to gain prominence in our lives, especially in the last decade, there is much room for improvement. However, it is apparent that chatbots are here to stay. Finance is a complicated and nerve-wracking sector with constantly evolving products and interest rates, and high monetary risks associated. Utilizing chatbots helps fill the gaps between channels and individuals, and at the same time, eliminates waste and anxiety by shortening the time to get answers for both customers and employees.