Conversational assistants in the time of Coronavirus
As another week of social distancing and quarantine lockdowns pass because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re seeing more companies go through Digital Transformation and changing the way they work. One of the digital technologies that businesses can use to cope up with the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic is the use of Conversational Assistants. In particular, Customer Support is one of the business functions now being augmented by Conversational Assistants. With this technology, businesses can instantly respond to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), only forwarding their concerns to a live agent when its required.
Because of COVID-19, technology companies are forced to rethink how Conversational Assistants are created. In the past, this technology was generally more “robotic” than human. Nowadays, we see Conversational Assistants become part of larger, end-to-end systems and begin to integrate Conversation Design principles to create human-computer teams that are meant to augment existing processes, instead of bogging them down and trying to replace them.
What’s the difference between a Conversational Assistant and a Chatbot?
A Conversational Assistant is a chat or voice assistant that is meant to enhance, rather than replace the skills and functions of the person it’s assisting. It does not replace the job of the person. Rather, it creates opportunities for the person to make better use of their time and skills. On the other hand, a Chatbot is a chat or voice assistant that only does what it’s programmed to do, often without considering how a user will use it.
In general, the difference between Conversational Assistants and Chatbots is that Conversational Assistants have traits such as:
- Naturally communicating with the user
- Avoiding using long messages, jargon, and technical terms
- Understanding the user’s intent without the user explicitly saying what they want to achieve.
While Chatbots usually have traits such as:
- Limiting the user to pre-defined choices to progress the flow
- Using technical terms and unnatural responses (for example, saying “type 1 if you want to do this”)
- Not taking advantage of the chat format by putting large amounts of information in one message
For example, when it comes to Customer Support, a Conversational Assistant can automatically respond to FAQs, and once the Assistant encounters a question that isn’t in the FAQs, a live agent is then brought in to provide their expertise. This is what sets apart regular Chatbots from Conversational Assistants. Conversational Assistants are complete, end-to-end systems that are meant to enhance how people work, instead of just automatically replying to messages.
How can businesses leverage Conversational Assistants in a post COVID-19 world?
Businesses stand a lot to gain from considering Conversational Assistants in their Digital Transformation strategies. Right now, Conversational Assistants shine the most for use cases that deal with a lot of repeatable information, such as answering customer inquiries, or easily collecting information at scale.
Industries that can do e-commerce can take advantage of Conversational Assistants by (1) automating customer inquiries on their current inventory, and (2) automatically collecting customer order information for live agents to handle the fulfillment process.
Companies operating with lean resources can leverage Conversational Assistants to collect and process information from their employees at scale. This can be helpful in, for example, running targeted surveys without using up too much of the HR team’s time.
These are just some of the examples of how businesses can use Conversational Assistants in enhancing existing workflows. However, it is not a silver bullet. Conversational Assistants cannot replace work that needs a human response, such as telemedicine and therapy. In industries where a timely human response is needed, Conversational Assistants might cause more problems than it solves.
Closing thoughts
As with any technology, the best thing to do is to honestly assess whether it provides value to you. Just because it’s a shiny new technology, doesn’t mean you need to use it. On the other hand, just because what you’re using now is perfectly fine, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t find ways to improve the way you work. Digital Transformation is a continuous process, not a one time thing.
In a post COVID-19 world, businesses that successfully transition to digital, and responsibly maximize the technology that comes with it, will no doubt become the leaders of the industry.
