Across all industries, conversational artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an integral part of business practices. Thanks to advances in conversational AI, more and more consumers see the benefits of chatbots.

They don’t see them as less empathetic and less knowledgeable than humans anymore. About 30% of respondents to the State of Customer Service Automation 2019 survey consider chatbots to be very useful and would knowingly engage with a customer support chatbot. But, as great as these numbers are, the importance of Conversational AI goes beyond the ability to make chatbots more human-like. Apply for artificial intelligence course in bangalore to know more.

What is Conversational AI?

Conversational AI is a set of technologies that enable human-like communication between humans and computers via speech-enabled applications and automated messaging.

To make interactions more “natural” as well as useful, conversational AI uses machine learning and natural language processing. A “bot” is a software solution that utilizes conversational AI to perform human-like conversations.

Text-only bots are called chatbots. If you have used a virtual assistant such as Microsoft’s Cortana or Apple’s Siri, you have experienced conversational AI. You can check out this post on Servisbot if you want to learn more about how conversational AI platforms work.

Increased Efficiency and Customer Engagement

The importance of conversational AI lies in its business applications and the ability to significantly improve customer service and customer engagement. For instance, the words “customer engagement” and “automation” weren’t a natural fit until conversational AI came along.

To create savings, many companies take their business model online. But online channels such as FAQ pages are impersonal. This can cause businesses to lose the close connection they have with their customers, resulting in decreased customer loyalty and, in turn, financial losses rather than savings.

Conversational AI offers a solution to this problem as it engages customers with a two-way conversation in an intuitive and human-like manner while performing intelligent automation behind the scenes. On top of all of this, conversational AI delivers fast and accurate responses.

The use of virtual assistants and chatbots in banking is a perfect example of how conversational AI can increase customer engagement through intelligent automation. Over the last couple of decades, computer and mobile devices replaced traditional main street banks where familiar banking staff performed most of the transactions and tasks.

And now, conversational AI allows banks to give a human touch to their digital transformation. Banks can use virtual assistants or chatbots to engage with customers via natural language and offer them the service they need in a faster and frictionless way.

Banks can integrate their AI solutions with robotic process automation (RPA). RPA is a technology designed to automate business processes. This allows clients to apply for loans, make payments, transfer balances, report fraud, report a lost card, convert currencies, and get assistance for many more client-facing banking services.

Chatbots and virtual assistants can engage with a client in a two-way conversation, ask questions, discuss their needs with them, and offer them relevant options.

By performing these tasks, conversational AI frees up the customer service agents’ time and allows them to focus on more important work. Instead of trying to guess what the needs of their clients are and guide them through dropdown menus, website clicks, and form-filling, conversational AI allows banks to understand exactly what their clients want.

Conversational AI is an important tool for many businesses exactly because of these types of integration benefits and it can be a universal interface for a wide variety of business procedures.

Fluid Conversations at Scale

Not so long ago, companies interacted with customers on their own terms. But, with the emergence of a wide range of new communication channels, things have changed. Now, we are used to talking to our coworkers over Teams, texting friends on WhatsApp, asking Alexa to recommend movies to us, and relying on Siri to help us find our way around town.

Because of this, we expect to get an omnichannel experience. But, usually, when we communicate with our favorite clothing store, utility service, or bank, we don’t get this. Instead, the level of functionality often depends on the choice of a mobile app or website, and the choices they give us are far more rigid.

Now, companies can offer customers a seamless omnichannel experience by integrating conversational AI into back end processes and systems. This allows customers to conduct the same type of activities as if they were calling customer support or browsing a website.

Widdy, the chatbot of Widiba, an Italian bank, is a perfect example of this. The bank decided to use the web-based conversational AI app they already had as the main communication tool in their new VR app. Thanks to conversational AI, their customers can talk to a digital assistant while wandering around their virtual branch.

Conversational AI allows companies to port their conversational apps across different languages and channels without making significant changes. This allows businesses to divert inbound queries away from channels that use a lot of resources.

A company can maximize the benefit of existing channels and seamlessly incorporate conversational AI if it already uses CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) technology to embed video, voice, and chat into customer-facing apps.

Takeaway

Conversational AI is not a business trend that will go away. Conversational AI is a logical solution for businesses that have recognized the importance of digitalizing their processes, services, and customer attention. As conversational AI continues to improve, organizations around the world will see greater and greater leaps in what they are able to achieve. Learn more about it at artificial intelligence course