Chatbots are here to stay
Adoption across sectors shows companies value AI tool to help improve customer experience
Last week, news of Facebook shutting down chatbots after they ostensibly created their own language once again set off the age-old debate around man versus machine. While proponents and detractors quibble over one reported incident, no one can deny that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools are becoming more and more integral to businesses today.
In India too, companies of all sizes are adopting chatbots — applications designed with the aid of AI and ML to perform basic tasks like personalised communication — especially in the fields of banking and finance, IT, travel, education and health care.
Girish Nayak, chief, customer service, operations and technology, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, points out the company has introduced chatbots to address customer queries/conduct transactions for two-wheeler insurance, and for servicing customers seeking quotes for fire and burglary insurance. “The chatbots have helped us add to the customer’s experience and convenience, while responding swiftly. Further, the two-wheeler insurance bots are capable of completing the entire transaction without any human intervention. This has allowed us to service customers 24x7 when it comes to insurance purchase.”
The company has a chatbot platform called MyRA to address customer queries with regard to insurance policy proposals. Among MyRa’s characteristics are enabling comparison of two products of the same category, a conversational feature modelled on natural language processing and ability to predict the next possible query from a customer and display the same in a predictive box along with a chat window. The two-wheeler insurance purchase/renewal chatbot was launched in December 2016, while the SME (small and medium enterprise) focused chatbot was introduced this April.
According to the company, over 60,000 customers have utilised the two-wheeler specific chatbot since its launch, with 10 per cent quotations being generated through the virtual assistance tool. Further, more than 750 policies have been sold through the chatbot without any human intervention. The SME focused chatbot has been utilised in 4,000 cases.
Nayak explains, “The chatbots work on natural language processing. In case the two-wheeler insurance chatbot is not able to understand a question, it seeks additional clarifications to answer the same to the extent possible. At the same time, the unanswered questions are checked regularly to equip the chatbot with the answers. In case of non-resolution of query for the fire quotes chatbot, the same is transferred to a human underwriter to provide a customised quote.”
Smartphone maker Intex is among the early adopters of chatbots. According to Nitin Goel, head, digital services, Intex Technologies, the company has benefitted from the chatbot in terms of establishing a personalised channel to communicate with customers, scaling it up, customising on the go and automation of repetitive tasks.
A bot, he says, can potentially provide greater convenience than apps and web searches because it can understand natural speech patterns and lend the personal touch in an otherwise impersonal user interface. It also offers customers benefits such as 24x7 availability, personalised recommendations and help, singletouch access to various information and technical help.
“Intex is working with a few AI solutions which make consumer life simpler and uncomplicated. With the push on digitalisation, Internet connectivity of consumers has increased massively and they are ready to wade through apps and solutions. Existing customer-centric solutions on our devices which are AI-based such as shopping assistant and photo editors are well received by users. We are also going to soon launch devices with AI-based chatbots,” he adds.
For its subscribers, the company’s partnership with AI-based chatbot is expected to also offer ease of discovery and transaction for services such as recharge, bill payments, etc. “Since text communication is the most preferred medium of interaction on phones, chatbot integration shall help our users to complete tasks through a chat-based module without getting into individual apps or searching for them,” Goel says.
CogniCor, an AI-based platform that offers cognitive virtual assistant solutions that has provided over 30 enterprise bots in the last four years to brands in telecom, financial and IT sectors, is upbeat about a bot revolution in India. Dr. Sindhu Joseph, CEO and cofounder, CogniCor, says India is a prime target for automation in customer engagement, owing to its customer base and a large English-speaking market.
“In fact, from CogniCor’s perspective, India is adopting bots at a faster rate than compared to other markets such as Europe and North America. While most western markets are lured to chatbots primarily to save cost compared to human operators, in India the adoption is driven partly by the necessity to cater to the huge volume of customer interactions in a consistent manner and also by a drive to adopt innovative technologies early on,” she adds.
In a 24X7 connected economy, chatbots are not only useful for companies but also essential for their sustainability, argues Joseph. But there are several challenges that businesses face when adopting chatbots. “Firstly, the roll-out of a chatbot interface needs careful planning on the operational aspects such as scope, pricing model, security and data privacy. As with any AI technology, the output of the system need not be predictive 100 per cent of the time. Hence, companies need to understand this and be prepared.”