Most companies have lists of frequently asked questions that they provide for their customers instead of chatbots.
But that is so last decade! Now, instead of the online visitor trying to find the link to the FAQs, they can open a chat window and ask their questions there to a live customer service agent. However, a group of Vietnamese developers is looking take it one step further by replacing human chat representatives with chatbots.
You may be asking, What is a chatbot? It’s a computer program powered with a high volume of information, artificial intelligence and machine learning, which understands the context, natural language and is turbo-charged to process user queries in few milliseconds.
The app developers tested the program to answer chats on an online admissions web page for a Vietnamese university.
“Hi,” a student said on an online admissions web page of a university.
“Hi! What can I do to help you?” Hana, the chat bot replied through a chat window, vocalizing the answer using a female voice.
“What subjects are available at the school?” the student asked.
“Our school educates students in chemistry, biology, and information technology.”
The conversation continued, with question after question from the student about scores, tuition, admissions percentage, facilities, and faculty members.
Hana answered the questions smoothly, without hesitation.
One reason Nguyen Minh Kien is creating this chatbot is to help businesses provide better customer support. Between 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, when surveys show that most people are accessing the internet, most customer support employees have left the office. Hana could help provide support during those hours and whenever a live associate is not available.
This artificial intelligence product will help Vietnamese businesses meet their customers’ needs and cut prices. It costs about $25/month but is only available in Vietnam. The developers’ dream is not only to help domestic businesses but also businesses in Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Japan. “The world is beginning to use artificial intelligence, but this is a new field in Vietnam.” says lead developer Kien. “We have a great foundation, which are the group members who have expertise in and passion for artificial intelligence. When we saw that businesses have a demand for programs like ours, we began to develop Hana.”
Still, some people, like Matt Tumbleson from venturebeat.com, think AI customer service platforms like Hana may never replace humans. He says that “as exciting as chatbots have become, they are not ready for prime time when it comes to customer interaction — the A.I. just isn’t as intelligent as it needs to be. However, bots bring tremendous potential to customer service agents who can manage them and oversee the inputs and outputs.”
Leading live chat companies like Rhino Support offer online visitors an option to view the company’s pre-determined and ever-expanding knowledge base before, during, or instead of a live chat – decreasing the need for using a live customer support agent. Rhino Support is based in the United States and allows businesses to handle all their customer support issues from a single platform.
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