What is Conversational AI and Is it Better than a Chatbot?

As AI technology has evolved over the past decade; the vast number of AI solutions available has made evaluation and management overwhelming. Most new technology providers tout Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning-based platforms as differentiators in the market. However, identifying the specific transformational technologies that solve actual business problems is a serious challenge. Conversational AI is one such transformational technology that is advancing our ability to interact with digital applications and systems. Cognitive AI advancements allow humans to interact with computer systems through natural language to automate business processes in every industry.

Elevating the Traditional Chatbot
Now that you know what Conversational AI is, it should be obvious what it is not: a traditional chatbot. Chatbots were great for specific business processes that can be scripted and automated, assuming a user asks the right questions. But human interactions are very difficult to script; capturing intent and context is a difficult challenge. Advances in natural language understanding and Machine Learning have led to technical solutions that actually solve these complex challenges by using Conversational AI as an intelligent virtual agent that constantly learns and improves itself.

The shift from script-based chatbots to true Cognitive AI-based agents has brought with it significant business and value-generation opportunities.

Increasing Operational Efficiency & Employee Productivity
The most immediate value proposition for conversational AI is providing increased operational efficiency for organizations. Shifting repetitive, high-volume tasks from human agents to an intelligent virtual agent frees-up human resources to solve more complex and valuable challenges. Integrations with backend systems let intelligent virtual agents respond to queries in fractions of a second without humans needing to click multiple buttons and sort through knowledge base content. Additionally, Cognitive agents can follow conversations around more complex tasks, and provide soft guidance to a human agent, making the agent more productive by accelerating their ability to respond appropriately.

Improving Customer Experience
Beyond the immediate ROI from increased efficiency, Conversational AI solutions ultimately also provide a better experience for customers and end users. As I’m sure anyone reading this blog is aware, improving customer experience is a top priority for almost every organization. Conversational AI enables organizations to offer customer care 24/7, 365 days a year while minimizing customer wait times. Automated backend integrations also provide faster resolution times, and integration of vast amounts of data leads to more personalized interactions. This combination of benefits leads to significant boosts in customer satisfaction, as measured by Net Promoter Score metrics that provide real evidence of the success of implementing intelligent virtual agents.

Generating Value Across All Industries
The value generated from increased operational efficiency and improved customer experience can be realized by companies in nearly every industry through Conversational AI across the following areas:

Many more vertical-specific use cases exist across financial services, insurance, telecom, healthcare, energy/utilities, and other industries.

Conversational AI helps companies automate business processes and improve efficiencies at a rate never thought possible and offers value for just about any company. By freeing up human resources for more productive tasks while improving customer satisfaction, the benefits of Conversational AI are massive and the opportunity to solve business problems makes it a key area of AI growth over the next few years.

Anexinet’s technical and business experts ensure a well-defined, architected, and implemented solution for clients of all sizes. Once implemented, our managed services team will optimize your Conversational AI and grow your automation footprint. The use cases are endless; whether used for Customer Service or IT and HR services, the benefits of conversational AI apply across all industry verticals. Our recent partnership with Amelia—the industry’s leading conversational AI platform—enables us to offer end-to-end Conversational AI solutions, including strategy, design, implementation and managed services, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions. We’d love to help you get started. Additionally, our 3-week Conversational AI Strategy & Roadmap Kickstart will ensure your organization provides consistently amazing Customer Service while maximizing employee efficiency via omni-channel Conversational AI.