Battle of the Bots - Hype or real opportunity ?
At both the Microsoft Build Conference and the F8 FaceBook Developers Conference - you heard a lot about Bots tied to apps like Skye and Messenger and this approach being a new opportunity for both developers and business to generate new revenue streams and that Bots will be part of mainstream messaging within the next 5 years.
So first off - what is a Bot ?
A Bot is app which allows an end user in apps like FaceBook Messenger or Skype to use a text based interaction with a company to do everything from order flowers, reserve a hotel room or car or restaurant table, buy a plane ticket, etc, etc.
Versus a traditional Mobile app - which a user needs to download, install, create an ID for, etc - they now send a text to company to initiate a transaction and on the backend - advanced capabilities like AI Natural Language processing, Machine learning, etc., interpret the message and then begin a dialog to help complete the transaction. The transaction can be all text or use buttons, photos, etc to help make the user experience as smooth as possible.
Why are Bots making headlines ?
Bots have actually been around for a little while now. They have been used in gaming, electronic stores, chat systems, etc for things like ratings or screening. The team collaboration app Slack has a library of nearly 200 Bots.
But recently folks like Facebook or MS are positioning Bots as the future of both ecommerce and support. - that is what is making news, especially when Tech leaders like Satya Nadella and Mark Zuckberg are mentioning them in their keynotes.
Another reason companies like Facebook and Microsoft are so interested is they are looking to create "app stickiness". Meaning they want you to spend as much time as possible in their apps versus their competitions. The big reason is advertising revenue.
Facebook Messenger for example has some 900M active users - a huge audience. What would a potential advertiser pay to have access to that audience and be able to potentially market directly to folks based on location, context, etc and have them complete the transaction all within one app.
At F8 today, Mark Zukerberg @ FaceBook showed a 1-800 Flowers Bot helping him send flowers. What he felt was very interesting is that "I never have to call 1-800 flowers again".
And that's the other potential upside of Bots for companies. For many companies a large portion of their IT budget can be spent around the "customer service center". I've often stated that the Contact Center is typically the most complex integration in IT. You trying to combine input channels like voice, chat, etc along with LOB apps like order entry or customer support and then distribute them across time zones, locations, languages, etc.
While not the silver bullet for contact centers, Bots can potentially reduce the cost and complexity while providing an excellent customer experience. Combine that with the marketing potential and you can see why Bots can certainly have some interest with companies.
It may also change the way that some companies think about their mobile apps. As I mentioned above - today if a company wants a rich mobile experience for their customers, they develop an iOS and Android app. In fact I would say that most customers of a specific company expect them to have a Mobile app.
But just like folks who like to call in or go to a portal and chat there are folks for whom text is their primary communications method. So while Bots may not replace their Mobile app - depending on how well their experience is - they may begin to expect a Bot to be available.
And the one thing that folks like about messaging apps is the thread concept. So they can go back and look at the entire conversation easily.
So are Bots Hype or Real Opportunity ?
Obviously folks like Nadella and Zukerberg are investing there - so they must feel there is a real opportunity. The question will be will corporate customers feel that the development effort will provide an ROI and do they want to potentially share a communications channel with other companies.
Similarly there are multiple messaging/chat app - so WhatsApp, Skype, FB Messenger, etc. - do you want to have to develop for each ?
And just like the current Mobile app method of providing services and/or support to customers - some companies do a great job and others don't - so the success around Bots will really depend on how well companies envision and execute.
Personally I like the rich and personalized experience that I get from Mobile Apps. I don't use Facebook as my Social site nor messenger - so for me no value there. And I don't think the availability of Bots would drive me there.
Bottom line - Bots are here - folks will develop them but to me there are simply another input channel. Their popularity will be niched and their richness of experience will vary greatly.
So first off - what is a Bot ?
A Bot is app which allows an end user in apps like FaceBook Messenger or Skype to use a text based interaction with a company to do everything from order flowers, reserve a hotel room or car or restaurant table, buy a plane ticket, etc, etc.
Versus a traditional Mobile app - which a user needs to download, install, create an ID for, etc - they now send a text to company to initiate a transaction and on the backend - advanced capabilities like AI Natural Language processing, Machine learning, etc., interpret the message and then begin a dialog to help complete the transaction. The transaction can be all text or use buttons, photos, etc to help make the user experience as smooth as possible.
Why are Bots making headlines ?
Bots have actually been around for a little while now. They have been used in gaming, electronic stores, chat systems, etc for things like ratings or screening. The team collaboration app Slack has a library of nearly 200 Bots.
But recently folks like Facebook or MS are positioning Bots as the future of both ecommerce and support. - that is what is making news, especially when Tech leaders like Satya Nadella and Mark Zuckberg are mentioning them in their keynotes.
Another reason companies like Facebook and Microsoft are so interested is they are looking to create "app stickiness". Meaning they want you to spend as much time as possible in their apps versus their competitions. The big reason is advertising revenue.
Facebook Messenger for example has some 900M active users - a huge audience. What would a potential advertiser pay to have access to that audience and be able to potentially market directly to folks based on location, context, etc and have them complete the transaction all within one app.
At F8 today, Mark Zukerberg @ FaceBook showed a 1-800 Flowers Bot helping him send flowers. What he felt was very interesting is that "I never have to call 1-800 flowers again".
And that's the other potential upside of Bots for companies. For many companies a large portion of their IT budget can be spent around the "customer service center". I've often stated that the Contact Center is typically the most complex integration in IT. You trying to combine input channels like voice, chat, etc along with LOB apps like order entry or customer support and then distribute them across time zones, locations, languages, etc.
While not the silver bullet for contact centers, Bots can potentially reduce the cost and complexity while providing an excellent customer experience. Combine that with the marketing potential and you can see why Bots can certainly have some interest with companies.
It may also change the way that some companies think about their mobile apps. As I mentioned above - today if a company wants a rich mobile experience for their customers, they develop an iOS and Android app. In fact I would say that most customers of a specific company expect them to have a Mobile app.
But just like folks who like to call in or go to a portal and chat there are folks for whom text is their primary communications method. So while Bots may not replace their Mobile app - depending on how well their experience is - they may begin to expect a Bot to be available.
And the one thing that folks like about messaging apps is the thread concept. So they can go back and look at the entire conversation easily.
So are Bots Hype or Real Opportunity ?
Obviously folks like Nadella and Zukerberg are investing there - so they must feel there is a real opportunity. The question will be will corporate customers feel that the development effort will provide an ROI and do they want to potentially share a communications channel with other companies.
Similarly there are multiple messaging/chat app - so WhatsApp, Skype, FB Messenger, etc. - do you want to have to develop for each ?
And just like the current Mobile app method of providing services and/or support to customers - some companies do a great job and others don't - so the success around Bots will really depend on how well companies envision and execute.
Personally I like the rich and personalized experience that I get from Mobile Apps. I don't use Facebook as my Social site nor messenger - so for me no value there. And I don't think the availability of Bots would drive me there.
Bottom line - Bots are here - folks will develop them but to me there are simply another input channel. Their popularity will be niched and their richness of experience will vary greatly.
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