The Emergence of Bots

Artificial Intelligence – both a dream and nightmare for the general public. We have been making movies about tech taking over since long before “Tron” and “The Terminator,” and yet, technology continues to evolve in thousands of helpful ways. Despite the hysteria, not all tech is treacherous and not all bots are bad.

One of the more recent advancements that have been on the minds of developers are bots. In early 2016, Facebook announced a platform for building messaging bots that operate inside its messenger chat app. The platform boasted the ability to connect people more directly to businesses by automating their interaction.

robot hands keyboard

BOT BREAKDOWN

DEFINING BOTS

Foundationally, bots are software programs that automate repetitive tasks over the Internet.

You may have had contact with bots and didn’t even know it. Examples of common bots include…

SEARCH BOTS

• Googlebot
• Baidu Spider
• MSN Bot/BingBot
• Yandex Bot
• Soso Spider
• ExaBot
• Sogou Spider

 

MESSENGER BOTS / CHATBOTS (messenger features within the programs)

chatbot on phone• Slack
• Telegram
• Kik
• Line
• Facebook

Why You Should Care

USING BOTS FOR DIGITAL MARKETING

E-commerce companies should be taking detailed notes on this bot expansion. You too can start using bots to smooth customer journeys and do simple tasks for customers via your website.

Simple questions or requests such as where a particular product is located, when an item will be back in stock and where the nearest storefront is located are ideally left to the bots. Imagine it: a customer types in a quick question to a chat feature and receives and automated answer in seconds. It’s agile and efficient.

Bots have become a new way for developers and companies to reach consumers in existing apps as well. Boast personalization and increase the quality of customer service without having to use precious employee time and effort.

Plan ahead. Even if you aren’t ready to implement a chatbot just yet, start building the infrastructure that will support the addition in the near future. If all of this tech talk is overwhelming, Vertical Technologies has the manpower to build, sustain and troubleshoot any IT need your organization may have. Contact us for a free quote today.

 

Sources

http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/managing-marketing-technology/the-rise-of-the-bots/
https://www.incapsula.com/blog/know-your-top-10-bots.html
http://www.recode.net/2016/4/11/11586022/what-are-bots
http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/1/12072456/facebook-messenger-bot-growth

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