Category: Chat

How Artificial Intelligence is shaping the Future of Food — TechDuffer

The food industry is one of the biggest industries in the world, and it’s constantly growing. Many people are interested in how things are changing in this industry and how they can take advantage of it.

The fact that artificial intelligence has been able to enter this industry and make certain processes far more efficient than they were in the past has a lot of people interested in how learning and AI are changing food.

According to market research, the global artificial intelligence market in the food and beverage market is growing rapidly, with a CAGR of 45.4% during the forecast period. This market was valued at USD 4.49 billion in 2021 and is expected to continue growing in the coming years.

In this article, we’ll understand how AI drives the future of food.

Four ways AI is changing the food industry

Food Sorting

Food sorting is a process that involves separating different types of food items according to their characteristics and specifications. This is done so that they can be categorized and stored separately. Better food recognition technology results in better quality control and improved productivity.

Computer vision systems are playing an increasingly popular role in the food industry for the detection of surface defects, contamination, and quality inspection of foods.

Using food AI will help food manufacturers save time and money while increasing efficiency in their operations. It also helps them produce higher-quality products at lower costs by ensuring that all necessary checks are carried out on time.

Most companies have already started using artificial intelligence to improve their operations by using big data analytics tools such as predictive analytics software, machine learning algorithms, deep learning technology, and more.

Food Safety

Food safety is a growing concern for consumers. According to a WHO report, 600 million people get sick from foodborne illnesses each year worldwide.

AI can help ensure food safety by identifying potential sources of contamination in real-time and providing actionable insights that can be used to prevent outbreaks before they occur. This process starts with collecting massive amounts of data about food safety risks, followed by analyzing the data using AI-powered models that use machine learning algorithms to identify patterns and predict future outcomes.

Nutrition

Nutrition is an industry that has long been affected by AI. Since its early days as a database of ingredients and their nutrition values, nutrition software has evolved into a tool that helps consumers make better choices about what they eat and drink.

The technology can design menus based on customer preferences, identify potential allergens, calculate calories and other nutrition metrics, and recommend recipes based on current ingredient inventory levels.

AI tools can also help restaurants manage their inventory more effectively and efficiently than they could before they were widely available, saving time and money while improving customer satisfaction.

Food Delivery

AI is playing an increasingly important role in food delivery. By automating order taking and routing, AI can help optimize food delivery operations and improve efficiency. In addition, AI can help identify patterns in customer behavior and preferences, which can be used to improve customer satisfaction.

For example, by analyzing customer order histories, AI can suggest new menu items or delivery options that may be of interest. Ultimately, AI can help make food delivery more efficient and effective, resulting in a better experience for both customers and businesses.

How to collect data for AI / ML

Here are some ways you can do data collection for AI/ML in food businesses:

Conclusion

It’s clear that food AI will have a huge influence on how we eat. From fast food chains’ drive towards more customizable menus to a slew of new, innovative restaurants, there are countless opportunities for technology to simplify our eating experiences and improve the quality of our food.

With the advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, we can expect intelligent food AI to positively impact our health and the overall ecological impact of our food system.

Author Bio

Vatsal Ghiya is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in healthcare AI software and services. He is the CEO and co-founder of , which enables the on-demand scaling of our platform, processes, and people for companies with the most demanding machine learning and artificial intelligence initiatives.

Originally published at https://techduffer.com on November 14, 2022.

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How Artificial Intelligence is shaping the Future of Food — TechDuffer was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Keeping up with social media and keeping your online community engaged can be a time-consuming task. Through Bot Libre you can automate your Facebook presence with your own Facebook bot. Any Bot Libre bot can be connected to a Facebook account, page, and Facebook Messenger. The bot will reply to your user’s questions in real-time using the responses of the script you have trained your bot with.

Connecting a bot to Facebook is quick and easy, This “how to” gives you a step-by-step process to connect your bot to Facebook.

Step 1 — Create your Facebook page.

A Facebook page is required. If you already have your Facebook page, you can skip this step.

First, you need to visit https://www.facebook.com/ and log in to your Facebook account. After you log in, you will find the “Pages” option on the left side menu. Click it, it will lead you to “Pages and profiles” page.

Once you get into the “Pages and profiles” page, click the “Create new Page” button on the left side.

Fill the page name, category, and description, then create the page. You can fill out the details for your page later.

Now you have your own Facebook page. You can move on to the next step.

Step 2 — Create your own bot.

You will need to create a bot to connect with your Facebook Page and app. You can follow the instructions here to create your bot: How to create your own chat bot in 10 clicks

From the Bot Libre website, browse your bot. Go to the Admin Console by clicking on the gear icon or “Admin” button at the bottom.

In the Admin Console, click on “Facebook” to take you to a screen to configure your Facebook settings.

Step 3 -Authorize your bot to Facebook.

You can simply click the “Authorize” button on the Facebook setting page.

If you have not login to Facebook, it will lead you to the Facebook login page.

Otherwise, you can continue with your Facebook account and select your Facebook page.

If you have previously linked Bot Libre to Facebook, you can click “Edit Settings” to change the page and permission.

That’s it, your bot is now authorized.

If you have multiple Facebook pages, you can choose your desired page from the Facebook page dropdown menu.

Step 4 — Connect your bot to Facebook.

If you successfully authorized your bot, you can now simply click the “Connect” button to connect to your Facebook.

After connecting to Facebook, you can configure your bot’s Facebook page properties and Messenger properties.

That’s it, Congratulations! With 4 simple steps, Your bot is now connected to Facebook.

(Optional) Use your custom Facebook app.

If you wish, you can connect your bot to your own custom Facebook app.

This step is completely optional and a custom app is not required.

Go to http://developers.facebook.com and click “My apps” on the top right corner.

Click “Create app” to create your Facebook app.

Select your app type.

Fill the basic info of your app and create it.

Select your app, then open the app setting — Basic from the left pane.

Under the basic setting, you need to copy the “App ID” and “App secret”, we will need them later.

Scroll to the bottom of this screen and click the ‘Add Platform’ button.

Select platform “Website”

Enter “https://www.botlibre.com” and save changes.

Click the “Add Product” button on the left pane and add “Facebook Login” to Products.

Skip the Quickstart, just click the “setting” under ‘Facebook Login” on the left pane.

Enter “https://www.botlibre.com/facebook” into the ‘Valid OAuth Redirect URIs’ field then click the “Save Changes” button.

Now you can go back to bot’s facebook setting page and select “Use custom Facebook App” checkbox.

Enter the “App ID” and “App secret”.

Connecting a bot to Facebook is quick and easy, This “how to” gives you a step-by-step process to connect your bot to Facebook.

Step 1 — Create your Facebook page.

A Facebook page is required. If you already have your Facebook page, you can skip this step.

First, you need to visit https://www.facebook.com/ and log in to your Facebook account. After you log in, you will find the “Pages” option on the left side menu. Click it, it will lead you to “Pages and profiles” page.

Once you get into the “Pages and profiles” page, click the “Create new Page” button on the left side.

Fill the page name, category, and description, then create the page. You can fill out the details for your page later.

Now you have your own Facebook page. You can move on to the next step.

Step 2 — Create your own bot.

You will need to create a bot to connect with your Facebook Page and app. You can follow the instructions here to create your bot: How to create your own chat bot in 10 clicks

From the Bot Libre website, browse your bot. Go to the Admin Console by clicking on the gear icon or “Admin” button at the bottom.

In the Admin Console, click on “Facebook” to take you to a screen to configure your Facebook settings.

Step 3 -Authorize your bot to Facebook.

You can simply click the “Authorize” button on the Facebook setting page.

If you have not login to Facebook, it will lead you to the Facebook login page.

Otherwise, you can continue with your Facebook account and select your Facebook page.

If you have previously linked Bot Libre to Facebook, you can click “Edit Settings” to change the page and permission.

That’s it, your bot is now authorized.

If you have multiple Facebook pages, you can choose your desired page from the Facebook page dropdown menu.

Step 4 — Connect your bot to Facebook.

If you successfully authorized your bot, you can now simply click the “Connect” button to connect to your Facebook.

After connecting to Facebook, you can configure your bot’s Facebook page properties and Messenger properties.

That’s it, Congratulations! With 4 simple steps, Your bot is now connected to Facebook.

(Optional) Use your custom Facebook app.

If you wish, you can connect your bot to your own custom Facebook app.

This step is completely optional and a custom app is not required.

Go to http://developers.facebook.com and click “My apps” on the top right corner.

Click “Create app” to create your Facebook app.

Select your app type.

Fill the basic info of your app and create it.

Select your app, then open the app setting — Basic from the left pane.

Under the basic setting, you need to copy the “App ID” and “App secret”, we will need them later.

Scroll to the bottom of this screen and click the ‘Add Platform’ button.

Select platform “Website”

Enter “https://www.botlibre.com” and save changes.

Click the “Add Product” button on the left pane and add “Facebook Login” to Products.

Skip the Quickstart, just click the “setting” under ‘Facebook Login” on the left pane.

Enter “https://www.botlibre.com/facebook” into the ‘Valid OAuth Redirect URIs’ field then click the “Save Changes” button.

Now you can go back to bot’s facebook setting page and select “Use custom Facebook App” checkbox.

Enter the “App ID” and “App secret”.

Now you are good to go. You can go back to the first step and finish the connection.

Congratulations, you have now connected your bot to Facebook Messenger. Now you can train your bot’s responses and review its conversations from its “Training & Chat Logs” page in its Admin Console. If you encountered any issues, or would like our help setting up your bot please email us at support@botlibre.com or upgrade to our Platinum service and we can build your bot for you.

Now you are good to go. You can go back to the first step and finish the connection.

Congratulations, you have now connected your bot to Facebook Messenger. Now you can train your bot’s responses and review its conversations from its “Training & Chat Logs” page in its Admin Console. If you encountered any issues, or would like our help setting up your bot please email us at support@botlibre.com or upgrade to our Platinum service and we can build your bot for you.

Learned something? Please give us a

to say thanks and to help others find this article

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How to Connect a Bot to Facebook was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Use a Slack app to send useful notifications to your organization’s Slack channels

The code for this article can be found here.

I have a lot of automated jobs running as part of my day-to-day operational activities. Most of these are Python applications are doing transformations on data, running machine learning models on batches of data as well as other activities that run on a schedule. Now, we have extensive logging going out from these applications to an ELK stack, but I like to have something I can look at on my phone to see whether a job ran on time or if it errored out. Enter Slack with their Messaging API, which I have used to set up a small reusable Python class that I can integrate in to all my apps to send messages on how scheduled runs went. This way I can stay on top of stuff that may have failed or didn’t run on time, and mitigate issues before they blow up without my knowing for a few days.

To do something like this, you need to first go on Slack and create an app to get an Incoming Webhook. Incoming webhooks are an easy way to simply send formatted messages to Slack channels in cases where you don’t need all the bells and whistles of the Slack API. In line with Slack’s documentation on message templates that can be sent to a webhook, I’ve created the following JSON template:

{
  "blocks": [
    {
      "text": {
        "text": "My Message",
        "type": "mrkdwn"
      },
      "type": "section"
    }
  ],
  "channel": "#my-channel",
  "icon_emoji": ":robot_face:",
  "username": "test-bot"
}

The username , icon_emoji (this would need to be an emoji available in your Slack workspace) and channel parameters can be set to whatever you need.

• username : This is the username that your message will show up as ‘from’ on Slack.
• channel : A channel within your workspace that you send your messages to.
• icon_emoji : This will show up at the profile picture of the ‘from user’ on Slack. When setting this, make sure you use the code from an emoji that is actually available in your workspace. Works for workspace-custom emoji too!

There’s a whole bunch of other stuff you can do with this template, including things like attaching polls, images, and doing fancy markdown.

Here’s the class that actually does the work of sending the message:

import json
import requests


class SlackNotifier:
    def __init__(self, slack_webhook_url: str):
        super().__init__()
        self.slack_webhook_url = slack_webhook_url

    def send_slack_message(self, message: str):
        with open("slack_message_template.json") as f:
            message_template = json.load(f)
        if len(message) > 39000:
            # Slack has a limit of 40000 chars, let's truncate it a bit
            message_to_send = (
                message[:39000] + "...(message too long for Slack, truncated.)"
            )
        else:
            message_to_send = message
        message_template["blocks"][0]["text"]["text"] = message_to_send
        requests.post(self.slack_webhook_url, json=message_template)

You need to provide the Slack webhook URL you received earlier to instantiate the class. Then it’s just a matter of calling the send_slack_message function off an object of this class, and you can send your messages. It picks up the Slack message template file we created earlier, injects the message in to the relevant part (this will need to be changed appropriately if you changed the template significantly) and sends it to the Slack webhook using the requests library.

To use this class, we can have a simple main.py :

import os

from slack_notifier import SlackNotifier

def main():
    slack_webhook_url = os.environ.get("SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL", "https://my-slack-webhook")
    slack_notifier = SlackNotifier(slack_webhook_url)
    slack_notifier.send_slack_message("Your message here.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

As you can see, this script picks up the SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL from an environment variable. You can set this easily before running by doing something like export SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL=”https://slack-webhook-url” .

If you set everything up right, you should be able to use this to send a message to any Slack channel within your workspace that your Slack app has access to. The template I used above generates something like this:

You can take the SlackNotifier class into any of your applications and import and use it very easily to manage sending messages to Slack and notifying yourself and your team about whether they are running correctly, and even spice up your messages with custom emoji and formatting.

Personally, I prefer to use the :this_is_fine: emoji for everything.

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A reusable Python class for sending Slack messages was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The AI and Chatbot Platform for the Metaverse — Bot Libre 9.5

Bot Libre is a community of over 500,000 registered users, including businesses from industries such as medical, e-commerce, education, banking and gaming. Through our platform, businesses have engaged their customers everywhere, on web, mobile, social media, phone, IOT, and the Metaverse.

In order to offer a faster, better and more seamless experience, Bot Libre has updated its website to the 9.5 series.

This new release includes:

• redesigned sidebar user interface
• simplified single app Facebook integration
• redesigned speech API, improved support for Google Speech, and Microsoft Speech

Benefits of Bot Libre’s Platform

The chatbot and AI market has become increasingly saturated and while this creates a variety of options, it has also brought about some confusion. Bot Libre can make it easy for you.

Metaverse Update

Another key development in the Bot Libre services includes the availability for businesses to engage their customers in the metaverse through the Bot Libre Metaverse Enterprise Program.

With AI, the possibilities are endless. If you are an AI, chatbot and metaverse enthusiast, looking to build, participate and grow wealth from all the offerings of web3.0, then join today! To indicate your interest email sales@botlibre.com.

Learned something? Please give us a

to say thanks and to help others find this article

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The AI and Chatbot Platform for the Metaverse — Bot Libre 9.5 was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Chatbot Conference is starting Tomorrow.

If you have tickets, the Zoom Events Lobby is now open! Log in and join the conversation.

If you still need tickets, this is the last chance to register and join us.

Cheers.

Stefan

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Only 24hrs to Go 😯 was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Chatbot Conference is starting in 1 week.

Only 1 Week to Go!

Friendly reminder, the Chatbot Conference is starting in 1 week!

The Conference will begin on November 15, 2022, at 9 am PT on Zoom and in the Metaverse.

…And we have a few more BIG surprises coming later this week 🙂

If you haven’t registered, this is the perfect time to do so. We have a Coupon for CBL readers only. The Coupon Code will save you $150 on Tickets!

Code: CBL150

See you next week.

Cheers.

Stefan

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Only 1 Week to Go! was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Table of contents

1. How can a Virtual Agent be helpful? & What is IT Help Desk Automation?
2. How can a Virtual Agent automate First and Second Line IT Support
3. How a Virtual Agent Chatbot helps Human Agents in IT Support?
4. Virtual Agent: IT Support Use Cases
5. Conclusion

In this new era of automation and hybrid workplace, AI-powered Virtual Agents seem to have gained a lot of popularity. According to a recent report, 50% of large companies are inclined toward investing in chatbot-based support systems. Today, employees want quick support resolutions, 24*7 availability, ease of access, and work-from-home support. And on the other hand, companies want to enable hybrid workplaces using automation and self-service, but at the same time reduce costs due decrease in revenue due to the pandemic.

On a quick survey of several mid-size and large companies, we found that the traditional IT help desks are not prepared to meet these expectations.

How can a Virtual Agent be helpful?

A Virtual Agent can help you achieve that level of efficiency by offering a scalable, affordable solution that can automate conversations and tasks. All you need to do is chat with a Virtual Agent and get your issues resolved within seconds.

What is IT Help Desk Automation?

In a traditional IT Help desk model, what do you do when you encounter an IT-related issue, say you cannot access your account somehow, or you want a new mouse? You talk to an IT support agent and get it resolved. With an increasing number of customers, and the workforce working in a hybrid workplace model, despite being super-efficient, companies find it difficult to scale to meet the demand of the incoming flow of IT support requests. Therefore, IT Help Desk Automation is a suitable solution as it helps automate a series of IT-related functions for a particular scenario. It offers efficiency, scale, and time to value with automated workflows.

IT Help Desk Automation & Virtual Agent Chatbot

Consider a Virtual Agent as a digital worker working as an IT Help Desk agent. Employees can communicate with the Virtual Agent and resolve their issues or requests in seconds without any human interference or live agents.

By combining IT workflows and chatbots, you create the perfect recipe for IT Support that is autonomous, efficient, and, most importantly, delivers outcomes faster. Using this automation model, the virtual agents can now handle routine or repetitive issues reported to the IT Help Desk without needing to call your live agents.

How can a Virtual Agent automate First and Second Line IT Support?

What is First Line and Second Line IT support?

To simplify the IT support process, companies categorize employee or customer queries into various levels of support. Based on the complexity and priority, the agents are assigned levels according to their expertise in the domain. Traditionally, the agents with beginner to intermediate levels of expertise are kept at the first line, whereas the highly skilled experts are held at the second line.

Role of a Virtual Agent in a multiple-tier IT Support System

In the First Line of support, a Virtual Agent can be deployed to help automate 80% of support issues autonomously. Let’s look at an example of how this is can be implemented.

Example:

A user opens the virtual agent chatbot in either Slack, or Teams and types unlock account as the issue. Trivial issues like this do not require human attention. In such a scenario, an IT Virtual Agent can perform the steps required to unlock the account with the help of some details shared by the user on the chat itself.

Furthermore, if the reported issue is beyond the capabilities of an IT Virtual Agent, it is escalated to the Second Line of support where Live Agents resolve the issue with their level of expertise.

How is it better than a traditional single-level structure?

In such a robust structure, the reported issues are better managed to enhance the efficiency of the IT support team. Each level is systematically managed as the workload is divided and it is easier to track the issues for reporting.

No Code — Get Your Free IT Virtual Agent

How a Virtual Agent Chatbot helps Human Agents in IT Support?

Let us see a few examples of why businesses need to augment IT Agents with Virtual Agents for Front Line Support.

1. Too many requests are hard to handle!

Problem:

With hybrid workplaces, companies are struggling to provide unified support at the same time IT requests, or complaints are increasing. But it’s not always easy or efficient to increase your IT staff to meet the demand. The process of interacting with the customers or employees, generating tickets, processing them, and finally resolving the issues takes a lot of effort, time, and consistency.

Solution:

On the contrary, a Virtual Agent understands the reported issue in a chat, asks for some details from the user, and resolves it within seconds. It can easily scale with minimum effort and usually covers 90% of issues with simple and one-time training. In summary, it’s easy to scale.

2. IT teams or agents have more important and complex issues to take care of!

Problem:

Spending hours resolving mundane issues takes away the attention and time required to be invested in more complex issues. There is also the issue of skills degradation and job attrition, as humans repeatedly get bored doing the same thing.

Solution:

In that case, Virtual Agents are well-resourced to address issues and solve them in seconds. This allows the live agents (humans) to focus on the critical issues only.

3. A human can’t be available all the time, but a Virtual Agent can be!

Problem:

With the pandemic pushing companies to adopt a hybrid workplace model and moving employees to locations working from different time zones, supporting them becomes an operational challenge. Companies are now looking at a 24/7 support model.

Solution:

Virtual Agents is a quick and easy way to address the demands. It’s easier and more cost-effective to spin out a virtual agent than run a 24/7 helpdesk operation.

4. Virtual Agents help you automate your process!

Problem:

For routine service requests, agents must follow a time-consuming process that sometimes needs to further get approval or escalate the ticket to the second-level group. It could involve quite a bit of back and forth and be time-consuming.

Solution:

With Virtual Agent, your process can be mapped, and workflows can be automated so your employees can chat with the virtual agent, share some details where required, and get their requests processed autonomously.

5. How to identify and or classify a Second Line issue or ticket without contacting your helpdesk?

Problem:

Traditionally, live agents are expected to respond to all types of issues, even during peak times when the ticket flow is way too high. The process of answering a query, understanding the problem from employees, and then deciding its complexity and priority is tiresome.

Solution:

A virtual agent chatbot on the other hand can prioritize the queries based on user inputs within seconds. You set conditional scenarios in a Virtual Agent Chatbot and enable it to decide if an issue is supposed to be resolved or escalated to a higher level. Nevertheless, ticket classification and dispatch are automated.

Virtual Agent: IT Support Use Cases

Let’s go through some key Virtual Agent Chatbot use cases.

1. Unlocking Accounts

Your account has been locked unexpectedly, and you want to get it unlocked quickly!

In this case, an AI-powered IT support virtual agent from Workativ can understand the request, gathers only a few details like the email address from the employee(to validate authenticity) to process the request, and unlocks the account for the individual in seconds!

Virtual agent from Workativ can be integrated with tools like OKTA, Microsoft Azure AD, Auth0, LastPass, and more to execute the workflow required to unlock accounts smoothly

2. Resetting Passwords

Password Reset is the most common request in the IT helpdesk. A Virtual Agent can work like magic for requests like these, as resolving these issues involves no in-person chatting, going through help documentation, or other tiresome activities.

The user can type in Reset Password into their Slack or Teams (where the virtual agent is active). The Bot understands and asks the user for some details like email address. Then, it either sends a password reset link to the user’s email address or asks the user to key in the new password and resets it.

Virtual agent from Workativ, you can integrate with popular IAM apps like Idaptive, Microsoft Azure AD, FusionAuth, Auth0, and more to simplify the password reset process and make it a better experience for the user.

3. User Provisioning

An IT Virtual Agent can help with user provisioning services like adding users to groups, de-provisioning users, assigning roles, and more.

When a user sends a provisioning request, like adding them or a particular user to the company’s email list, the virtual agent understands the request and asks for details like email address and the role to be assigned. That’s all it takes for a Virtual agent to perform user-provisioning. Quick and easy.

Virtual agent from Workativ integrates with multiple third-party tools like LastPass, OneLogin, and OKTA to provide organized user-provisioning or de-provisioning services to the users. You can deploy your virtual agent on Slack or Microsoft Teams which acts as the conversation hub between the user and the chatbot.

4. Access Management

A Virtual Agent can allow or revoke a user’s access to a particular app based on the requirement. Virtual Agent can do it independently or by raising the request to the second level support. Anyways, it doesn’t take long in either of the cases.

It is quick as when a user requests for access to a particular portal or resource, the virtual agent chatbot addresses the request by confirming it with the user’s email address and proceeds with providing access to the required resource or portal.

Example:

Virtual agent from Workativ integrates with third-party tools like OKTA which function as access management to any third-party tools when integrated with them, such as Office 365, JIRA, and more.

5. Asset Request

Your laptop is not working, or do you need a new monitor from your IT team?

You chat with the virtual agent to raise a new asset request. The chatbot will understand your request, ask for details like your email address, and raise the request to the field dispatch team to issue you the asset you need.

6. Email-Related Issues

Email-related issues are very common nowadays. If your email address appears invalid, you cannot send an email out of the blue one day.

Simply type the issue in Slack or Teams and select the relevant options related to your query (if available). The virtual agent will address the issue by asking for some details and either resolve it instantly or raise the request to the management for approval.

Automated workflows make troubleshooting easy as a Virtual Agent can check for your details and resolve the issue with the integrated third-party tool easily.

Virtual Agent Chatbot: The Game Changer

Since you have reached the end of the blog, you probably know what an AI-powered Virtual Agent Chatbot can do by now.

As companies are forced to use hybrid workplace models, the quality of support it provides to their customers or employees is critical in differentiating themselves from a competitor. If you wonder how Virtual Agents are profitable to any company, here are some points from the blog to recall:

• Improves the Mean Time to Resolutions (MTTR)
• Delivers self-service resolution as a Virtual Agent and automates workflows with apps.
• Keeps improving itself on the go with Artificial Intelligence
• Helps companies save costs with Virtual Agent automating tasks
• Provides modern support management using advanced digital tools
• Helps teams focus on core business rather than resolving trivial support issues
• Delivers better user and employee experience and engagement

Conclusion

Now, it’s quite evident that businesses that want to transform their employee experience and modernize workplace support can use virtual agent, which helps them scale, automate and reduce costs. As the final verdict, virtual agents are essential to your IT Help desks

So, what are you waiting for? Signup for your free virtual agent here.

Disclaimer: This content was originally published here.

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How Can a Virtual Agent Chatbot Automate First and Second-Line IT Support? was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What comes to your mind when thinking about virtual reality (VR)? Maybe games? Headsets? Those are undoubtedly popular uses for VR, but we are sure you have already heard about virtual try-on and how it’s changing the way we buy clothes and wearables.

Virtual try-on is a technology that lets consumers see how certain products look on them before they buy the item without actually touching it or ever having to step into the dressing room. Watches, shoes, apparel, accessories, jewelry, and make-up, the sky’s the limit when it comes to virtual try-on.

How does virtual try-on work?

Virtual try-on for apparel usually blends computer vision, artificial intelligence, algorithms, and augmented reality (AR) to provide an immersive user experience. It may seem a lot but virtual try-on apps are very user-friendly and the whole process takes just a few seconds. A device with a camera (phone, iPad, etc) captures the consumer and detects more than 99 points on the human body, which allows the virtual try-on app to monitor the body position in real-time. This assures that the 3D product stays in place even when the user moves their head or any other part of their body.

In general, virtual try-on can be experienced in three formats:

In-store virtual fitting rooms. With AR and AI technology, you can virtually overlay items in real time so you can check the size, style, and fit of the product. This technology can be found in the form of smart mirrors (smart displays), which use AI and gesture recognition to impose clothing or wearables on the customer’s image.

Mobile virtual try-on. With the help of AR visualizer apps such as Wanna, Threedium, and Aryel, you can virtually try on clothes, cosmetics, accessories, shoes, or furniture pieces in your space using your smartphone.

Desktop virtual try-on plugins. While online shopping, you will only need to turn on your webcam or upload a photo of yourself to see how the product fits you.

As you can see, the scenario may change but these formats are essentially the same thing; virtual techniques of dressing that provide a fun and immersive experience. At the end of the day, each brand will decide which solution suits them the best according to their customers’ needs.

Why is virtual try-on better than in-person?

There are several reasons why virtual try-on apps are the next big thing. Let’s go through some of them from the consumer and business perspective.

Benefits for customers

It is not possible to be sure about how something looks unless it is tried on. For customers, having the chance to try the desired product provides the opportunity to actually experience it. Knowing how a product suits them removes one of the main negative features of online shopping and makes purchasing decisions much easier.

This will make the overall user experience better and more personal. And, at the same time, creates loyalty as customers are more likely to shop from the same brand again.

Benefits for businesses

There is no doubt that one of the main benefits of virtual try-on is it creates a great customer experience. But have you ever thought that virtual testing can also be a valuable source of information? You can track which products are selling the best, measure them, and arrange offers in various locations to meet the customers’ real needs.

Brands should seek to proactively solve questions and confusion about the products that may come up during online shopping. With virtual try-on technology, customers can imagine themselves in a range of styles and sizes before purchasing, which can help reduce the enormous costs incurred by the return of goods.

Best virtual try-on examples

Here are some of the many brands that are killing it with their virtual try-on solutions:

Wanna

Wanna is a startup that launched its own sneaker try-on app, where people can discover fresh drops and classic sneakers with the help of augmented reality. Users can try on sneakers instantly on their feet regardless of where they are and then snap a photo.

Farfetch

In 2020, the online luxury fashion retail platform launched a feature on its app that allowed shoppers to try on sneakers and watches through AR before buying them.

Now, the company has partnered with Snapchat to introduce an apparel try-on tool. For example, a user simply stands in front of their camera and says, “show me a windbreaker jacket with a pattern”. The software will search and choose the ideal products from the brand catalog, and display the jacket on the user’s body allowing them to see how they fit and take screenshots to share with their friends.

Prada

Prada is also testing Snapchat’s virtual try-on tool. The Italian luxury fashion brand uses hand gestures technology to allow shoppers virtually try on various different bags. The users will only need to move away their phones, make a hand gesture, and signal to the camera every time they want to try on a different handbag.

L’Oreal

In this case, it was a social media platform the one partnering with a retailer and an AR company, ModiFace, to offer virtual try on options on Instagram Shopping.

Some of the many Loreal brands that are using the tool are NYX, Urban Decay, Lancome and Maybelline. And it really is a perfect move to target shoppers in social media channels, especially on Instagram, where users search for beauty content and inspiration on what to buy.

Ikea

Ikea was one of the first brands that introduced augmented reality into the furniture industry changing the way we shop for our homes.

Users can now preview how the desired piece of furniture will look in a room by simply pointing the camera at the space they want to fill.

Why should brands add VTO to their future plans/strategy?

More than 61% of online buyers prefer to buy from brands that offer AR and VR. And it does not come as a surprise since this technology lets consumers have the freedom to try and choose products at their own pace, without feeling the pressure to make a purchase.

Boosts sales

When somebody gets to see what a watch or a jacket will look like in real life and in real time, it’s not only impressive but also pretty persuasive.

Engaging and immersive experiences

Stands out from competitors. Instead of sticking to 2D images, VTO allows e-commerces to make more interactive content.

Increases brand awareness and engagement

While using virtual try-on technology, not only you can interact with the product, but you can also use it on social media to share the image, ask for style advice and engage with other followers.

Instead of just checking static images, with VTO, online shopping can become an experience that customers want to spend more time enjoying.

Better customer satisfaction

Being able to see how a specific piece of furniture would look in a real-life space through a mobile device means consumers have fewer doubts, as a result, retailers can see a decrease in the total number of product returns.

And where to start? Where to get the content?

For businesses to embrace virtual try-on, the first step is creating 3D models of their products. And here is where things can get tough because there’s no easy way of producing 3D content. For example, making a simple furniture object can take a whole team a week and thousands of dollars. Costs can get really high if you are an online store with a big catalog.

Luckily, at Alpha AR, we are building a platform to simplify and automate the creation of 3D digital assets from real physical objects with AI software in order to make Augmented Reality and virtual try-on available for everyone.

With Alpha’s solution, businesses will be able to simply upload images of their products and receive a digital asset in a glb format, compatible with any metaverse, AR, and VR environment. As simple as that.

How does Alpha AR work?

One of the main goals brands have is to help create future immersive experiences that drive impact, visits, and revenue.

If your company is considering setting up a virtual-try-on feature for your consumers, take into account that this technology should be personalized for each brand, present products as realistically as possible and be easy to use. At Alpha AR, we offer a fully customized approach aligned with your business goals and expectations.

Do you want to be the first to test our AI platform? Email us at info@alphaar.io or signup here for the waiting list https://getready.alpha3d.io/3dlaunch.

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What is Virtual Try-on (VTO) and how is it changing the future of e-commerce? was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Full-Day Workshops: Nov 16 & 17

Have you happened to see our Certified Workshop Agenda?

It’s phenomenal… the best we have ever had.

And for having trained over 1,000 people in this industry, that is saying a lot.

Here is what’s in store for you…

On Day 1, you Learn It!

It all starts at the Chatbot Conference on Nov 15, where you discover what to build during the conference day.

On Day 2, you Design it!

On Nov 16, we start the day with a Theory on Conversational Design from CDI!

During the morning session, you will learn about the Happy Flow, Fallbacks, Personality, and how to design a conversational flow. In our afternoon sessions, you’ll design these flows and using Voiceflow and at the end of the day, export your project to Dialogflow.

>>See Full Agenda

On Day 3, you Build it!

You will take what you exported, and the Botcopy team will help you create an entire, data-based framework for your bot in Dialogflow.

Until now, enterprises have spent too much time and resources building conversions by assuming to know what customers wanted. Only to discover that customers ask questions differently than assumed or different questions altogether, leading to bot failure!

In this workshop, you’ll discover how to avoid this situation and build according to users’ needs!

This is an entirely new way to build, and we’re very excited that the industry is moving in this direction.

Check out the full agenda below: See Full Agenda

Cheers

Stefan

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Get Certified in Conversational UX & AI was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In yesterday’s The Daily(ish) Advocate email newsletter, “The Internet’s Gone Bot Sh!t Crazy,” we wrote about how bots are running rampant online.

They eat up budgets in your ad campaigns and affect the quality of traffic on your website.

To make matters worse, they’re super hard to avoid, detect and fight.

But keep your chin up, Sparky! It’s not all doom and gloom.

While you’ll never eliminate them completely, there are things you can do to reduce the number of bots running wild on your site and scarfing up your ad budget like they’re Joey Chestnut at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Here are 5 key bot-busting strategies we’ve discovered as we’ve waged a war against the bots attacking our sites and campaigns…

1. Avoid 3rd Party Search Networks

If you’re running ads directly on Google, Bing or Yahoo, the number of bot clicks you’ll get is relatively low.

It’s when you start expanding campaigns to 3rd party search networks that the bots really come out to party.

For Microsoft Ads, that’s their Search Partner Network. For Google, it’s their Search Partner and Display Networks.

For platforms like Twitter, Fakebook, Outbrain and Taboola, unfortunately, the bots are all over the place.

In any case, if you can run your ads only on the main search sites, you’ll have fewer bots to bust.

2. Bot Fighting Software (maybe)

We tested a few services, ClickCease being the most popular, that claim to help block the fake impressions and clicks you’ll get from bots (and unscrupulous competitors) in your ad campaigns.

Unfortunately, we were very underwhelmed by the results.

To be fair, we only used them on traffic from Microsoft Ads. Maybe they do a better job with Google Ads traffic. But, based on what we saw, we’re skeptical.

What we found most interesting (and frustrating) were the results when we compared two of these services side-by-side.

This was a true apples-to-apples test where both services were running on the same sites at the same time.

While they both showed they flagged a lot of bot traffic, there was almost NO overlap between the traffic each service flagged as fake.

If these services were genuinely effective, you’d think there’d be at least SOME agreement between the two over what traffic was fake and what was legit.

Those results, and some other things we noticed in the data, made us decide not to keep using either service we tested, so we can’t recommend them.

However, your mileage may vary.

3. Cloudflare

So far, the most effective way we’ve found to squash the bots is the Super Bot Fight Mode service from Cloudflare. (They also offer Cloudflare Bot Management for enterprises.)

But the service has a key shortcoming: it does a good job of squashing bots only AFTER they land on your site.

That means you’ll still be paying for clicks from bots if you’re running paid ad campaigns.

Which sucks.

But Cloudflare definitely helps if traffic quality is vital to your site. For example, it can help fight all sorts of nastiness (i.e., slowing down sites, fraud, credential stuffing, inventory hoarding) bots can unleash on an e-commerce site.

We love and use Cloudflare on all our websites for all sorts of reasons (which we’ll cover at some point in the future). But, for now, check out their Bot Buster Fight Mode service if you’re struggling with bot traffic on your website.

4. Machine Learning

This is a situation where an ad network’s machine learning algorithms may be your best ally.

If you can ID good quality traffic and the traffic most likely to (legitimately) convert, then the machine learning should, over time, favor the legit traffic and show your ads to bots less and less.

Doesn’t always work, but hey, a guy can dream.

5. Building Exclusion Audiences

This may not always work, but it can be wicked awesome when it does.

If you can ID specific actions bots take on your site, or certain pages they visit, you can create an audience based on those actions/page visits.

For example: On one of our sites, we noticed bots “clicking” on a link to, and visiting, the Privacy Policy page of the site.

We created an audience of that traffic and added it as an Exclusion audience to our Microsoft Ads campaign (basically telling Microsoft not to show our ads to that audience). Doing that has helped cut down on the bot traffic that’d been slamming our site from that campaign.

Unfortunately, there’s no perfect solution when it comes to bots. Even if you use all the strategies above, you’ll still get plenty of these little buggers on your site.

But you at least now have some good options to use to go out there and kick some bot booty!

Enjoy this article? I save my best stuff for email subscribers to The Daily(ish) Advocate, an educational and entertaining free newsletter that gets sent out, well, daily-ish. If you’d like to give a spin, subscribe here (this link will take you off Medium).

https://chatbotslife.com/

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Kicking Bot Booty: 5 Ways to Keep the Big Bad Bots Off Your Website was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.