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  • Mastering Time Management: Easy Tips for Success

    In today’s fast-paced world, mastering the art of time management is essential for personal and professional success. Effective time management allows us to accomplish more, reduce stress, and create a fulfilling balance in our lives.

    In this blog post, we will explore the concept of time management, and its importance, and provide you with easy tips for success to optimise your productivity and achieve your goals. Whether you’re a student, professional, or entrepreneur, implementing these strategies will help you make the most of your time and lead a more productive and fulfilling life.

    Benefits of Effective Time Management:

    Implementing effective time management strategies brings numerous benefits. Firstly, it enhances productivity, allowing you to accomplish more in less time. By allocating time for important tasks and avoiding distractions, you can stay focused and achieve better results.

    Additionally, time management helps you meet deadlines, reduce stress levels, and maintain a healthy work-life balance. It allows you to identify and prioritise your activities, make informed decisions about how to allocate your time, and avoid wasting time on non-essential tasks.

    Easy Tips for Successful Time Management:

    1. Set Clear Goals

    Start by setting clear and achievable goals. Clearly defining what you want to accomplish helps you stay focused and prioritise your tasks effectively.

    2. Plan Ahead

    Plan your day or week in advance. Create a to-do list, prioritise tasks, and allocate time slots for each activity. This helps you stay organised and ensures that important tasks are completed on time.

    3. Prioritise Tasks

    Identify the most important and urgent tasks and tackle them first. Prioritising tasks helps you allocate your time and energy efficiently.

    4. Avoid Multitasking

    Contrary to popular belief, multitasking can actually decrease productivity. Focus on one task at a time, complete it, and then move on to the next. This allows you to give your full attention to each task and produce better results.

    5. Delegate and Outsource

    Learn to delegate tasks that can be handled by others. Delegating frees up your time for more critical and high-priority tasks. Additionally, consider outsourcing certain tasks or seeking help when needed.

    6. Manage Distractions

    Minimise distractions as much as possible. Put your phone on silent mode, close unnecessary tabs on your computer, and create a conducive work environment that promotes focus.

    7. Take Regular Breaks

    Taking short breaks throughout the day helps refresh your mind and maintain productivity. Use break times to stretch, meditate, or engage in activities that relax and rejuvenate you.

    8. Learn to Say No

    Be assertive and learn to say no when necessary. Protect your time by declining tasks or commitments that don’t align with your priorities or overload your schedule.

    9. Time Blocking

    Allocate specific time blocks for different tasks or types of activities. This technique helps you stay focused and prevents tasks from overlapping or taking longer than necessary.

    10. Learn from Mistakes

    Reflect on your time management practices and identify areas for improvement. Learn from any mistakes or inefficiencies and adjust your approach accordingly.

    Conclusion:

    Mastering time management is a skill that can transform your life by optimising your productivity, reducing stress, and enabling you to achieve your goals effectively.

    By implementing the easy tips mentioned in this blog post, along with leveraging tools like Nikabot, you can take control of your time, unlock your full potential, and create a harmonious balance between work and personal life.

    Embrace the power of effective time management, and witness the positive impact it has on every aspect of your life. Remember, time is a precious resource, and how you choose to manage it can shape your future.


    Mastering Time Management: Easy Tips for Success was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • AI & ML in Enterprise Software: Navigating Business Success

    Think of a superhero movie without special effects. It would be a very different experience. Wouldn’t it? The characters would be less believable. The action would be less exciting, and the movie’s overall impact would be diminished.

    For enterprise software, AI and ML are like special effects. They can be used to automate tasks, improve decisions, and personalize user experiences.

    By examining how AI and ML in enterprise software can drive business success, we aim to highlight these technologies’ transformational potential and underscore their importance in today’s competitive business environment. Organizations can gain a significant advantage and position themselves for long-term success by understanding and leveraging the benefits of AI and ML in enterprise software.

    AI-ML in Enterprise Software

    Role of AI and ML in enhancing enterprise software capabilities

    The tasks of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in enhancing the capabilities of enterprise software are multi-faceted. It includes automating, making intelligent decisions, advanced analysis, personalization, natural language, prediction, managing risk, fraud detection, security, and continuous learning. By taking advantage of these technologies, organizations can unlock new efficiency, intelligence, and innovation levels in their operations, ultimately gaining a competitive advantage and driving business success.

    Here are essential ways AI and ML enhance enterprise software capabilities:

    • Drive automation and efficiency: Leveraging AI and ML in enterprise software development enables the automation of repetitive and manual tasks in enterprise software, which frees up valuable staff time and resources. This automation increases productivity and cost-effectiveness by streamlining processes, improving operational efficiency, and reducing the risk of human error.
    • Make intelligent decisions: These technologies help analyze massive amounts of data, identify patterns, and predict with precision. By integrating these capabilities into enterprise software, organizations can access valuable insights and make data-driven decisions in various areas, such as supply chain management, sales forecasting, financial analysis, and predicting customer behavior.
    • Enhanced analytics: Enterprise software can perform advanced analytics on large, complex data sets using AI and ML techniques. This enables organizations to gain deeper insights into how they operate, how customers behave, how markets evolve, and the competitive landscape. Enterprise software can generate actionable insights for strategic planning and informed decision-making by uncovering hidden patterns and correlations.
    • Customer Experience Personalization: AI and ML algorithms allow enterprise software to personalize customer interactions and experiences. The software can deliver targeted recommendations, personalized marketing messages, and customized user interfaces by analyzing customer data, preferences, and behaviors. This level of personalization leads to increased customer satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty.
    • Natural language processing (NLP): Enterprise software can understand and process human language, both written and spoken, through AI and ML techniques, particularly NLP. AI and ML techniques, particularly NLP, allow enterprise software to understand and process written and spoken human language. These capabilities improve communication channels, allowing chatbots, virtual assistants, and speech recognition systems to provide efficient and personalized customer support, automate queries, and facilitate natural language user interfaces.
    • Preventive maintenance and risk management: AI and ML algorithms can predict maintenance needs, equipment failures, and potential risks by analyzing sensor data and historical patterns. With this functionality, enterprise software can optimize maintenance schedules, decrease downtime, and improve overall operational reliability and effectiveness.
    • Fraud Detection and Security in Software: AI and ML in enterprise software can enhance security measures in enterprise software. These technologies can be used to identify anomalies, detect patterns of fraudulent activity, and flag potential security threats in real time. Organizations can strengthen their defenses, protect sensitive data, and mitigate cybersecurity risks by integrating AI and ML into security systems.
    • Continuously learning and improving: ML algorithms are designed to learn from the data they process and improve their performance over time. Organizations can leverage continuous learning to improve accuracy, adapt to changing conditions, and deliver precise results by building ML capabilities into enterprise software. This iterative learning process allows the software to continue to evolve and improve as it learns.

    Real-world examples of AI and ML in enterprise software

    Across industries and business functions, the following examples show how integrating AI and ML into enterprise software can increase efficiency, improve decision-making, enhance customer experiences, optimize operations, and strengthen security measures.

    • Customer Service: Tasks such as answering FAQs and resolving simple issues are automated by AI and ML. This frees human agents to focus on more complex issues.
    • Fraud detection: AI and ML are being used to detect fraudulent transactions. This can help companies to protect themselves from financial losses in the future.
    • Risk management: AI and ML are used to assess the risk of a transaction. This can help companies make better decisions about whether to lend or invest.
    • Product development: The development of new products is possible with the help of AI and ML. Leveraging AI consulting or maybe ML, companies create products more likely to succeed in the marketplace.
    • Marketing: To personalize marketing campaigns, AI and ML will be used. This can help businesses reach their target audience more efficiently.
    • Pricing: AI and ML will be part of the pricing process. This can help companies maximize their profits.
    • Chatbots: AI-powered chatbots are being used to service and support customers. These chatbots can answer questions, troubleshoot problems, and even sell products.
    • Recommendation engines: Products, content, and services are recommended to users by AI recommendation engines. These engines can learn from user behavior and preferences to provide more personalized recommendations.
    • Fraud detection: AI fraud detection systems are used to identify fraudulent transactions. These systems can identify patterns indicative of fraud by analyzing large amounts of data.
    • Risk assessment: AI risk scoring systems assess the risk of defaulting on a loan or churning a customer. The likelihood of these events occurring can be predicted using data.

    Conclusion

    To summarize, the emerging trends and advances in AI and ML in enterprise software open up business opportunities. The rapid evolution of these technologies is creating transformative capabilities. They have the potential to reshape industries and revolutionize the way organizations operate.

    Artificial intelligence and machine learning are already delivering benefits to industries. This is not a time to delay; this is a time to act. Harness the technologies today and wait for the unprecedented success they will bring your business.


    AI & ML in Enterprise Software: Navigating Business Success was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • Configuring the BotHow to create a Telegram Bot without coding? Find out

    Telegram is a popular messaging app that offers a wide range of features to its users. One such feature is the ability to create your own Telegram bot.

    Telegram bots are automated programs that can perform various tasks, such as providing information, sending notifications, or even playing games.

    Creating a Telegram bot without coding may seem like a daunting task, but it is actually quite simple.

    BotPenguin
    Source: BotPenguin

    Telegram Bots

    Telegram bots are AI-driven programs that can interact with users and perform tasks based on predefined commands.

    These bots can be integrated into Telegram groups or used in one-on-one conversations. They offer a wide range of functionalities, making Telegram a versatile platform for various purposes.

    Benefits of Creating a Telegram Bot

    Creating a Telegram bot without coding can be highly beneficial for individuals and businesses alike. Some key benefits include:

    • Automation: Bots can automate tasks, saving time and effort.
    • Customer Support: Bots can provide instant responses and assistance to users.
    • Information Delivery: Bots can deliver real-time information and updates.
    • Engagement: Bots can engage users through interactive games, quizzes, or polls.
    • Marketing: Bots can be used for promotional activities and lead generation.

    Getting Started with BotFather

    BotFather is a special bot provided by Telegram that allows users to create and manage their own bots. To begin, you need to have the Telegram app installed on your device.

    Creating a New Bot

    Source: BotPenguin
    • To create a new bot, follow these steps:
    • Open the Telegram app and search for “BotFather” in the search bar.
    • Click on the BotFather’s profile and start a chat.
    • Type “/newbot” and follow the on-screen instructions to set a name and username for your bot.
    • Once your bot is created, BotFather will provide you with an API token. Save this token as it will be used to interact with your bot.

    Configuring the Bot

    Source: BotPenguin

    After creating the bot, you can configure its settings. Some important configurations include:

    • Profile Picture: Upload an image that represents your bot.
    • Description: Provide a brief description of your bot and its functionalities.
    • Privacy Mode: Choose whether your bot should respond to messages from all users or only those who have started a conversation with it.

    Adding Functionality to the Bot

    To add functionality to your bot, you can use pre-built modules or integrate APIs. There are several third-party libraries and services available that allow you to create complex bots without coding. Some popular options include:

    BotPenguin
    Source: BotPenguin
    • BotPenguin
    • Botpress
    • Chatfuel
    • ManyChat

    Testing and Deploying the Bot

    Testing and Deploying the Bot
    Source: BotPenguin

    Once you have added the desired functionality to your bot, it’s time to test it. You can test your bot by interacting with it through the Telegram app. Ensure that all the features are working as expected and make any necessary adjustments.

    To deploy your bot, you can use hosting platforms such as Heroku or AWS. These platforms provide easy deployment options and ensure that your bot is accessible to users at all times.

    Interacting with the Bot

    Source: BotPenguin

    To interact with your bot, users can search for its username in the Telegram app and start a conversation. You can configure the bot to respond to specific commands and provide the desired information or perform actions accordingly.

    Enhancing the Bot’s Capabilities

    Enhancing the Bot’s Capabilities
    Source: BotPenguin

    To make your bot more engaging and useful, you can consider implementing the following features:

    • Natural Language Processing: Use NLP libraries to enable your bot to understand and respond to user queries in a more human-like manner.
    • Multimedia Support: Allow your bot to send images, videos, and documents to users.
    • User Authentication: Implement user authentication to provide personalized experiences and secure sensitive information.

    Best Practices for Telegram Bots

    To ensure the success of your Telegram bot, consider the following best practices:

    • Clear Purpose: Define a clear purpose for your bot and align its functionalities accordingly.
    • User-Friendly Commands: Use simple and intuitive commands to make it easier for users to interact with your bot.
    • Error Handling: Implement proper error handling to provide informative responses when the bot encounters errors.
    • Regular Updates: Keep your bot up to date with the latest features and improvements to provide a better user experience.

    Conclusion

    Creating a Telegram bot without coding is an accessible way to leverage the power of automation and enhance user interactions.

    With the help of BotFather and various third-party tools, you can bring your bot to life and provide valuable services to your users.

    Start exploring the possibilities and create your own Telegram bot today.

    Build your own Telegram Chatbots using BotPenguin, it also offers chatbot creation for social platforms, websites, WordPress:

    Frequently Asked Questions

    1. Can I create a Telegram bot without coding skills?

    Yes, you can create a Telegram bot without coding skills using tools like Botpress, Chatfuel, or ManyChat.

    2. Is it necessary to host my bot on a platform?

    Yes, hosting your bot on a platform ensures that it is accessible to users at all times.

    3. Can I add multimedia support to my Telegram bot?

    Yes, you can allow your bot to send images, videos, and documents to users for a more interactive experience.

    4. How can I make my bot understand user queries better?

    You can use Natural Language Processing (NLP) libraries to enable your bot to understand and respond to user queries more effectively.

    5. What are some best practices for creating a successful Telegram bot?

    Some best practices include defining a clear purpose, using user-friendly commands, implementing proper error handling, and regularly updating your bot.


    Configuring the BotHow to create a Telegram Bot without coding? Find out was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • 8 Chatbot APIs To Watch Out For In 2023 + 3 Chat APIs

    What is a Chatbot API?

    A chatbot API is a set of protocols that allow developers to access the functionalities of a chatbot. A chatbot API enables seamless integration into various applications, systems or platforms by standardizing the way you send, receive and extract messages via the chatbot.

    Chatbot APIs connect your messaging software (SMS, Social media messengers, WhatsApp) with chatbot software and features.

    How does a Chatbot API work?

    We are going to explain how a Chatbot API works in Four simple steps:

    Step 1: Message Processing:

    This is the step where the Chatbot API receives a message from the developer. It then processes the message using NLU techniques, which helps the chatbot API understand user intent. NLU also helps the chatbot API extract relevant information and determine the appropriate response.

    Step 2: Intent recognition:

    This is the step where the chatbot API uses machine learning algorithms and NLU to make sense of what the user is trying to say. This step involves advanced computing, where the chatbot API has to analyze the speech or text input and identify keywords which it then maps to predefined intents.

    Step 3: Generating response:

    Based on the underlying logic and data, the chatbot API then generates a response once it recognizes the input. This response can come from an existing knowledge base, or perform external API calls.

    Step 4: Deliver response:

    Through the API’s response endpoints, the chatbot API sends the generated response back to the developer’s application. The response can be of different formats such as JSON, XML or plain text depending on the API design.

    The chatbot API uses session management techniques to maintain context in multi-turn conversations. Keeping track of the conversation history, the chatbot maintains context and gives meaningful responses to queries.

    What are the features you should look for in a chatbot API?

    Here are some of the features you must consider when you are considering investing in a chatbot API.

    1. NLP Capabilities: Make sure the chatbot NLP you choose offers advanced NLP Capabilities. A good NLP engine means the chatbot can better understand, and respond to user queries.
    2. Intent recognition: This is a subset of the NLP capability, a chatbot API that can clearly understand the intent behind a user query should be a top feature that you must look for.
    3. Ability to understand context: A good chatbot API should maintain the context through a conversation, remembering previous user inputs and providing coherent responses.
    4. Numerous integration capabilities: When considering investing in a chatbot API, look for one that supports integration with various systems, platforms, and messaging apps.
    5. Analytics and reporting: A good chatbot API should provide analytics and reporting capabilities so that you can track user interactions and see how effective the chatbot is.

    It provides a method for sending and receiving messages while managing users and conversations.

    It provides a method for understanding user queries, generating responses, and handling different types of conversations.

    Now that we know the basics of Chatbot APIs, let us look at 8 of the best Chatbot APIs available in the market today. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and it can be expanded to include a lot of other players.

    8 Chatbot APIs you should watch for in 2023

    Let us now take a look at each of them in detail:

    1. Kommunicate

    We are beginning this list with a Chatbot API platform that we are the most familiar with, since we have been building and perfecting it over the past few years — Kommunicate. With Kommunicate, you can be up and running building a chatbot in less than 10 minutes.

    Test your bot in parallel as you are building it, and see the changes that you make reflected in real time. Flow designer, ChatGPT integration, Multilingual bots, all come bundled in a neat package with Kommunicate.

    With Kommunicate, you have:

    Price:

    1. Lite: The Lite plan is priced at $100/month, with 2 teammates included and 500 Monthly Tracked Users (MTU).
    2. Advanced: The Advanced plan is priced at $200/month, with 5 teammates included and 5000 MTU.
    3. Business: Talk to Kommunicate sales.

    2. Drift:

    First on our list is a company that claims to be the masters of Conversational AI, providing tools for marketing, sales, and support. Drift is known for its “Drift conversation cloud” where chatbots, email, and live chat come together.

    Drift has one of the best chatbot API libraries available in the market today, and you can leverage their Users, Contacts, Playbooks, Drift SDK, and App Admin. With Drift, you can:

    Price:

    For small businesses, Drift has a premium plan that starts at $2500/ month. For larger plans, you will have to contact Drift Sales.

    Did you know?

    There are 4 major components of a smart conversational AI, which you can learn in this blog.

    3. Intercom Fin

    Fin is Intercom’s way of Supercharging an OpenAI chatbot. Intercom claims that it is the most advanced AI chatbot available in the market and provides safer, more accurate answers.

    Fin is aimed specifically at the customer support teams. The chatbot has built-in safeguards that ensure that it doesn’t give any misleading answers. The chatbot builder has also built in a “Custom” section, where customers can input their most important questions and Fin prioritizes them over its AI answers.

    Price:

    Fin usage is measured in Resolutions. It is currently priced at $0.99 per Resolution. To get this pricing, you need to be subscribed to an active Intercom plan.

    4. Chatbot API

    Chatbot uses NLU to help end users create intelligent chatbots that integrate with your messaging applications. The intelligent chatbots that you create can handle requests, interact with rich messages and images and carry on conversations.

    The chatbots API also helps you make bots and track their performance across a wide variety of metrics. Chatbot also has an easy drag-and-drop builder, using which you can create intelligent chatbots from scratch.

    Other features of Chatbot API are:

    1. Integrations with FB Messenger, Slack, and various CMS systems.
    2. Advanced chatbot analytics.

    Price:

    The entire chatbot package has been split into 4 plans

    5. Slack API

    Slack is an internal communications tool, kind of like Discord, but more professional. It is a preferred mode of communication for startups and small businesses around the world. Slack comes bundled with a Slack bot API that allows you to build chatbots. These chatbots in turn help you communicate with customers and also handle small tasks.

    Slack has 4 different types of APIs, which includes “Real Time Messaging API,” “Events API,” “Web API,” and “Conversations API.” The RTM API allows you to receive “events” from Slack in real time and send messages as users.

    With Slack API you can:

    1. Give your bot a name or even a profile in your directory.
    2. Program your bot to automatically post messages and reminders.
    3. Add interactive components like buttons and polls to your messages.

    Price

    Slack is free to use for a limited number of features, and the Pro plan generally costs $8.75/per user per month.

    6. Wit.AI

    Wit is an API platform that makes it easy for developers to build apps and devices that you can then talk to or text to. It uses AI to train its chatbots to identify the intent and implied meaning of the user inputs.

    What makes Wit.ai special is that it can understand user emotions and respond accordingly. This makes it the perfect Chatbot API to build complex bots where user input may not always be clear. Other features of Wit.AI include:

    Price:

    Wit.AI is free to use, including for commercial purposes.

    7. Zendesk API AI

    Zendesk provides what is known as Zendesk AI API as part of its broad range of offerings. There are pre-chat surveys, team collaboration and ticket routing. Zendesk also lets you build no- code bots that improve agent collaboration, through an agent-to-agent chat feature.

    Zendesk has an impressive list of more than 700 integrations, including Atlassian, Freshbooks, etc. There are also reports and dashboards that you can use for analytics.

    Price:

    Zendesk offers a free trial, followed by 4 plans which include:

    8. IBM Watson Assistant

    IBM Watson Assistant is also an open-source chat API, which uses AI to provide a chat widget for your website and communication channels. It is a cloud based system, and uses NLU capabilities to understand and respond to user queries.

    What makes this API solution a bit different from others on this list is that it is a bit complicated to implement. Users need to know the basics of programming to build bots using IBM Watson. Other features of this platform include:

    Price:

    IBM Watson has a free plan and a Plus plan that starts at $140/month. The Enterprise plan details are available on request.

    3 of the best ChatAPIs in the market

    1. Facebook Messenger API:

    Facebook Messenger API allows businesses to automate conversations with their customers through Facebook Messenger. Companies can now respond to customer queries quickly and efficiently, with minimal manual effort or intervention.

    Facebook’s Messenger API helps businesses create automated messages, which can be sent to customers based on specific triggers. For example, if a customer purchases a new item, then you can have the Messenger API send that customer a specific message.

    Other features of Facebook Messenger API include:

    Price:

    Facebook Messenger API is currently free for developers, if you do not exceed the rate limits.

    Twilio ChatAPI

    Does your business need chat-based communications? Twilio offers a convenient, all-in-one API for scalable, multi-party conversations across channels. The system allows developers to add real-time messaging and chat functionality to their applications.

    Users can send and receive messages, share images and videos, and engage in conversations via the Twilio ChatAPI. There are cloud-based archives, advanced opt-out and opt-ins, chat client SDKs, and webhooks and scoped webhooks, among other features, that make this API attractive.

    Twilio provides access to an extensive resource library. Its pay per-user pricing makes sure you are only paying for the functionalities you are using. This makes Twilio chatAPI the perfect solution for small businesses that are on a budget, and also for larger businesses that can scale at the pace that they want.

    Price:

    Like we said, Twilio offers a pay-per-user model of pricing. Currently, the model is priced at $0.05 per active user per month. There is also a price for the stored data per month, which starts at $0.25 GB per month.

    3. SendBird

    SendBird claims to be the world’s largest private in-apps conversation platform. It offers a myriad of features such as group chat and one-on-one chat, typing indicators, messaging history, etc. It is also an easy-to-use API and comes bundled with push notifications.

    SendBird API has a reliable infrastructure that ensures that the application can handle millions of concurrent users. It also ensures that there is smooth communication across mobile, web and desktop platforms.

    If you are building a social networking app, a customer support platform or a collaborative workspace, SendBird offers a robust set of APIs. This empowers developers to create engaging chat experiences. SendBird offers pre-built UI for major platforms, and flexible messages format like .json and .xml.

    Price:

    A subscription for SendBird is priced at $4788 for 12 months, and additional usage cost if your usage exceeds your contract.

    There you have it. 8 of the top chatbot APIs that you must know in 2023, along with 3 of the best ChatAPIs. Some of the chatbot APIs mentioned here are open source. For others, you may need to pay to access the advanced features. It all depends on the type of chatbots you want to build and the kind of conversations your customers are going to have. So, choose wisely.

    Originally published at https://www.kommunicate.io on June 22, 2023.


    8 Chatbot APIs To Watch Out For In 2023 + 3 Chat APIs was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • Will Prompt Engineering Die Soon?

    I was among the first to talk in detail about the new craft of prompt engineering and even prompt hacking in my newsletter back in February, a few months after the launch of ChatGPT.

    Since then, I’ve observed its transformation from a niche interest to a widely embraced field and a mainstream profession, with salaries purportedly as high as New York’s Empire State Building. In its essence, prompt engineering is the science of instructing AI models. It’s about crafting that “perfect” question or command that lets AI generate meaningful responses — like a key turning in a lock, unlocking the vast potential of AI.

    But a few days ago, the company that started it all — OpenAI — released a new version of DALL-E, which it claimed would be the death knell for prompt engineering, much in line with OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman’s claims that prompt engineering was a temporary phase in the gen-AI journey. Given that the person who began it all is making this prediction, we should take it seriously and look at the state of prompt engineering more closely.

    DALL-E 3, claims its designers, understands significantly more nuance and detail than its earlier siblings. Which means it translates ideas into highly accurate images, as compared to before.

    So we have an “intelligently superior” version of DALL-E. And soon, we may also have a sophisticated version of the rest of the gen-AI tools.

    Personally, I tend to agree to a degree with Sam. Here’s why:

    Let me give you my own example: I use gen-AI tools every day—from text to image to video generators—for which, of course, I need to input my instructions to the machine. But very rarely, maybe just 1%, have I used a templated prompt for this.

    I get the fact that the more nuanced and “in context” the prompt, the better the output. And so I often use 2–3 commands to get what I want. Almost every time, the output is fairly decent. And things only keep getting better as the “machine” “understands” me over time.

    Despite the growing interest in generative AI, most people like me haven’t even created a single professional prompt. But if giving instructions to the machine is also one definition of prompt engineering, then, of course, we all have done it.

    One of the tools I use, and I must say I am extremely satisfied with, is Microsoft Designer. In one of its iterations, it introduced a feature where the AI itself suggests a “professional” prompt based on your initial inputs.

    Two things here:

    a) The machine is self-writing a prompt

    b) The outputs based on my initial instructions and from the professional prompt are not vastly different

    I don’t want to bore my readers with the technical stuff, but prompts are nothing but instructions given in human language to an AI. Unlike computerization and other things digital, it does not require complex, code-based input every time you want an output. That’s thanks to natural language processing (NLP). Which means human talk is translated into computer lingo by the AI, saving the human the time, energy and effort to learn “code”.

    I often wonder why prompt engineering became such a “big deal” for the mainstream. I mean, at the very least, the very idea of using gen-AI is to have an assistant, an ally, or even a “smarter” colleague to help you in your pursuit of creative and professional work. So giving instructions to a machine should be as easy as talking to a fellow human being, right? At least, that’s what the theoretical idea is. Of course, for now, the communication between Man and Machine is nowhere close to that between humans, but we seem to be getting there.

    When we use computing devices as laypersons, we are not expected to use any form of code to communicate. Most of us, even today, do not know how to use HTML, C/C++ to C#, Java, or whatever. So why should there be any form of input engineering for AI, which is a far more sophisticated piece of technology than anything we have ever had?

    In light of all I’ve said above, it is but natural to ask the question: Is Prompt Engineering teetering on the brink of obsolescence?

    For me, the time is still not here where the answer can be a simple Yes or No.

    Prompt engineering, for now, remains an integral part of AI’s functionality. It’s the compass guiding the neural networks through the vast seas of human language, helping the model generate coherent, contextually accurate responses. But as we sail further into the future, rapid advances in technology do suggest that the tide could turn.

    One such advancement is the move towards autonomous learning systems. These AI models are designed to learn independently, without explicit instructions or prompts. They mimic the human brain’s ability to absorb, process, and react to information, reducing the need for human intervention. If these models eventually become a reality, it just could be that prompt engineering as a science would lose its relevance.

    No matter how sophisticated the current crop of machines get, they will always lack the intuition and creativity inherent to humans. Which will then ensure some form of prompting remains. Till Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is born. So, while gen-AI might learn to operate independently, the nuanced understanding of language, context, and culture — a feat achieved through prompting — may still prove elusive. Therefore, it’s likely that prompt engineering will evolve rather than become irrelevant. It might transform from crafting explicit instructions to instilling an understanding of implicit cues in AI models.

    Using precise prompts, we teach AI to grasp context, deduce meaning, and produce coherent, pertinent responses. However, there may come a time when just a simple sentence will suffice for the machine to comprehend your intentions completely.

    Moreover, the idea of complete autonomy in AI raises ethical and safety concerns. As machines grow more independent, the risk of misuse or unintended consequences increases. Prompt engineering, thus, could serve as a regulatory mechanism, ensuring the responsible use of AI technology. In this regard, the role of prompt engineers might shift towards safeguarding the ethical boundaries of AI applications.

    Should Scientists Focus More on Problem Formulation Than on Prompt Engineering?

    Oguz A. Oguz, Chair in Marketing at King’s Business School introduced an interesting angle to this debate. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, he asks, “Should scientists invest more energy in problem formulation than in prompt engineering?”

    Problem formulation, in essence, is the art of defining the questions that AI should answer or solve. It’s about identifying the gaps, defining the boundaries, and setting the course for our AI-driven solutions. In contrast to prompt engineering, which is more about instructing AI on how to respond, problem formulation focuses on what problems AI should tackle in the first place.

    When we view AI through the lens of problem formulation, we shift our perspective from instruction to inquiry. We ask, “What issues can AI help us solve?” rather than “How do we make AI respond appropriately?” This shift requires a deep understanding of both AI capabilities and human needs. It demands an interdisciplinary approach, blending technology with sociology, psychology, economics, and more.

    Indeed, some argue that this holistic, problem-focused approach could drive more impactful advancements in AI. Rather than focusing narrowly on refining the prompts we feed into AI systems, we might achieve more by broadening our vision and addressing larger, more complex societal problems. The potential for AI to revolutionize healthcare, education, environmental conservation, and myriad other areas is immense. Of course, to realize this potential, we must first define the right problems for AI to solve. But that’s a different story altogether.

    (A confession: Some help was taken from a machine to write/re-write bits and portions of this newsletter.)


    Will Prompt Engineering Die Soon? was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • How to Add Dialogflow Bot to WordPress Website

    Chatbots are cropping up and gaining popularity everywhere. It’s also commonplace for chatbots to appear on websites, instead of a user attempting to search your website to find what they need, they can just engage in directions conversation with your chatbot.

    In this post, we will learn how to add a Dialogflow bot to WordPress websites with the help of Kommunicate. If you don’t have Kommunicate a/c, please signup here for free.

    One needs to follow two steps to add a Dialogflow bot to WordPress websites. We will go through them in detail below. We will use Kommunicate’s chat widget and Dialogflow bot in this article. Both these tools are free to try.

    If you don’t have a Dialogflow chatbot, please read this step-by-step guide and build your own chatbot.

    Bonus: Want to build your chatbot without any coding?

    Stage 1: Integrate Dialogflow bot with Kommunicate

    Here is the step-by-step video for integrating Dialogflow bot with Kommunicate. I have also mentioned the steps below.

    Login to your Kommunicate and click on the Bot section. If you do not have an account, you can create one here. Locate the Dialogflow section and click on it.

    Get your Dialogflow API Credentials

    After clicking, a setting popup box will open. You will be asked for Dialogflow credentials. By logging into your Dialogflow console, you can obtain these.

    Click on the Settings icon (gear icon on the left panel) and choose V2 API as the preferred API version. Save your settings, and follow the setup instructions.

    1. Open Dialogflow agent settings (gear icon on the left panel)
    2. Click on the Google Cloudlink which is mentioned in the Google Project bar
    3. In Google cloud page navigate to the Credentials section by clicking on API’s & services
    4. Under the Credentials section find the service account and click on edit for Dialogflow integrations
    5. At the bottom of the screen click on ADD key button and create key option, JSON key will be downloaded
    6. Now upload the key file.

    Integrate Dialogflow Bot into Kommunicate

    Go back to Dialogflow settings screen of Kommunicate, enter your credentials, then click on next to save and progress. You’ll be able to give your bot a name in the user profile section that follows. Your customers will see that name whenever the bot interacts with them.

    To integrate Dialogflow CX into Kommunicate follow the same instructions to download the JSON key and mention the Agent Id in the kommunicate dashboard

    To get the Agent Id: Go to Dialogflow CX console >> Select the Project >> In the Agent you have created ‘Copy the agent name to the clipboard will be in the format mentioned below, where the Agent Id is 54b0c663-2c01-4a09-a482-277ff39c0b05

    Save, and move to the next steps to complete the setup.

    You can check your newly created bot here in the Dashboard →Bot Integration → Manage Bots section.

    Suggested Read: Connect Dialogflow With Facebook Messenger

    Suggested Read: WordPress Chatbot: How to Create Without Any Coding

    Stage 2: Integrate Kommunicate with WordPress

    Log in to your WordPress dashboard and click on Plugins from the left navigation panel. Then click on Add New button.

    Search for “Kommunicate Live Chat” plugin. On the search results page, you’ll see many options. Locate the “Kommunicate Live Chat” plug-in and click the Install Now button. Please make sure you Activate the plugin to make use of it.

    Once you’ve installed and activated your plugin, you can then navigate to it in the left sidebar menu or through the Plugins page under Kommunicate settings.

    Here you need to add your APP_ID to enable chat-based support in your product.

    Add the Kommunicate App ID

    You will get the same in the Kommunicate dashboard -> Settings -> Install. Insert your App ID > Copy it and paste it in the WordPress plugin > Save the changes.

    And that’s it. You have completed the integration. Open the website, check out the chat widget, and play with your bot. You will find it in the bottom-right corner. Now your website visitors can chat effortlessly with you. You can manage the conversations and appearance from the Kommunicate dashboard.


    How to Add Dialogflow Bot to WordPress Website was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • How to Add Live Chat in Android Apps

    Whether you are a small business or big enterprise, customers need prompt support. The first thing that comes to our mind is live chat. Given that the world is going mobile-first, it is important to have live chat implemented properly on your mobile website and apps as well. In this simple tutorial, we will learn how to add live chat in Android apps.

    We will be using Kommunicate Android Live Chat SDK, which is free to get started with. I have created a sample in Github for your reference as well.

    Steps by Step Guide to Add Live Chat in Android Apps

    Basic Setup

    Adding Gradle Dependency

    First thing first, let’s add Gradle dependency in your project and rebuild it.

    dependencies {
    implementation 'io.kommunicate.sdk:kommunicateui: 2.1.6'
    }

    Setup Your SDK

    You need to initialize the SDK with the Kommunicate Application ID (APP_ID). You can get the Kommunicate APP_ID by signing up for Kommuncate and navigating to the Install section.

    More details can be found here as well. Add below code in onCreate method in your activity where you want to add Live Chat.

    Kommunicate.init(context, APP_ID );

    Launch Live Chat

    Floating buttons are widely used in Live Chat, I am using email action in my sample here. You can use your custom buttons as well. Now, we are ready to launch our live chat. Add below code into ‘click listener’ of the live chat button from where you want to launch chat.

    new KmConversationBuilder(activityContext)
    .launchConversation(new KmCallback() {
    @Override
    public void onSuccess(Object message) {
    Log.d("Conversation", "Success : " + message);
    }
                            @Override
    public void onFailure(Object error) {
    Log.d("Conversation", "Failure : " + error);
    }
    });

    This how a conversation list and conversation look inside your app.

    Customizations

    Here are a few customizations you can do to your Android live chat. Note that, these are optional.

    🚀 Suggested Read: Add Joomla Live Chat Plugin to Your Website

    🚀 Suggested Read: How to Add Live Chat Widget to Your GoDaddy Website

    Email collection before starting a chat

    Sometimes we need to collect the email before users start the actual live chat. This is normally termed as ‘Lead collection’. To collect lead’s email, you just need to add one more setting in the above method while launching live chat.

    new KmConversationBuilder(activityContext)
    .setWithPreChat(true)
    .launchConversation(new KmCallback() {
    @Override
    public void onSuccess(Object message) {
    Log.d("Conversation", "Success : " + message);
    }
                            @Override
    public void onFailure(Object error) {
    Log.d("Conversation", "Failure : " + error);
    }
    });

    You can get more information about pre-chat lead collection here.

    Change colors, themes, and other customizations

    You can change the colors, fonts, themes and add ton os other customization to your newly added live chat. Here is the detailed instruction to customize the live chat SDK.

    Notification Setup

    If you want to enable notification for incoming messages you can follow the steps here.

    Wrapping Up

    In a few simple steps, you can get started with new-age sales and customer service by adding live chat to your Android apps.


    How to Add Live Chat in Android Apps was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • Stop Wasting Money on Bad Support: Conversational AI Can Fix That

    Stop Wasting Money on Bad Support: Conversational AI Can Fix That All for your Contact Center

    Tired of high costs, stressed-out agents, and clients who feel ignored? Conversational AI might just be your contact center’s new best friend. It handles the boring stuff, so your support experts can actually, well, aid people! Happier customers, happier employees — it’s a win-win-win.

    Ready to transform your client service strategy? Good news, we’ve got the insider scoop! Our Master Tetiana Tsymbal spent years on the frontlines of customer care, so she knows the struggles firsthand. We’ve combined her expertise with our AI smarts and packed it into a guide full of practical tips to turn those challenges into serious triumphs. Let’s dive in and make your contact center a place where help really happens!

    Is Your Customer Service Sabotaging Your Business? These Challenges Could Be Costing You

    Picture this: clients expect lightning-fast help, but your team’s drowning in calls and repetitive tasks. Sound familiar? Those are some serious contact center pain points. It’s no wonder 68% of teams blame the rising expectations on AI! Speed matters and the pressure to keep up is real.

    But it’s not just about pace. Tetiana Tsymbal, a seasoned consumer support veteran, knows other major struggles firsthand:

    • Sky-high costs: Outdated systems and clunky processes are a money pit, making it way too hard to be cost-effective.
    • Zero flexibility: Can’t handle a sudden surge in calls? That’s a recipe for frustrated customers and missed growth opportunities.
    • Agents burning out: Repetitive tasks and stressful work lead to high turnover — which just adds more expenses and disrupts your whole operation.
    • Taking a hit: Bad user experiences hurt your brand’s reputation, scaring off prospects and sabotaging those hard-won sales.
    • Waiting… and waiting…: Slow systems and not enough agents mean long wait times and abandoned calls. Say goodbye to happy consumers.
    • Inconsistent much?: No clear processes mean some customers get awesome help, while others feel ignored. That’s not how you build loyalty.
    • Missed chances to grow: Agents who aren’t trained or equipped to upsell are leaving money on the table.
    • Flying blind: Trying to make smart decisions without clear data? Good luck! Leaders need those insights to optimize.
    • The competition’s ahead: Failing to innovate means falling behind brands with slick, AI-powered support. Customers will notice, and they might just jump ship.
    • Agents need support, too: Not enough training or outdated info makes it impossible to really solve clients’ problems.

    Ouch, right? But the good news is, Artificial Intelligence isn’t just raising the bar — it’s also how you clear it! Leaders get it; that’s why so many are investing in automation. Let’s talk about how conversational agents can actually fix these problems and open up a whole new world of amazing customer support.

    Support That Actually Helps: AI Solutions in Action

    Tired of long wait times, frustrating transfers, and those generic help scripts? Conversational AI is about to change the way businesses interact with their customers in contact centers. Let’s dive into some practical ways AI chatbots and virtual assistants are making things easier and more efficient for everyone involved.

    1. Managing Routine Inquiries or FAQs

    Let’s be real, no one enjoys repeating the same basic info over and over. Imagine a healthcare provider’s chatbot handling questions about insurance coverage, appointments, or prescriptions — that’s AI taking the tedious stuff off your plate! This lets live agents focus on the tricky cases and ultimately helps patients faster.

    2. Capturing and Qualifying Leads

    Ever filled out one of those online “contact us” forms? A smart virtual assistant on the phone or in a real estate website’s chat can do so much more! It gathers key details from potential buyers, figures out their needs, and passes on the hottest prospects to your sales team.

    3. Suggesting Solutions and Prompts During Calls and Chats

    Picture this: a panicked customer calls a consumer electronics company with an urgent problem. AI to the rescue! It analyzes the conversation and feeds solutions to the agent in real time, making it easier to get the client back up and running.

    4. Guiding Customers Through Self-Service Options

    Sometimes we just want to figure things out ourselves. An airline’s chatbot can walk you through rebooking, answer baggage questions, or even manage your loyalty points. This kind of self-service is great for the less tech-savvy and those of us tired of waiting on hold.

    5. Routing Complex Cases to Appropriate Manager

    Trying to explain a super-specific financial planning question to a general support agent? Frustrating, right? AI sorts those calls quickly, getting you to the proper expert at a wealth management firm, so you get the specialized help you need.

    6. Automating Surveys and Feedback

    “How was your meal?” gets asked a lot, but what if a restaurant chatbot sent you a quick survey right after your phone or online order? Companies get way more honest feedback this way, helping them improve the things they care about.

    7. Tracking Recurring Issues for Improvement

    Imagine a chatbot flagging the same troubleshooting problem over and over about an electronics product. That’s a clue that something might be wrong with the instructions or the item itself. AI makes spotting these patterns a breeze, leading to proactive solutions.

    8. Simulating Customer Interactions for Training

    Trainee nerves in a call center? Leave those to the trainer, powered by artificial intelligence! It can throw realistic scenarios at new insurance agents, letting them practice claims, cancellations, or policy changes without stressing out real customers. Ready and confident agents equal a better experience for everyone.

    9. Offering Onboarding Support for New Agents

    Starting a new job, especially in a telehealth call center, can be overwhelming. An AI assistant breaks down the lingo and procedures, getting new employees up-to-speed fast, so they can confidently answer your patient questions.

    10. Ensuring 24/7 Availability

    Need help at 2 AM, when most businesses are closed? Chatbots have your back! They can answer basic questions about your online order status, take down info for an agent, or even start simple returns. That’s the kind of anytime support we all want.

    From faster answers to super-personalized service, Conversational AI is changing the customer experience game. Companies are getting a tech-savvy edge, and let’s face it, we all want a smoother, easier way to get the assistance we need when we require it.

    From Chaos to Customer Love: Our AI Solutions Success Stories

    Okay, enough talk — let’s see this AI in action! From answering those FAQs no one wants to deal with to making global support a breeze, these real-world examples show how conversational systems actually solve those gnarly contact center problems:

    The FAQ Fix

    Ever get stuck on hold just to ask a simple question? A virtual assistant we built for a telecom giant crushes FAQs about plans, promotions, and troubleshooting. It’s like having an encyclopedia at your fingertips — instant answers, no agent needed (unless you really want the human touch).

    DIY Customer Support FTW

    We helped a satellite radio company create a chatbot that’s a self-service wizard. Setup woes? Account snag? This bot doesn’t just give answers, it guides you through fixes step-by-step. Customers feel empowered, support lines clear up, and that’s a win for everyone.

    Onboarding Overhaul

    Starting a new customer support job is stressful — tons of info and high expectations. But what if you had an AI coach? That’s what we built for a biotech company: an assistant connecting newbies with the knowledge and backup they need. Faster onboarding means customers get the expert help they deserve sooner.

    Goodbye, Global Support Headaches

    Time zones, multiple languages, complex products — a luxury jewelry retailer tackled it all with AI routing. Their system pinpoints a customer’s location and issue, connecting them to the right specialist right away. No more frustration, just smooth, personalized service that builds brand loyalty.

    Ready to Dive into AI? Here’s How to Get Your Contact Center Rolling

    Upgrading your support game with chatbots or smart assistants takes some strategy. Let’s get started:

    Step 1 — Spot the Bottlenecks: We’re talking crazy wait times, repetitive questions no one wants to answer, and those kinds of problems. Be honest about where things get jammed up — that’s where conversational systems can make the biggest difference.

    Step 2 — Find Your AI Sidekick: This isn’t about building tech from scratch (unless you’re into that!). You need a partner who has artificial intelligence and knows the contact center world inside and out. The right team will help you with the whole plan, from choosing the proper tools to actually making them work.


    Stop Wasting Money on Bad Support: Conversational AI Can Fix That was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • Chatbots vs. Conversational AI: Which is Right for Your Business?

    Embark on a journey to explore the dynamic landscape of Chatbots and Conversational AI. As businesses increasingly adopt chatbots to engage customers and drive growth, the global chatbot market is expected to reach $994 million by 2024. With 36% of companies using chatbots to generate more leads and achieving a 67% improvement in sales, it’s evident that chatbots are reshaping customer interactions as one of the primary customer support channels, according to Gartner.

    Another technology revolutionizing customer engagement is Conversational AI which is projected to hit $32.62 billion by 2030. Nearly 80% of CEOs are already adapting their strategies to incorporate Conversational AI technologies. Moreover, 67% of businesses believe that without Conversational AI implementation they will lose their clients.

    In this article, we will analyze the differences between Chatbots vs Conversational AI. Explore the distinctions, benefits, and examples to determine which solution suits your business needs best.

    Chatbot vs Conversational AI: Definition and Types

    What are Rule-Based Chatbots?

    Rule-based chatbots are the simplest form of chatbots for customer support. They operate based on a predefined set of rules and decision trees. Each rule corresponds to specific keywords or patterns in user input, and the chatbot responds accordingly. Rule-based chatbots lack the ability to learn or adapt beyond these predetermined responses. While they are suitable for handling basic and straightforward interactions, they often struggle to understand ambiguous queries or respond contextually.

    Mechanics of Rule-Based Chatbots

    Types of Rule-Based Chatbots

    • Button-based chatbots offer a limited set of options to the user in the form of buttons. They are simple to build and can be used to complete simple tasks.
    • Keyword-based chatbots identify keywords in the user’s query and match them with the best available response. They are limited by the fact that they cannot correctly recognize other ways of asking the same question, typos, or slang.
    • Data collection chatbots are focused on collecting data from users. They can be used to create more sophisticated chatbots that can combine predesigned journeys with user inputs, make decisions, and complete common business interactions.
    • Decision-tree chatbots work on a “decision-flow” basis, where every answer leads to fewer and fewer potential conclusions. They can be used to narrow down the options available to the user or to perform some task based on the data gathered.
    • Quiz chatbots present a set of questions to the user and then rate their answers. They can be used to spike customer attention, assess customer needs, or collect information from users.
    • Questionnaire chatbots are similar to quiz chatbots, but they do not score the user’s answers. They are used to collect aggregated information from users, such as customer satisfaction surveys.

    What is Conversational AI?

    Conversational AI is a sophisticated form of artificial intelligence (AI) that simulates human-like conversations through automated messaging and voice-enabled applications. Powered by natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML), Conversational AI enables computers to understand and process human language, generating appropriate and personalized responses.

    This technology encompasses various methods, from basic NLP to advanced ML models, allowing for a wide range of applications, including chatbots, virtual assistants, customer service interactions, and voice assistants. By delivering near-human interactions, Conversational AI boosts customer experiences, increases satisfaction, and drives loyalty, making it a powerful tool for businesses seeking intelligent automation to meet and exceed customer expectations across various communication channels.

    Conversational AI Components

    Components of Conversational AI

    Conversational AI leverages advanced algorithms, including NLP, to facilitate context-rich dialogues with users. With exposure to a diverse range of user inputs, the AI enhances its pattern recognition and predictive capabilities. The interaction of Conversational AI with users involves five essential steps:

    Step 1: Input Generation: Users submit queries or requests via different channels like websites, mobile apps, or voice assistants, using written text or spoken language.

    Step 2: Input Analysis: User input undergoes analysis to derive meaning and intent. Text-based inputs are interpreted using NLP techniques like natural language understanding (NLU), while voice inputs are transcribed using automatic speech recognition (ASR) before NLU analysis.

    Step 3: Dialogue Management: After analyzing the input and identifying the user’s intent, the system manages the ongoing conversation by determining appropriate responses and maintaining context and dialogue diversity.

    Step 4: Output Generation: The Conversational AI system generates responses to user queries or requests using natural language generation (NLG) techniques, creating human-readable text or speech.

    Step 5: Reinforcement Learning: Conversational AI systems improve over time through reinforcement learning, refining responses based on user feedback and updating ML models continually.

    Types of Conversational AI

    Conversational AI encompasses a variety of advanced technologies designed to facilitate interactive and human-like conversations with users. One of the most prominent types is the Conversational AI chatbot, which employs NLP and AI to engage users, respond to queries, and execute tasks seamlessly.

    Voice and Mobile Assistants, on the other hand, interpret voice commands and provide hands-free interaction, automatic sorting of information, and multilingual support.

    Interactive Voice Assistants (IVA) serve as automated phone systems, intelligently routing calls and assisting during peak hours, while Virtual Assistants like Siri, Alexa, or Cortana leverage machine learning to continuously improve and adapt autonomously, enabling omnichannel deployment and lower development costs.

    These diverse types of Conversational AI contribute to enhancing user experiences, streamlining processes, and providing valuable assistance in various industries.

    Chatbots vs Conversational AI: Advantages and Disadvantages

    Pros and Cons Conversational AI vs Chatbots

    The use of Conversational AI presents a range of advantages and drawbacks when compared to rule-based chatbots. Rule-based chatbots are quicker to train and more cost-effective, relying on predefined rules and clear guidelines for predictable conversational flow and high certainty in performing specific tasks. However, they lack the adaptability to handle complex user inputs, cannot learn from interactions, and have limited knowledge beyond their programmed rules.

    On the other hand, Conversational AI employs sophisticated algorithms and NLP to engage in context-rich dialogues, offering benefits like 24/7 availability, personalization, and data-driven decision-making. AI-driven chatbots can handle various tasks, provide immediate responses, and scale customer support efficiently. While they offer a more human-like experience and continuous learning, they require more time for training, may lack context in certain interactions, and demand ongoing updates and testing.

    The choice between rule-based and Conversational AI chatbots depends on specific use cases, considering factors like speed, cost, flexibility, and the desired level of user experience.

    Main Differences Between Chatbot vs Conversational AI

    Technological Differences

    Rule-based chatbots are built on predefined rules and simple algorithms, making them less sophisticated than Conversational AI. They rely on basic keyword recognition for language understanding, limiting their ability to comprehend nuanced user inputs. In contrast, Conversational AI harnesses advanced NLU powered by machine learning algorithms. This empowers Conversational AI to understand context, intent, and user behavior, resulting in more intelligent and contextually relevant responses.

    Channel Inclusion

    Rule-based chatbots are often limited to handling interactions in a single channel, typically text-based messaging platforms. They may not be equipped to process voice inputs effectively, limiting their accessibility and versatility. In contrast, Conversational AI is designed to be omnichannel with multimodal capacities, seamlessly integrating with various platforms, including websites, mobile apps, social media, and voice-enabled assistants. This broadens the reach of Conversational AI and ensures consistent user experiences across different channels.

    Input Types and Training

    Rule-based chatbots rely on predefined patterns and rules, making them effective for handling specific input formats and predictable interactions. However, they may struggle to understand complex or unstructured inputs. Conversational AI, powered by ML and advanced NLU, can process various input types, such as text, voice, images, and even user actions. Moreover, Conversational AI has the ability to continuously learn and improve from user interactions, enabling it to adapt and provide more accurate responses over time.

    Tasks Range

    Rule-based chatbots excel in handling specific tasks or frequently asked questions with predefined answers. They are suitable for simple, straightforward interactions, such as providing basic information or performing routine tasks like order tracking. Conversely, Conversational AI goes beyond task-oriented responses and engages users in more sophisticated conversations. It can understand intent, context, and user preferences, offering personalized interactions and tailored experiences to users.

    Naturalness and User Engagement

    Rule-based chatbots often produce static and scripted responses, lacking the natural flow of human-like conversations. Users may find the interactions predictable and less engaging due to their limited ability to adapt and learn from user feedback. In contrast, Conversational AI’s use of ML and advanced NLU enables it to mimic human-like conversation patterns and provide more fluid and natural responses. This naturalness fosters better user engagement and satisfaction.

    Cost-Effectiveness

    Rule-based chatbots are relatively easier and less expensive to develop and deploy due to their simplicity and predefined nature. However, as the scope of interactions expands or updates are needed, maintenance can become cumbersome and costly.

    Conversational AI, while requiring more initial investment, offers higher long-term cost-effectiveness. Its ability to learn and adapt reduces the need for constant manual updates, and its scalability ensures it can handle a growing volume of interactions without a proportional increase in resources.

    Application of Conversational AI vs Chatbot

    Chatbots vs Rule-Based Chatbots Use Cases

    Rule-based chatbots offer a structured and deterministic approach to conversational interactions, making them ideal for specific chatbot use cases where the conversation flow can be well-defined. Let’s explore several applications where rule-based chatbots excel in delivering efficient and effective solutions:

    • Appointment Scheduling: Rule-based chatbots can efficiently manage appointment bookings for businesses such as medical clinics, salons, or service providers. They can check availability, confirm appointments, and send reminders, reducing administrative tasks and enhancing appointment management.
    • Order Tracking and Updates: E-commerce businesses can benefit from rule-based chatbots to provide customers with real-time updates on their orders, delivery status, and tracking codes. The chatbot can instantly respond to inquiries about the order’s location and estimated delivery time.
    • Information Retrieval: In scenarios where users need accfess to specific information, such as event details, business hours, or location directions, a rule-based chatbot can swiftly provide the relevant details without the need for human intervention.
    • FAQ and Knowledge Base Interaction: Rule-based chatbots can navigate through an organization’s FAQ or knowledge base, extracting relevant information and presenting it to users in a user-friendly manner. This saves users time in finding answers to their questions.
    • Feedback Collection: Businesses can utilize rule-based chatbots to collect feedback from customers after completing a purchase or service. The chatbot can ask specific questions and record responses, enabling businesses to gather valuable insights for improvement.
    • Survey and Polling: Rule-based chatbots can conduct simple surveys and polls, collecting responses from users and generating valuable data for analysis and decision-making.
    • Onboarding and User Guidance: Rule-based chatbots can guide new users through the onboarding process of a website or application, providing step-by-step instructions and ensuring a smooth user experience.
    • Event Registration: For events and webinars, rule-based chatbots can handle registration processes, provide confirmations, and send reminders to participants, streamlining event management.

    Conversational AI Use Cases

    Conversational AI’s ability to learn from data enables them to handle complex language patterns and offer more human-like interactions. Here are several compelling applications where Conversational AI solutions, including AI-based chatbots, demonstrate their strengths:

    • Virtual Customer Service Representatives: Conversational AI-powered chatbots can serve as virtual customer service representatives, providing personalized assistance to customers across various channels. They can handle complex queries, recommend products or services, and offer support 24/7, enhancing the overall customer experience.
    • Voice and Mobile Assistants: Conversational AI can power voice and mobile assistants that enable users to interact with devices or applications through voice commands. These assistants can perform tasks such as setting reminders, searching for information, and controlling smart home devices.
    • Personalized Shopping Assistance: E-commerce businesses can leverage Conversational AI to offer personalized shopping experiences. The chatbot can understand user preferences, recommend products based on past interactions, and provide real-time product information, helping users make informed purchasing decisions.
    • Virtual Health Assistants: Conversational AI can be employed in the healthcare industry to act as virtual health assistants. These assistants can provide health-related information, schedule appointments, and remind patients about medication intake, contributing to better patient engagement and care.
    • Interactive Educational Tools: In the education sector, Conversational AI can be integrated into learning platforms to deliver interactive and personalized learning experiences. The chatbot can answer students’ questions, provide study materials, and offer feedback on assignments.
    • Travel Planning and Booking: Conversational AI can streamline the travel planning process by assisting users with flight and hotel bookings, suggesting travel itineraries, and providing destination information, making travel arrangements more convenient.
    • Financial Management: Conversational AI can be utilized in finance to help users manage their finances better. The chatbot can offer budgeting advice, track expenses, and provide insights into investment opportunities, promoting financial literacy.
    • Technical Support and Troubleshooting: In the tech industry, Conversational AI can serve as a technical support assistant, guiding users through troubleshooting processes for software or hardware issues and resolving problems efficiently.

    Chatbots vs Conversational AI: Examples

    Rule-based and Hybrid Chatbot Examples

    Lufthansa’s Elisa Chatbot

    Elisa is an airport chatbot developed by Lufthansa that is trained on a large dataset of text and code, which allows it to understand and respond to a wide range of customer queries. Elisa can be used to answer questions about flights, refunds, or cancellations, check-in for flights, and make changes to reservations. Elisa serves as a reliable travel companion, delivering valuable information to passengers and enhancing their flying experience with Lufthansa.

    Lufthansa’s Elisa Chatbot

    Major Tom’s Skylar FAQ Chatbot

    Another chatbot example is Skylar, Major Tom’s versatile FAQ chatbot designed to streamline customer interactions and enhance user experiences. Skylar serves as the go-to digital assistant, promptly addressing frequently asked questions and guiding visitors to the information they seek. With Skylar at the helm, Major Tom offers seamless customer support, delivering top-notch marketing solutions with every interaction.

    Major Tom’s Skylar FAQ Chatbot

    GOL Airlines’ Virtual Attendant Gal

    Gal, GOL Airlines’ trusty FAQ Chatbot is designed to efficiently assist passengers with essential flight information. Gal is a bot that taps into the company’s help center to promptly answer questions related to COVID-19 regulations, flight status, and check-in details, among other important topics. By capturing information from the help center, Gal ensures passengers receive accurate and timely responses, saving valuable time for GOL’s customer support team.

    GOL Airlines’ Virtual Attendant Gal

    Conversational AI Examples

    Telecom Virtual Assistant

    Exemplifying the power of Conversational AI in the telecom industry is the Telecom Virtual Assistant developed by Master of Code Global for America’s Un-carrier. Over the course of 24 months, this cutting-edge Virtual Assistant has been at the forefront of customer engagement, participating in more than 1.1 million conversations and offering a diverse range of over 40 use cases, spanning from bill payments to mobile service management.

    Customers now benefit from expedited and streamlined self-service options, resulting in an impressive 45% containment rate for one-time payments and AutoPay, and a remarkable 73% containment rate for the Netflix experience, among other achievements. With an extensive repertoire of over 70+ intents, the Virtual Assistant swiftly addresses customer inquiries with precision and efficiency, driving a notable enhancement in overall customer satisfaction.

    Telecom Virtual Assistant

    Payment Refund Chatbot

    Another fantastic example of Conversational AI in action is the Payment Refund Chatbot developed for a popular fast-casual Mexican dining chain in North America. Facing challenges in efficiently processing a high volume of refund requests, the brand implemented the Chatbot developed by Master of Code Global to reduce operational costs, minimize human errors, and alleviate customer frustrations caused by long wait times.

    By extending the existing Conversational AI solution, the Chatbot intelligently gathers information about the purchase method, issue details, and initial payment, making precise refund decisions. The results have been outstanding, with agent escalation dropping between 42% and 66%, leading to $10.2 million in refund cost savings. The Chatbot’s success is attributed to its sophisticated business logic, which provides consistent and clear refund rules, improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

    Payment Refund Chatbot

    Esso Entertainment Chatbot

    Fueling the love of hockey for Canadians, the Esso Entertainment Chatbot emerged as a game-changing application of Conversational AI. As the official fuel sponsor of the NHL, Esso aimed to engage hockey fans and promote their brand uniquely. Collaborating with BBDO Canada, Master of Code Global created the bilingual Messenger Chatbot, introducing the innovative ‘Pass the Puck’ game. The objective was to entice as many Canadians as possible to participate, passing the puck from coast to coast.

    Through enticing social ad marketing, over 84,000 Canadians engaged with the Chatbot, with an impressive 83% sign-up conversion rate and 94% player retention rate. The puck traveled over 1.2 billion kilometers, reaching all three Canadian coastlines and more than 2,500 towns. A resounding success in fostering connections and delight among hockey enthusiasts, the Esso Entertainment Chatbot is a testament to the power of Conversational AI in elevating brand engagement and delighting users nationwide.

    Esso Entertainment Chatbot

    Luxury Escapes Travel Chatbot

    Unveiling the Luxury Escapes Travel Chatbot — an incredible application of Conversational AI that is redefining the luxury travel experience. Luxury Escapes, a leader in providing top-notch travel deals, partnered with Master of Code Global to create this travel chatbot, offering personalized and engaging experiences to travelers. Launched in February 2019, the Chatbot revolutionized how users search and book luxurious trips, leading to an astonishing 3x higher conversion rate than their website.

    Users engaged enthusiastically, with over 7400 retargeting interactions and more than 16,800 plays of the fun ‘Roll the Dice’ vacation selector game. The Chatbot’s success story includes generating over $300,000 in sales revenue within just 3 months of its launch. As mobile and conversational commerce thrive, the Luxury Escapes Travel Chatbot stands as a testament to the power of Conversational AI in driving user engagement and expanding brand authority on a global scale.

    Luxury Escapes Travel Chatbot

    Chatbots vs Conversational AI: How to Choose the Right Solution for Your Business?

    Conversational AI and chatbots are both valuable tools for improving customer service, but they excel in different areas. Chatbots, based on predefined rules, are ideal for simple, repetitive tasks, providing a cost-effective solution for basic customer queries. However, they may struggle with complex or personalized interactions.

    On the other hand, Conversational AI, powered by AI, offers more advanced capabilities. It can learn and adapt over time, providing natural and personalized conversations. Conversational AI excels at handling complex questions and tasks, making it suitable for sophisticated customer interactions.

    To make an informed decision and select the most suitable solution for your business, it’s essential to consider various factors. Firstly, take into account the complexity of customer requests. If your clientele often presents intricate and diverse inquiries, a Conversational AI might better serve your needs, as it can understand context and intent, and provide personalized responses and seamless customer support experience.

    Budget is another crucial factor. Chatbots, being rule-based and simpler, are generally more cost-effective to set up and maintain. On the other hand, Conversational AI, with its advanced capabilities and machine learning algorithms, might involve a higher initial investment but can offer long-term cost-effectiveness through continuous learning and reduced manual updates.

    Assess your technical resources as well. If your business has limited technical expertise or resources, a chatbot’s ease of deployment and maintenance could be advantageous. However, if you have the capacity for more complex integration and development, Conversational AI may be worth considering for its dynamic, non-linear interactions and ability to integrate with existing databases and text corpora.

    Finally, keep your long-term goals in mind. If scalability and expansion are part of your business strategy, Conversational AI’s adaptability and potential to grow with your company make it an attractive option. Master of Code Global has provided a checklist of key differences in the table below to aid your decision-making process.

    Chatbots vs Conversational AI A Checklist of Key Differences for Decision-Makers

    By carefully assessing your specific needs and requirements, you can determine whether a chatbot or Conversational AI is the better fit for your business.


    Chatbots vs. Conversational AI: Which is Right for Your Business? was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

  • Benefits of Integrating AI chatbot in Business Mobile Apps

    AI Chatbot in Mobile Apps

    In this whole digital era, everyone wants to make their life easy and hassle-free. With these technologies, it’s possible to make life simpler. Okay, now comes the web app market. Because of applications, you can access many particular things while sitting in your comfort place, which is the foremost reason technology makes your life easier.

    When using apps, we have faced some issues, and to resolve them, we need a support system that can solve all of our queries and help us move forward. That’s why we need AI chatbot features in all apps.

    If you have a brilliant app idea and want to make an on-demand app, then yes, you need to integrate an AI chatbot in your business app because there are many benefits, and this will also make your app user-friendly. This blog will explain the benefits of this feature, and by reading, you will be able to compare which type of app is more user-friendly.

    What is an AI Chatbot?

    A chatbot is an artificial intelligence (AI) systematic computer program that can exactly work like human user communications. Using bots in your application can help you attract & retain more visitors while increasing interaction. These are a few significant benefits of including an AI chatbot on your business app.

    Significant Benefits of AI Chatbots in Your Business App

    Chatbots are normally used in customer services at the time they allow clients to discover all necessary information & answers independently & quickly. The following benefits delve into the ways in which voice bots, the more advanced cousins of chatbots, help both users & brands.

    Let’s get started.

    1. Improve Customer Service

    Chatbots, unlike humans, are trained to follow specific rules. AI chatbots will respond kindly even if users behave rudely and profanely. This ensures that your app users experience a high degree of customer satisfaction. Additionally, chatbots can instantly reply to user’s queries at any time and are available around the clock. By increasing the accessibility of your goods & services, prompt customer service promotes consumer satisfaction. Being proactive is an additional feature of a chatbot that enhances customer service. In this manner, you can reach out to clients and resolve any problems before they get in touch with you.

    2. 24/7 Availability

    Chatbots do not require sleep or maintenance. Because they’re always open, companies may interact with clients after hours. AI chatbots can reach users within a minute, and they are successfully able to communicate with the user. After learning about the query, they can answer and resolve it.

    3. Enhanced Personalized Experience

    Contemporary consumers dislike generic, formulaic replies from the brands they interact with. By facilitating communication using consumer insights, chatbots can specifically make the strategy. To better understand consumer behavior, activities, and preferences, they can interface with CRM systems. This allows them to customize relevant content and responses for every engagement.

    Personalization plays a vital role in generating engagement in sectors such as e-commerce. A chatbot’s ability to engage people and elicit their desired response increases with its level of personalization.

    4. Complementary Human Assistance

    When it comes to customer data, insights, and pertinent information during encounters, chatbots are a valuable asset to human agents. Your agents can consistently satisfy their service level agreements (SLA) and resolve complicated problems efficiently if they get prompt support. Chatbots are a useful tool for virtual assistants and trusted companions, but they can only partially replace human connection.

    5. Cost-efficiency

    Chatbots are capable of managing numerous users at once and heavy traffic during rush hour without incurring overtime fees. Companies and contact centers can grow their operations, product portfolios, and target markets without hiring more agents since they have chatbots to handle customer service. Furthermore, through reduced labor expenses and more effective operations, automation of any form always results in cost savings.

    6. Instant Response

    Chatbots are your greatest chance to appease click-satisfied customers who will leave a company if they are kept waiting in this era of quick gratification. So that users don’t have to type their questions, there are FAQ chatbots that display menus of frequently asked questions. After that, they quickly focus on the real problem and its solutions based on user input.

    When chatbots make quick service available, customers don’t have to wait too long, call queues or give up on their purchases. Good customer experiences lead to higher customer retention and favorable sentiment in general.

    7. Lead Generation

    Chatbots may engage visitors, qualify leads, and initiate the sales process. They compile contact information, preferences, and purchase intent, providing firms with a pool of prospective clients to pursue. And that’s not all. Chatbots may help customers at every stage of the sales process, from first questions to product recommendations and buy support. They thereby help to increase revenue and conversion rates.

    8. Decreased Human Error

    Particularly for jobs requiring repetitive data entry or processing, chatbots are good at minimizing human error. Results are more accurate and reliable, especially when it comes to order processing and data management. It’s important to remember that the accuracy of your bot’s responses depends on the AI system that powers it. Customers’ engagement and contentment rise naturally when they receive precise responses.

    9. Global Appeal

    Due to their multilingual capabilities, chatbots enable businesses to reach a wider audience worldwide. Intelligent chatbots are able to speak with local users in a discernible way since they are capable of understanding humor, satire, and colloquialisms. Alternatively, it would take significant hiring and training work to outfit agents with the local linguistic quirks if a brand had to set up contact centers in every area of business.

    10. Simplified Feedback Collection

    Customers can conveniently express their thoughts and complaints through chatbots, which can collect feedback in real-time. Chatbot chats are designed to include feedback prompts that ask users for feedback when appropriate. Businesses can increase support metrics like CSAT and net promoter score (NPS) while providing more satisfying experiences if they carefully apply the input from in-chat customer surveys.

    11. Security & Compliance

    Chatbots can make sure that all exchanges follow security and regulatory requirements. In order to protect data privacy and compliance, they can assist with guiding users through safe transactions, confirming identities, and providing information. They may identify bias, filth, and offensive undertones in talks, which can lead to problems for brands.

    What else?

    Chatbot interaction history can serve as supporting documentation in the event of a PR crisis or dispute resolution. Transcripts of conversations can also be utilized to educate agents on compliance and good customer service techniques.

    12. Visual Content

    Certain chatbots can process and present visual media, such as infographics, images, and pictures. This feature improves the user experience by accommodating a wide range of likes and preferences. Additionally, diagnosing complicated technical items and problems becomes quicker and easier. Video calling, screen sharing, and co-browsing are fundamental bot features that provide resolution and visualization.

    Conclusion

    Finally, this is everything you need to know about the enormous benefits that chatbots may bring to your growing organization. As suggested, chatbots can be a handy tool for you and your company. In addition to helping you better understand your clientele, they can enhance the whole customer experience, likely boosting revenue and encouraging return business.

    Furthermore, they connect easily with current systems and are simple to utilize. The options are countless! Hopefully, we have cleared up any remaining doubts you may have had after learning more about their advantages.

    If you want to create an on-demand app, then yes, you must integrate an AI chatbot feature into your application. For this complex but user-friendly technology, you have to hire expert mobile app developers for your business app.


    Benefits of Integrating AI chatbot in Business Mobile Apps was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.