Business Transformation

Chatbots for internal processes

Chatbots, also called virtual assistants or conversational agents, are very significant in today’s customer interactions. Their growing presence in customer service cannot be ignored. However, organisations may need chatbots for internal purposes too. Internal chatbots can support staff by providing information fast. They can also be used to send out alerts and notifications. Chatbots can be deployed easily using existing platforms. Being knowledge-rich, internal chatbots can help connect departments and employees engaged.

Chatbots are no longer a novelty. All of us interact with them on various websites and apps. The degrees of sophistication may vary - while some may be incredibly simple, others may be highly advanced. In fact, chatbots and mobile-based interactions have become the preferred modes of customer care today. And they are proving to be four times more efficient than the traditional voice and email channels. Hence, it’s evident that automated conversations are here to stay.

Advantages of chatbots

AI-powered chatbots or any other virtual agent can bring down customer support costs by 30 per cent. The benefits of chatbots stretch beyond cost savings. A PWC study found that 34 per cent of executives say that deploying chatbots has afforded them more time to focus on creative thinking and decision making.

Internal chatbots and their advantages

Similar benefits can be achieved by using chatbots internally. Chatbots can boost efficiency, accessibility, and employee satisfaction.

In today’s anytime/anywhere experience scenario*, with people working in different time zones and across dispersed teams, employees with access to internal chatbots can save time while accessing relevant information.

Another advantage of internal chatbots is that they can quickly answer an array of questions posted by employees. Chatbots can also schedule meetings; book meeting rooms; and put in leave requests; and many other simple, yet time-consuming, tasks. Organisations can also use chatbots for onboarding new employees and save valuable time for HR personnel.

Internal chatbots in the insurance industry

The insurance industry is data-driven, and AI-powered chatbots are a boon to the industry. Customer support, communication, efficiency, and services have all received a boost because of them. Chatbots have now made inroads into the internal processes of the insurance industry to help agents too.

• Since chatbots can work on hundreds of queries simultaneously, agents can find answers to a variety of queries very quickly.
• Agents often need to navigate among multiple screens and systems while attending to a client call or handling a case. A chatbot could make these activities much easier.
• Communication among departments and teams is often a cause of delay while handling cases. The larger the organisation, the higher the number of departments. Agents may need to log in to various systems or call different people to retrieve even a tiny piece of information. A chatbot could be programmed to provide such information faster and more efficiently.

Things to consider while setting up internal chatbots

1. Internal chatbots should be able to easily retrieve documents and information about internal matters such as organizational policies, employee benefits, training programmes, and key data privacy regulations.
2. While chatbots are becoming powerful because of advances in AI, it is best to keep a chatbot’s scope clear and well-defined. Very few chatbots can handle complex tasks.
3. Chatbots can be used to set up alerts and notifications for employees. If targeted at the right groups, they can also trigger helpful discussions.
4. Chatbots must utilize technology that is accessible for all employees. The tech team must account for any future shift in technology too. Further, all privacy and data protection regulations must be adhered to.
5. The questions employees ask chatbots can provide valuable information about employee experience, concerns, and knowledge gaps, all of which can create a trending pattern over time.

Conclusion

Internal chatbots can be a boon to an organization’s HR department. Organisations are already aware of the perks of using chatbots on customer-facing platforms. Now, with internal chatbots, similar benefits can be enjoyed by employees as well.

* For organizations on the digital transformation journey, agility is key in responding to a rapidly changing technology and business landscape. Now more than ever, it is crucial to deliver and exceed on organizational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like a living organism, will be imperative for business excellence going forward. A comprehensive, yet modular suite of services is doing exactly that. Equipping organizations with intuitive decision-making automatically at scale, actionable insights based on real-time solutions, anytime/anywhere experience, and in-depth data visibility across functions leading to hyper-productivity, Live Enterprise is building connected organizations that are innovating collaboratively for the future.