Chatbots are nothing like they used to be. Instead of the error-prone, seemingly robotic responses, we now have almost human mimicry, leaving us unable to tell the difference.
A huge part of these “humanly” upgrades is because of advancements in AI technologies and natural language processing (NLP). With the small stuff out of the way, the focus has turned toward developing chatbots that understand multiple languages – helping companies expand globally.
Providing immediate and non-robotic voice assistance to current and potential clients across the globe is an indispensable tool for businesses, breaking age-old language barriers.
Digital trends in 2021 that are impacting businesses
The introduction of the world wide web was the start of a digital revolution. For the first time, businesses had a new playing ground to set up shop in a globally accessible realm.
Now, in the 2020s, it seems like no company can exist without having a digital presence, with millions of consumers migrating to online shopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The way we use technology has also shifted with 63% of all online traffic in the US coming from smartphones. We work, play, and socialize using our mobile devices. The same study also found that 90% of this time spent on our mobile devices goes to using mobile-dedicated applications.
Of course, this didn’t come without evolutions to human behaviors, especially with the widespread use of handheld devices and extended access to internet connections. Since consumers are surrounded by data and advertisements at an increasingly fast pace, businesses must adjust their strategy to one that captures their attention and leaves potential clients hungry for more.
Attention span is decreasing and as a result, businesses only have 8 seconds to convince a potential client to sign up for or purchase their services, making it merely impossible to do business the traditional way.
To help with this, more businesses are using apps and mobile software with various features that can integrate with chatbot services, allow them to stay connected with clients, and take care of other business formalities such as processing payments and sending invoices. Creating chatbots that are mobile-friendly and personalized can further increase the chances of engagement.
Personalizing interaction with multi-national clientele
When it comes to top marketing techniques, personalization is key to creating an engaging user experience. AI-powered chatbots are enhancing personalized user experience by providing seamless online interactions with consumers – from providing 24/7 customer support to allowing them to make seamless payment transactions.
With 8 out of 10 businesses using AI-powered chatbots, it’s fast becoming an essential element of customer experience without the need for human intervention. There are other benefits to using AI-powered chatbots for your business such as being able to automate tasks, decrease labor costs, reduce human error, and keep track of data and analytics.
The birth of conversational AI technologies has taken NLP to a whole new level, especially when paired with machine learning models. This trailblazing trio forms a database with multilingual information collected, training algorithms to interact in a less robotic, more natural form. While it sounds super technical, several multilingual chatbot platforms allow organizations to build directly into their workflow without writing a single line of code.
These AI technologies are helping online businesses scale to new heights in 2021 by allowing them to create chatbot personas that increase personalization and, in turn, conversions. Incorporating the ability of multilingual chatbots to understand languages allows consumers from all over the globe to interact without compromising the quality of conversation.
By recognizing the need for bots that interact and understand different languages, businesses of all sizes can enjoy a competitive edge in the market, honing in on one weak spot that others fail to recognize.
Chatbots at risk: How companies can tighten security
It’s easy to get swept off one’s feet by everything chatbots can do. Companies can increase their online presence, bump up customer satisfaction, and decrease the need to hire extra help. However, there’s one concern, in particular, one should keep in mind.
Companies dealing with any customer data and information of any kind are legally obligated to keep it secure. Chatbots face risks due to several factors – a few of the most prominent including unencrypted communications and lack of HTTP protocol. The risks of online attacks are on the rise and, along with it, the damages one could cause.
Collaborative analysis between IBM and Ponemon Institute found that the average cost of a data breach in 2020 was $3.86 million, an amount that few companies can bounce back from.
With the expansion of the attack space and push for digital transformation, organizations are left in a bind. Threats are all over the digital landscape, and organizations need to take measures to protect their digital assets and data when implementing multilingual chatbots.
Advanced techniques like dynamic application security testing (DAST) offer organizations a way to amp up security without halting production. According to the security analysts at Cloud Defense, “DAST is a type of black-box application testing that can test applications while they are running. When testing an application with DAST, you don’t need to have access to the source code to find vulnerabilities.”
DAST’s ability to work in runtime makes it a solid choice to defend against risks found in authentication and session management. When combined with current cybersecurity procedures, companies can decrease their risk of dealing with an attack and increase their MTTR.
Bots: A fairly new technology with big business benefits
Numerous startups have invested in multilingual chatbots, seeing them as a necessity to get ahead of the crowd. Part of remaining competitive on a global scale is giving customers more of what they want. Lack of understanding due to differences in language can send the wrong message and turn potential customers away.
Apart from gaining customers, businesses without a large following are concerned about customer retention and recognize the increasing importance of customer service. Without the need to transfer calls to foreign countries or keep customers on hold for lack of employees on the clock to answer, organizations can enjoy a higher customer satisfaction rate and keep customers instead of losing them.
AI-powered technologies are evolving company infrastructures, putting them in line with the modern-day customer. Though chatbots are a relatively new technology, they’re sure to trickle into industries across the board. Before long, we will all be talking with chatbots instead of humans when we need customer support and advice – leaving us questioning just how human bots can be.
