As digital transformation continues to drive change within organisations and the way they interact with consumers, chat bots are increasingly being used as a way to streamline and automate both internal and customer facing interactions.
What Is A Chat Bot ? A chat bot is an application that can be text or voice activated that is designed to simulate a conversation and deliver functionality.
Chat bots can be programmed to perform a number of different tasks and functions within an infrastructure.
These range from customer facing retail apps that can answer simple customer queries to enterprise chat bots that can automate processes such as procurement and HR administration.
The most well-known of these include Siri and Cortana. Used by millions every day to make phone calls, play songs from a music library or check the weather.
The potential benefit of chat bots is that they can be used to give users faster access to information and process functions without the need for a process to be managed manually.
Chat Bots At Oracle OpenWorld 2016
During Larry Ellison’s keynote at OpenWorld 2016 Oracle’s CTO showcased the companies new chat bot building platform. The platform will allow developers to build chat bots that automate text interactions within the Oracle platform.
In the demonstration Ellison used a text chat bot called Oracle iProcurement to order more business cards.
The demo showed in a humorous way how this messaging software can integrate different platforms such as a HCM system.
Ellison was able to go through a process of requesting the cards, verifying information from the HCM system, make minor updates to the design and complete the order in minutes without having to coordinate with another user or fill out any information himself.
With this innovation, Oracle is now in direct competition with other chatbots platforms like Microsoft
Should Your Business Be Using Chat Bots
The customer facing and internal process opportunities of chat bots mean they are becoming commonplace in the digital landscape, especially amongst more tech-savvy generations like the Millennials.
Whether these apps are appropriate for your business will depend on a wide range of strategic factors around your organisation and your IT infrastructure.
Successful implementation though requires a proper analysis of processes within an organisation to identify where appropriate opportunities exist.
This is why when working with companies within the finance and leasing sector we take a holistic approach to the strategic aspect of BPM before making implementation recommendations.
VIP Apps Consulting has extensive experience within the leasing and financial services industry with the knowledge capabilities and operational track, to help organisations implement the process changes, optimisation and innovation to realise the financial value in a customer driven market.
Keep up to date with the latest industry news and trends by following us on LinkedIn
