What chatbots can do today - and what they can't

Chatbots have probably been one of the most hyped applications of artificial intelligence in recent years. However, this was also accompanied by many exaggerated expectations and misconceptions. There is now extensive experience with the practical use of chatbots and the fog is clearing. What do these little digital helpers actually do today and what are their limits?

What chatbots can do

• Reduce costs. Chatbots can support processes through automation and thus reduce process costs. However, the prerequisite for this is that they are used in well-structured processes. If they are used in inefficient processes, the overall costs can even increase.
• Relieve employees. Chatbots are able to take on uncomplicated and unproblematic cases in the call center or in self services. This can significantly reduce the workload for employees, allowing them to concentrate fully on the cases where they are really needed.
• Improving the customer experience. If chatbots are used correctly, they can actually optimize the customer experience. To do this, however, they must offer customers tangible, recognizable added value. This includes, for example, faster services, better availability or round-the-clock communication.

What chatbots can't (yet) do

• Replace other forms of communication. AI systems have evolved in the meantime and can, for example, understand texts better and better. However, they will not replace other forms of communication. However, this is less due to the technology itself and more to the communication preferences of customers. Many of them would simply prefer to discuss a sensitive medical topic with a human being.
• Covering the entire customer communication. Chatbots can therefore only ever be a supplement to other communication channels. In a limited area, they can actually speed up processes and also save costs. However, the different communication preferences of customers must continue to be covered by the relevant channels.
• Understanding irony and showing empathy. Chatbots can't do much with irony. They take it literally and register pointed remarks as positive reactions. They have a similarly difficult time with empathy. As a rule, they only recognize it far too late when a customer is angry, for example.

"At the height of the chatbot hype, many companies made the mistake of putting the technology front and center and wanting to use it at the drop of a hat, simply because everyone was doing it," says Carsten Rust, Senior Director Client Innovation EMEA at Pegasystems. "However, it has become clear that chatbots only provide benefits if companies think carefully beforehand about where they can offer real added value and which specific customer needs they can address. Special customer experience methods such as design thinking or jobs-to-be-done can be used to optimize the use of chatbots in a targeted manner."