What are Chatbot Platforms

Chatbots allow for highly engaging, conversational experiences, through voice and text, that can be customized and used on devices and platforms. To make a chatbot, you need to create a very complicated backend that uses concepts such as data mining, machine learning, and NLP (natural language processing).

Fortunately, various companies have developed a chatbot engine that can be used for free or with a certain amount of money, to create their own program. Almost every engine has a very intuitive graphical user interface that makes it easy to create a basic chatbot

The platform allows developers and businesses to create bots effortlessly, even if their coding basics are minimal. The main core of a chatbot platform is artificial intelligence, but it also offers a user-friendly interface with all the necessary settings for customization and personalization.

It simplifies working with chatbots by already containing the complete infrastructure and standard communication features packaged in a very simple programming library. Teams can make chatbots easier and focus on solving important business problems, rather than researching communication protocols and solving infrastructure issues.

What are the Features of Chatbot Platforms

• Natural Language: Ability to understand natural language and language deformations (slang, typos, regionalisms…). Interpret and interact in more human ways.
• Context and Coherence: Ability to keep up with long conversations without losing coherence.
• Machine learning: Real-time learning of dictionary, algorithms and constantly evolving.
• Prediction: Ability to suggest answers based on previous interactions with other customers in situations when there is no requested information.
• Account Manager: Designing, testing, and deployment of the conversational AI and comprehensive project coordination.
• Collaborative Model Training: Provides customized training and prepares engineering teams with the conversational AI and machine learning skills.
• Enterprise Grade: Provides reliable infrastructure that scopes with characteristic use cases.
• Virtual Agent: Intellectual and conversational self-service experience.
• Live Chat: Enables individual conversation with clients.
• Automated Sequences: Higher conversations and automated Messenger marketing.
• Broadcast: Enables sending messages to clients and subscribers.
• Payment Request API: It provides the required payment, shipping and contact information of the user.
• Adaptive Cards: Describe the content and deliver it to customers.
• Application Insights: Service-level and instrumentation data with conversation-level reporting.
• Intent and Tone Models: Ability to adapt messages to a real-time context.
• A/B Testing: Company – Customer action and drive engagement.
• Powerful Analytics: It provides dashboards for tracking and measuring KPI and ROI.
• Return Response: It returns the response to the input – console, API, speech synthesis.
• API View: Enables communication with your bots from your web application.
• Role Based Access Control (RBAC): Restricts system access only to authorized users.
• Advanced Reporting: Easy access to needed information, critical data gathered in one place.
• Internationalization: It enables easy adaption to the different languages and regions without the need for system changes.
• Conversational Flow: Analyzing the conversations of users with highest engagement rates and creating simple, non-confusing chatbots.
• Dealer Assignment: Dealer – User authorization and managing internal business progress.
• Audit Trail: It tracks and locates received and sent communications and cooperation.
• Reinforced Learning: It develops the system’s proficiency in real time.
• Deep Learning: Provides advances semantic analysis and implements conversational computing.
• Trigger Support: It sends pop-up messages/triggers to users and redirects them to a relevant website.
• Encrypted Cloud-Based Storage: Automatic storage for attachments and files for prompt reference.

How to choose the right Chatbot Platforms

When buying a new chatbot platform, it is important to take into consideration several factors as well as possible difficulties.

1. Learning

The chatbot solution efficiency depends on its own knowledge infrastructure and the learning competence. In connection with that, there are platforms that require you to teach your chatbot key skills manually. That is a very tedious process that often leads to failure. On the other hand, there are chatbot platforms that can absorb the knowledge from the organization corpus: knowledge bases, documents, CRM data…These platforms are much more efficient because of the fact they can learn very rapidly, independently and dynamically.

2. Understanding

Chatbots are built to simplify and interpret complex language and to deal with complex tasks and requirements. Because of that, it is necessary to select a chatbot platform that builds smart bots with leading NLU and AI capabilities. To sum up, a chatbot platform must understand unique business terms and language, as well as simplify complex intents.

3. Deploying

The best chatbot platforms have a dialog manager, behavior engine, and NLU service tools. Leading chatbot platforms today take less than two months to set up and deploy a fully integrated chatbot solution. Also, two months minimum are required for perfecting chatbot solution so that it can meet all users requirements and expectations.

4. Training

An important aspect of a chatbot platform evaluation is the capacity to train the chatbot for the forthcoming conversation with users. Many chatbots must be constantly monitored in order to be precise and accurate when responding to various requests and therefore they are not suitable for enterprises. Enterprises need a human-independent chatbot solution that supports continuous learning. Modern chatbot platforms are required to become smarter with each conversation and all that by using machine learning and semantic modeling. An isolated occasion when manual training is needed is when teaching the chatbot new or unfamiliar vocabulary.

5. Pricing

Today’s chatbot platforms use a combination of a Monthly license fee, Pay-per-call, and Pay-per-performance pricing models. Monthly license fee provides regular chatbot support and maintenance; Pay-per-call provides the flexibility to pay when launching a particular chatbot rather than in advance; Pay-per-performance guarantees savings because the cost is paid according to achieved or non-achieved goals.

In the near future, chatbots will continue to boom and are widely applied in marketing and promoting products of businesses. Users will no longer be unfamiliar with chatbots or consider them a form of advertising of businesses, but they will interact with chatbots more naturally and interestingly. Therefore, a thorough understanding of chatbot creation platforms will help you completely prepare yourself so as not to lag behind the times, and reach customers more easily.

Lee Luong – Co Founder & CEO