7 Common Benefits of Integrating an A.I. Chatbot into your Government Agency or Business

Government and business departments are increasingly prioritizing the development and implementation of web chatbots. Simple, table-based bots and chatbots have been around for 20+ years. The difference now is that recent advancements in A.I. have allowed for the development of intelligent chatbots that can process huge datasets and can be trained as agents that solve problems for internal organizations, web visitors, and more.

Chatbots are often one of the first personal interactions that website visitors have with a public or private organization. They can greet and engage with visitors in a friendly, conversational way, answer questions, guide users to their desired destination, and reduce the workload of government employees. These are not a chatbot’s only functionalities or benefits, though. Here are seven key benefits of implementing a chatbot:

1) They Offer Fast and Efficient Customer Service

Customers and visitors want fast and easy service, even during peak hours. When chatbots step in to handle the first interaction, they eliminate wait times with instant support. Because chatbots are always “on,” they can provide global, 24/7 support at the most convenient times for visitors. In addition to answering text-based inquiries, ARS’ SANDI chatbot can respond to spoken queries.

2) Offer More Personalized Experiences

Zendesk estimates that 63 percent of business leaders agree that AI/bots can deliver hyper-personalized experiences to customers. ARS’s SANDI chatbot is programmed as an A.I. agent to provide the best-allowed answer to any sort of question from end-users and can present information about a department, location, policy, and more. And SANDI gets smarter with each interaction.

3) Deliver Multilingual Support

Addressing language barriers is crucial, especially since approximately 26 million people in the U.S., or about 8% of the population, have limited English proficiency (LEP). Chatbots can offer multilingual support to customers who speak different languages. At the start of a conversation, chatbots can ask for the customer’s preferred language or use AI to determine the language based on customer input.

4) Offer Convenient Self-Service Options

Past studies have indicated that customers can become visibly frustrated or stressed when they can’t complete simple tasks on their own. Chatbots can help mitigate that by providing self-service options so customers can take care of basic issues independently or quickly find information when it’s most convenient.

5) Improve Services with Every Interaction

Chatbots use A.I. to provide better support through:

• Tracking: A.I. customer service bots track responses to every answer they provide

• Collecting: As chatbots gather customer data, they’ll continuously analyze it to provide more accurate and personalized responses.

• Learning: With the knowledge a chatbot gains, it will learn which response is best in each type of situation.

• Refining: The chatbot will improve at determining which questions it can answer and which require human staff intervention.

6) Reduce Operational Costs

Businesses and government organizations must keep costs under control while delivering value to end-users. Most professionals believe that artificial intelligence and chatbots will drive cost savings over the coming years, especially when plans are in place to have existing staff handle more complex issues or anomalies that the A.I. system cannot answer.

Though customer service chatbots may require an investment upfront, they can help you save money over time. Chatbots can handle simple tasks, deflect tickets, provide wayfinding, highlight job opportunities, and more. 

7) Serve More Customers at Scale

Managers and department heads can deploy chatbots to increase productivity and efficiency. Because chatbots can handle simple tasks, they act as additional support agents that can address multiple customer questions simultaneously.

One of the earliest customers for ARS SANDI chatbot is the Miami-Dade 11th Circuit Court.  Click here to visit their site and ask the following questions and more via voice or text:

• Where do I pay a parking ticket? 

• I have a fine I need to pay. 

• Where can I get a marriage license? 

• I need a protection order. 

• Where is the courthouse located? 

• How do I E-File? 

To learn more about the benefits of A.I.-powered chatbots for courts and government, read some of our other blogs below:

• The Happy Accident: Chatbots Index and Supercharge Old and Dense Websites

• From Confusion to Clarity: A.I. Web Chatbots Explaining Legal Processes