What is a Chatbot?

Summary

This video script explores how chatbots like Flora and Birdie can automate customer interactions, freeing up time for business owners. It covers their functionality, integration with cloud services, and the ease of building and deploying them, highlighting the benefits of chatbots in enhancing efficiency and customer service.

Takeaways

• 💬 Chatbots are increasingly common in daily life, often used without people realizing it.
• 🌹 Flora, a flower shop chatbot, can answer simple customer inquiries like opening hours and stock availability, freeing up the shop owner to focus on their work.
• 🏦 Birdie, a banking bot, can help customers check their account balance without needing to interact with a human teller, streamlining the process.
• 📅 Chatbots can be integrated into various platforms, such as websites, instant messaging services, and voice calls, making them accessible through multiple channels.
• 🌐 Chatbots operate in the cloud, utilizing cloud services to process and understand user inputs through Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence.
• 💐 When a user places an order through a chatbot, the bot communicates with backend systems to check stock availability and confirm the order, ensuring a seamless experience.
• 🛒 Chatbots can automate ordering processes, allowing users to place orders for items like flowers without needing to interact directly with a human.
• ⏰ Chatbots save time for both customers and business owners by handling routine inquiries and tasks, allowing for more efficient operations.
• 🛠️ Building a chatbot is surprisingly simple and often does not require coding knowledge, making it accessible for a wide range of users.
• 🚀 Chatbots can be quickly deployed, with the development process potentially taking as little as one hour, thanks to cloud-based infrastructure and user-friendly interfaces.
• 🏆 The benefits of using chatbots include time savings, simplicity in building, and quick launch times, making them an attractive option for businesses looking to enhance customer service.

Q & A

What is the primary purpose of a chatbot like Flora in a flower shop?

The primary purpose of a chatbot like Flora in a flower shop is to handle common customer inquiries such as opening hours, stock availability, and contact information, allowing the shop owner to focus on their core tasks like designing floral arrangements.

How can a chatbot help a bank customer check their account balance?

A chatbot like Birdie can help a bank customer check their account balance by interacting with them, asking for necessary identification information like account number and PIN, and then communicating with the bank's systems to retrieve the balance without the need for human intervention.

What are the different ways customers can interact with a chatbot?

Customers can interact with a chatbot through various mediums such as pop-ups on a website, text-based or voice-based calls, and instant messaging services on social media platforms.

Where does a chatbot like Flora reside, and what technologies does it use?

A chatbot like Flora resides in the cloud. It uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to understand and process user queries, translating them into actions that a computer can execute.

How does the chatbot ensure that the requested items are in stock before processing an order?

The chatbot connects to backend systems or databases, which contain inventory information. It checks the stock availability against the user's request and confirms if the order can be fulfilled before proceeding.

What are some benefits of using a chatbot in a business?

Some benefits of using a chatbot in a business include saving time for both the business owner and customers, simplifying the process of handling inquiries, and enabling quick deployment without extensive coding or infrastructure setup.

How does a chatbot handle complex queries or transactions that require personal identification?

A chatbot handles complex queries by asking for personal identification details from the user, such as account numbers and PINs, and then securely processing the request by communicating with the relevant systems to retrieve or update information.

What is the role of the cloud in hosting and processing chatbot interactions?

The cloud serves as the hosting environment for the chatbot, processing user inputs, integrating with various services, and managing interactions with backend systems to execute tasks like checking inventory or retrieving account balances.

How can a chatbot be integrated into a business's existing systems and processes?

A chatbot can be integrated into a business's existing systems and processes by connecting to databases, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and other backend services to access necessary information and perform tasks.

What is the typical time frame for building and deploying a chatbot?

Building and deploying a chatbot can be as quick as one hour, especially if the chatbot is cloud-based and does not require extensive coding or infrastructure setup.

Outlines

00:00

💬 Introduction to Chatbots

This paragraph introduces the concept of chatbots and their practical applications in everyday life. Morgan Carroll from IBM Cloud explains how chatbots can be used to handle common customer inquiries, freeing up time for business owners to focus on their core tasks. The example of Flora, a floral shop chatbot, is used to illustrate how customers can interact with chatbots to get answers to simple questions without needing human intervention. The paragraph also touches on the potential of chatbots in more complex scenarios, such as banking, where a chatbot named Birdie can help customers check their account balance by securely handling personal information.

05:05

🌹 Chatbot Integration and Backend Processing

This paragraph delves into the technical aspects of how chatbots function, particularly focusing on their integration with cloud services and backend systems. The example of a flower shop owner using a chatbot named Flora to automate the process of ordering flowers is highlighted. It explains how chatbots can interact with users through various mediums like web pages, instant messaging, or voice calls, and how this information is processed in the cloud. The paragraph also discusses the importance of checking inventory availability and the role of cloud services in connecting to databases to ensure a seamless user experience. The benefits of using chatbots, such as time savings, simplicity in building them, and quick deployment, are also outlined.

Keywords

💡Chatbot

A chatbot is a software application designed to simulate human conversation. In the video, the chatbot serves as an automated system to handle customer inquiries for businesses like flower shops and banks, saving time for employees by automating responses to common questions.

💡Natural Language Processing (NLP)

NLP is a field of artificial intelligence that helps computers understand, interpret, and respond to human language. The video explains that chatbots use NLP to process and understand customer requests, whether they are text-based or voice-based, and respond appropriately.

💡Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines. In the context of the video, AI powers chatbots to understand customer inquiries and provide relevant responses without human intervention, enhancing efficiency in customer service.

💡Automation

Automation involves using technology to perform tasks without human intervention. The video highlights how chatbots automate responses to customer inquiries, allowing business owners to focus on other important tasks like creating floral arrangements or handling more complex customer needs.

💡Customer Inquiries

Customer inquiries are questions or requests for information from customers. In the video, chatbots handle common inquiries such as business hours or product availability, providing instant responses and freeing up time for business owners.

💡Floral Shop

A floral shop is a business that sells flowers and floral arrangements. The video uses a floral shop as an example to demonstrate how a chatbot, named Flora, can assist with customer inquiries and orders, helping the shop owner manage tasks more efficiently.

💡Birdie, the Banking Bot

Birdie is a hypothetical banking chatbot used in the video to illustrate how chatbots can handle more complex tasks like checking account balances. Birdie interacts with customers to gather necessary information and retrieve account details from the bank, demonstrating the chatbot's utility in financial services.

💡Cloud

The cloud refers to servers that are accessed over the Internet, as well as the software and databases that run on those servers. In the video, chatbots operate on cloud services, which process customer inputs and interact with backend databases to provide responses.

💡Database

A database is an organized collection of data that can be accessed electronically. The video explains that chatbots check a floral shop's database to confirm the availability of items like yellow roses before completing a customer's order, ensuring accurate and efficient service.

💡User Experience

User experience (UX) encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with a company, its services, and its products. The video emphasizes that using chatbots can enhance UX by providing quick, accurate responses and simplifying the process of placing orders or getting information, which keeps customers satisfied.

Highlights

Chatbots are commonly used without people even realizing it.

Chatbots can answer common customer inquiries, freeing up time for business owners.

Flora, the floral chatbot, can respond to simple questions like opening hours without human intervention.

Birdie, the banking bot, can check account balances by interacting with the user and the bank.

Chatbots can handle complex tasks like processing orders for a flower shop on Mother's Day.

Chatbots can be accessed through various mediums such as websites, phone calls, and instant messaging services.

Chatbots utilize cloud services and integrate with various systems to process user requests.

Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence are used by chatbots to understand and respond to user inputs.

Chatbots can check inventory and confirm order availability before processing, enhancing user experience.

Chatbots automate the ordering process, allowing business owners to focus on other tasks.

Chatbots can save businesses significant time by handling customer interactions and orders.

Building a chatbot is surprisingly simple and does not require extensive coding knowledge.

Chatbots can be quickly launched, with the development process potentially taking as little as one hour.

Chatbots offer a practical solution for businesses to improve efficiency and customer service.

Chatbots can be integrated into various platforms and services, making them versatile tools for businesses.

The use of chatbots can lead to significant time savings and improved operational efficiency for businesses.

Chatbots can be a valuable addition to a business's customer service strategy, providing quick and accessible assistance.

Transcripts

So most of us have at this point in our lives  have probably used a chatbot, maybe without  

even knowing it. Have you ever wondered how does  a chatbot work? What powers it? How do I interact  

with it? Let's dive in. My name is Morgan Carroll  with IBM Cloud. Let's say you're the owner of a  

flower shop, this is you. And you're the only  employee, maybe you don't have time to respond  

to common customer inquiries, such as what time  do you open, do you have yellow roses in stock,  

how do I contact you. So you've got your customer  up here and they need to get in touch with you,  

but you're busy you can't answer the phone. So  what can we do to solve this problem? This is  

where Flora, the floral chatbot comes in. This is  Flora over here. Now if a customer has a simple  

question, let's say they just want to know, um,  what time do you guys open. They can ask Flora  

"hey what time do you all open?", and  then Flora is going to be able to respond  

with the appropriate answer. She's going to say,  you know, maybe "we open Monday at 9 AM." All  

without me having to interact with the chatbot, or  the customer, so that I'm free to do what I love  

to do which is designing floral arrangements.  Now let's think of a more complex example.  

Say you have the bank here, and you as the  customer you would like to check and see  

what your balance is. So I just got paid I don't  know how much money is in the bank but I need  

to go buy some socks. So rather than having to  call the bank and wait on hold, and wait for a  

teller to pull up your information, and check your  account status, you could actually interact with  

Birdie, the banking bot. So in this  case I'm going to ask Birdie, "Birdie,  

what is my balance? How much money do I have  currently?" Bertie's going to come back and ask,  

"I can help you with that, but what is your  account number, your pin number?", you know  

some identifying information. So I'm going to be  able to provide this information back to Birdie.  

My account number, maybe my date of  birth, a pin number, etc., etc. From there  

all without any tellers or any employees having  to interact with Birdie, she's going to be able  

to go and ask the bank, she's going to pass  along all this information, my account number,  

my date of birth, and my pin number, and she's  going to say "hey bank, how much money does this  

person have in their account?" The bank is going  to authorize me and say "okay this is all the  

appropriate information that we need." The bank  is going to respond with "I'm sorry you only have  

five dollars", maybe enough for socks, maybe not.  But then Birdie is going to be able to take that  

response and pass it back to me, the customer,  all without having to interact with any humans  

and it's very simple. So how does this really  work? Let's dive in. Going back to the floral shop  

example. Let's say tomorrow is Mother's Day and  you forgot to order flowers like we normally do.  

So here's you, my customer. Now like we mentioned  before, the floral shop owner is very busy,  

she's putting together all these arrangements,  she doesn't really have time to answer the phone.  

So luckily there are a few different  ways that you the user can interact  

with our chatbot to actually automate  ordering some flowers for your mother.  

So, on the floral shop website there could be a  little pop-up, maybe at the bottom that has Flora.  

This is Flora, the floral bot, and she's here  and she's going to be able to pop-up and ask  

me "what kind of flowers would you like to  order?" Obviously yellow roses because those  

are my mother's favorite. If we don't want to  use the website, we could actually just call in.  

So it can be either text based or voice based.  So, if I call the chatbot she says "Welcome to  

Flower Supply 101, what would you like to place  your order for?" I would say "I would like a dozen  

yellow roses", and it's just conversational.  And she's going to take my order and be able  

to process it and you can also use various instant  messaging services, you know, for different social  

media platforms you can integrate. So you have  all these different ways that you can interact  

with the chatbot. Now let's think about how  that actually works, sort of on the backend.  

So I think by now we're all familiar with the  cloud, it's the buzzword of the year. This is  

actually where our chatbot is going to live. So  you'll have a chatbot service provider and this  

chatbot is going to integrate with various  services to actually process whatever speech  

it is that the user is saying. It's going to use  Natural Language Processing, as well as Artificial  

Intelligence, to take what i'm saying and then  actually translate it into something that a  

computer can understand. So, I'm saying whether  it's via phone or via instant messenger, or to  

the webpage via text or voice, I would like to  purchase some yellow roses. So I'll say "purchase  

yellow roses", and maybe I want to do a dozen.  Maybe next year I'll do two dozen, I should.  

So then it's gonna pass this, I'm gonna pass this  information to either the web page or IM or voice.  

This is actually, whatever this medium  is, it's going to send this information  

up to the cloud. Now the cloud is going to take  this and it's going to process it. It's going to  

say "I see that the user wants to purchase this  specific item", in this case 12 yellow roses.  

Now we have to make sure that we actually have  these roses in stock, you know, if i try to place  

an order and then I pay for it and then I get a  notice sorry we're out of stock well that's just  

not a good user experience. So the way this is  going to work is we'll use various cloud services  

and we're actually going to go over here and  connect to what I'm going to call floral systems.  

And this is basically just going  to be our database on the backend,  

and it's going to show, you know, maybe I  have 36 yellow roses in stock. I've also got,  

let's say, 14 red tulips, and 3 succulents.

Succulents. So, I've sent this information to  the webpage already as the user now the webpage  

is going to say "all right, purchase", and then  12 roses, yellow roses. Now this is going to  

send this information to the cloud to my chatbot  service provider, and then that is actually going  

to go out here and check the database. So I'll  say "12 yellow roses is what we're looking for",  

and then we can see we've actually got 36.  So we have plenty of roses, this is good.  

So now we're going to send a  response back. We're going to say  

"Yes, we have more than enough roses in stock.  So we can go ahead and place this order".  

And the cloud is going to come back and say "Yes  let's place this order." And then the webpage is  

going to come back to me and say "Absolutely,  you're in luck. You didn't wait too long. Maybe  

next year try to do it a little quicker,  but we're going to be able to fulfill your  

order." So then I'm over here the whole time as,  let's say I'm over here, the floral shop owner.

And I'm just building floral arrangements. Maybe  I'll get a notification kind of off to the side,  

but all in all the whole thing is automated so  I don't have to stop what I'm doing to actually  

take care of this, and it's  going to save me a lot of time.  

Now let's talk about the benefits of, you know,  why would we want to use a chatbot. I mean it  

is it is nice to have that human interaction  whenever you're dealing with your customers, but  

I think probably the number one reason that  someone may want to use a chatbot is to save  

time. And what I mean by that is, you know,  not only are you saving time when it comes to  

like interacting with your customers  and getting someone to place an order,  

but again, you're leaving time off to  the side for you to go, and you know,  

maybe you've got to do some bookkeeping, you've  got to put these floral arrangements together,  

whatever it is, it's going to save you hours  and hours over the course of even just a month.

Two. Simplicity.

Chatbots believe it or not are surprisingly  simple to build. You don't have to know how  

to write any code in most cases, if you want to do  more in-depth integrations, you might need to know  

some code, but for the most part it's just natural  language based. You could say "Hey chatbot,  

I want you to tell users that I'm open Monday  through Friday 9 AM to 6 PM", and it's going to be  

able to relay that information without having to  know any Python, or JavaScript, or anything like

that. Lastly, time to launch. So what that means  is that it does not take a lot of time to build  

a chatbot. Like I said earlier, you don't have  to know any code, and since it's cloud-based  

you don't have to build up any of the underlying  infrastructure. From the time you start building  

the chatbot to the time it's completed could be  as quick as one hour. And so, these are some of  

the reasons that you may want to build a chatbot  for your business. So I hope this helped explain  

what a chatbot is, how it works, and why you  may want to use it. Thank you for watching.  

If you have questions please drop us a line  below. If you want to see more videos like  

this in the future, please like and  subscribe. And don't forget you can  

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