The Telegraph My details My newsletters Logout Upgrade to Premium My details My newsletters Logout The Telegraph Improve your customer service experience with AI In association with Brother logo founder Mark Zuckerberg have proclaimed chatbots to be the future of computing Credit: AP/Eric Risberg 30 November 2016 • 5:00pm SMEs cannot afford to ignore larger companies' use of artificial intelligence to solve customer needs, but nor should they rush to invest in imperfect computing.
 The best customer service agent is knowledgeable, always available and knows precisely what your customer wants, but increasingly, they’re not human.
 Chatbots and other artificial intelligence tools could help your SME offer a more comprehensive, personalised customer service without hiring new staff.
 But, alongside the benefits of computerising customer service, there are risks, particularly as it’s such early days for the technology involved.
 How does it work?
 Chatbots let customers type queries – through messaging mediums such as Facebook or WhatsApp – and get an automated response without a human paid employee needing to intervene.
 Customers can also take actions, such as booking a restaurant table, ordering a pizza, or choosing specifications for a new bicycle in natural language, as though they’re typing to a person rather than a machine.
 "It’s still in the realm of specialists and can be expensive, which can be especially limiting to smaller brands"Jo Allison, Canvas8 The benefits for business are clear; you can always offer scalable customer service at little cost, along with personalised marketing.
 “A chatbot that can ‘converse’ with consumers using AI, and carry out a plethora of simple tasks, is an exciting prospect for many small businesses without the people power of larger organisations,” says Jo Allison, behavioural analyst at Canvas8.
 For customers, it’s easier for them to get retail chores and other tasks done via a platform they like to use, at a time that’s convenient for them.
 “People are starting to almost prefer self-service channels as the effectiveness of them increases,” explains Daryn Mason, senior sales consultant at Oracle Cloud.
 “Customer experience is all about low effort.
 Waiting in a call centre queue is a painful exercise for most people.
 Having technology where customers can get fast answers in a natural language without waiting for somebody to be free on the telephone is going to boost the customer experience.
” How are big-tech bosses reacting?
 No wonder, then, that so many tech luminaries, from Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, are proclaiming chatbots as the future of computing.
 Facebook is a good place for an SME to start getting to grips with chatbots, as the social network offers a free platform using its Messenger chat application that’s easy to use.
 It allows a business to build a basic bot to answer simple queries, such as what your opening hours are during the holidays.
 You can also develop more advanced systems using e-commerce platform, Shopify, that allow customers to place orders directly via the Messenger chat app, and offer digital sales support for shoppers with questions, helping to bridge the gap between personal customer service in-store and online shopping.
 Another advanced offering is IP Soft’s Amelia, one of the most sophisticated service agents to provide a wide range of natural language interaction.
 While you can have an initial play with the technology on your own, you may need to turn to your in-house IT team, or external developers, to initially set up such tools.
 “Developing a bot isn’t so easy that anyone can do it,” says Ms Allison.
 “It’s still in the realm of specialists and can be expensive, which can be especially limiting to smaller brands.
” What can go wrong?
 There are risks in using these technologies, particularly because disappointment because it comes back with a wrong response.
 They find the holes in it quite quickly,” says Mr Mason.
 “It’s always going to be a little bit short of customer expectations.
” "It’s almost going to be essential for small business to embrace this technology"Daryn Mason, Oracle Cloud However, he adds, people are becoming accustomed to talking to machines thanks to Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, and learning their limitations.
 And, adds Dylan Stuart, partner at creative consultancy Lippincott, “people can make mistakes too”.
 Instead of seeing bots as a source of danger, Mr Stuart says companies should see them as an opportunity: “a new way to interact with customers and build emotional connections”.
 They can be a positive force that reinforces brand – assuming you get the tone right.
 “Asking what voice should your chatbot have is similar to asking what voice should your brand has overall,” Mr Stuart says.
 “Ultimately, to truly create an emotional bond with your customers, that tone should reflect what your customers want to feel rather than the specific things you want to say.
” Aside from keeping customers happy, there’s another reason to consider chatbots for your SME – your rivals are likely to be doing the same.
 “In terms of competitiveness and survival in a digital world, it’s almost going to be essential for small business to embrace this technology, because if they don’t their competitors are going to benefit from the scalability, whether it is virtual assistants or AI,” Mr Mason adds.
 “You can’t scale an operation with people anymore.
 If your competitors are using that technology to take all of the routine stuff away from expensive human operators, those organisations will get a really big competitive advantage.
” How can you get prepared for bots?
 One place to start with bots is knowledge management, gathering up relevant data and tracking customer queries so that, when you do shift to bots, you’ll have a centralised set of information which they can access and learn.
 “It’s almost a back office function, but you have to have really strong knowledge management within in an organisation to exploit these technologies, otherwise they have nothing to draw on when responding to customers and their needs.
” When you do get started, Mr Mason advises using a cloud-based system, so it’s scalable and doesn’t require heavy investment to support the backend of a chatbot.
 “Everything we’re doing is cloud based.
 In-house isn’t an option for SMEs,” he says.
 None of this means that SMEs need to rush to launch customer-service bots in time for the holiday season.
 Instead, simply start paying attention to the technology, and try it out now and then.
 “Small businesses need to be tracking this really closely and even experimenting, such as with Facebook, so they’re ready to go and are not starting from scratch,” he says.
 Email anna.
isaac@telegraph.
co.
uk or leave a comment below If you would like to add a comment, please register or log in Register Log in Please review our commenting policy NEW STORIES FROM SMALL BUSINESS CONNECT 02 Jan 2018, 11:40am Digby co-founder: ‘Britain can produce a premier sparkling wine’ 22 Dec 2017, 11:00am Four ideas for SMEs that want to hit the ground running in 2018 20 Dec 2017, 4:30pm What opportunities will IoT offer SMEs in 2018?
 20 Dec 2017, 10:00am How SMEs can prepare for GDPR 18 Dec 2017, 11:00am This new year, resolve to help your employees become their best 11 Dec 2017, 2:30pm it' 11 Dec 2017, 11:20am Female entrepreneurs share their best business advice 11 Dec 2017, 10:50am Why you should never stop thanking your key employees 08 Dec 2017, 12:30pm How to exhibit at a trade show 05 Dec 2017, 12:40pm How to start and grow a hairdressing business Follow Telegraph Small Business Connect More from Small Business Connect 02 Jan 2018, 11:40am Digby co-founder: ‘Britain can produce a premier sparkling wine’ 22 Dec 2017, 11:00am Four ideas for SMEs that want to hit the ground running in 2018 20 Dec 2017, 4:30pm What opportunities will IoT offer SMEs in 2018?
 20 Dec 2017, 10:00am How SMEs can prepare for GDPR 18 Dec 2017, 11:00am This new year, resolve to help your employees become their best 11 Dec 2017, 2:30pm it' 11 Dec 2017, 11:20am Female entrepreneurs share their best business advice 11 Dec 2017, 10:50am Why you should never stop thanking your key employees 08 Dec 2017, 12:30pm How to exhibit at a trade show 05 Dec 2017, 12:40pm How to start and grow a hairdressing business TouchNote 05 Dec 2017, 11:30am For cheap and effective product research, try a coffee shop 05 Dec 2017, 10:30am Want to become a better manager?
 Learn through experience, not television 04 Dec 2017, 1:30pm Meet the entrepreneurs trying to crack Australia 01 Dec 2017, 4:00pm Small Business Saturday: how to encourage locals to shop with you 30 Nov 2017, 10:30am Four cheap and easy tech hacks for small businesses 30 Nov 2017, 10:00am How did small businesses respond to the Budget on social media?
 27 Nov 2017, 5:00pm Three ways to boost sales in the lead up to Christmas 27 Nov 2017, 11:50am How to successfully migrate to a new digital system 24 Nov 2017, 3:50pm A small business guide to the Indian market 23 Nov 2017, 1:30pm Black Friday tips to help small businesses all year round Please support us by disabling your adblocker We've noticed you're adblocking.
 We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism.
 We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future.
 Thank you for your support.
 Need help?
 Click here for instructions