After the euphoria for apps, the trend is reversing. Every day we download fewer new apps and we keep with few in constant use.A lot has happened since Apple in 2009 proclaimed that there was an app for everything.As in the next commercial:The chat boomAccording to the report of the Internet Association 2017 on the habits of Internet users in México. The second social network used by Mexicans is WhatsApp a messaging app and the first, although the report has no separate data, is Facebook, which also includes Facebook Messenger.As a particular fact both are from Facebook, as is instagram that is in position 5 on the list.The customer experience in issues such as support, attention or navigation in telephone menus and the transition we have made from voice calls to text messages, both for practicity and cost have catalyzed the technological development of so-called virtual agents or chatbots to optimize resources and improve customer service.In an environment where an immediate response is the minimum that is expected, the best option to improve customer service at the lowest cost is through a chatbot.But what is a chatbot?It is a computer program, which works either through rules or the most advanced using artificial intelligence, the way to interact with them is via a chat.With rulesChatbots that work with rules have limited functionality, respond only to specific commands; If you do not write correctly what you want, it does not understand it.With artificial intelligenceOn the other hand, assistants who use artificial intelligence can understand what you say, in any way you write it, even if you do it incorrectly, abbreviated or with idiomatic expressions.They are also able to improve over time, learning the way people express themselves and how they ask.Context and memoryChatbots that use artificial intelligence can resume a previous conversation or, based on the context of the chat, move forward in a coherent manner.If for example we are looking for a movie to see in the cinema and first ask us the cinema we want to go to and then the movie, then we change the movie and then the chatbot will assume that we continue talking about the same cinema unless we specify otherwise.The above may seem very simple for us as people but for a chatbot to maintain a coherent and fluid conversation, it is a huge achievement and one that brings great value.ChannelsA chatbot can be integrated into any chat application, whether corporate, your website or commercial like Facebook Messenger or Whatsapp.LimitationsOne of the challenges faced by chatbots is the initial adoption, they may fail, mainly for 3 reasons:1. As a result of not adequately delimiting its initial scope. We want to resolve all the possible issues with the chatbot, that deals with complaints, that supports, that sells, that generates interaction with customers, that gives service status. This causes, as with any project, scope creep, endless requirements which makes it seem that the project never will work appropiately.2. It is not linked to an activity that solves a business issue, sometimes they apply to trivial situations or that do not have a relevant metric linked, so it is impossible to measure their effectiveness and quantify their benefits to the business.3. Being a new technology, we tend to think that since it has intelligence it can answer any question outside the business context for which it was defined, thus also losing the initial focus and evaluating its performance outside the scope for which it was created.It is important to remember that although it has artificial intelligence, every bot has to have a period of learning and evolution and this takes time. Its process is similar to that carried by a child, when it begins to learn it makes mistakes, there are terms or forms of expression that it does not know but as time passes, it becomes more and more ready due to the experience it acquires with each conversation, the same It happens with the chatbot.Hand overThat is why there always has to be a process to re-direct a human operator to a conversation in which the chatbot is not able to respond satisfactorily, in this way we keep the customer experience as a principle and we avoid frustrations to people.Connection with systemsThe chatbot can give an integral attention to clients through chat but its capacity to do it also depends on the integration that this one has with the systems of the company; without this, the service you provide will be incomplete and frustrating.For example, if we have a chatbot to schedule appointments, we need that in addition to understanding what people ask, you can access the agenda system to check if there is time available to schedule, if you do not have it, you will be limited and it will be practically useless.ApplicationsThe main change when using a chatbot is that instead of browsing websites, we can ask to get what we want, it is even possible to obtain recommendations based on questions to find the most appropriate for us.BenefitsTo know about chatbots and artificial intelligence, write to me @gabojimenez_ or linkedin.com/in/gabrieljimenezmunoz/From a quick cheer to a standing ovation, clap to show how much you enjoyed this story.CONSULTATIVE SELLING | AI FOR BUSINESS | CHATBOTS | ANALYTICS | SPEAKER | WRITER | TEACHERDriving the AI Marketing movement