Coronavirus has changed the way we look at the world today. The situation that the world is currently into owing to COVID-19 is an unpredictable one. Many look at it as an opportunity, while many still take it as a fear. A tech industry that can make the best out of the pandemic situation is Chatbots.
Chatbots now have a stronghold in every industry known to humans. 80% of businesses plan to invest in chatbots by the end of 2020 for the dynamic growth of their organizations. Implementing chatbots will ultimately raise demand for the technology, which will help industries to be more productive.
The following list states how different industries can make use of chatbots at its best during these uncertain times:
1. Technology leading to a good life – healthcare
The first and foremost implementation of chatbots is into the healthcare industry. The number of COVID-19 cases is directly proportional to an increase in the services of healthcare. Thus, the pandemic has not only given a boost to medical facilities but has placed enormous stress on it.
Chatbots can be used as a potential screening tool around the globe to ease the increasing strain on healthcare systems.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), introducing custom-based chatbots can help to spread awareness about how to protect oneself from viruses and what precautionary measures should be taken.
Around the world, hospitals have already initiated chatbots as a screening tool to evaluate the patients and their likelihood of infection. This helps medical staff to get detailed updates as well as reassure patients.
These devices not only help to alleviate the existing strain on doctors and nurses but also have the ability to be used as part of the sorting process in hospitals in the future.
2. Technology leading to a better education system – learning bots
Yet another most hampered industry after healthcare is education. The adverse effects of the pandemic are visible in the teaching and learning system. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is of the view that this sudden pandemic can lead to tremendous changes in the education system. Online learning is a remedy for current educational crises. Even though online learning is already an ongoing process, it is not implanted in many of the regions yet.
Online educational learning comes with certain limitations, as everyone knows the importance of conversational education for the development of children of all ages.
The exceptional case about the bot is it cannot replicate a human teacher but can answer standard questions with basic knowledge.
3. Technology leading to online transactions – internet banking
All the money matters relate to banking; thus, managing online banking plays a major role in everyday life. As the banking industry is amongst the early adopters of chatbots, the banking sector began to implement chatbots after personalized banking was initiated with a vision to improvise customer satisfaction and engagement. Chatbots help to clarify all customer-related details such as ask for bank account balance, bank statements, transfer funds, internet banking, and online transactions.
Chatbot facilitates the flexible use of banking, thus contributing more to COVID-19 times. As a bot is 24×7 available to answer queries, it helps save the visiting time of customers, which eventually leads to social distancing. All the urgent requirements of customers related to money also get solved at a faster pace.
4. Technology leading to better marketing – retail
Retail is yet another most affected industry that has been forced to make swift changes due to the coronavirus outbreak.
For many years, the retail sector is slowly moving from in-person to e-commerce. And brands are still finding ways to look different from their competitors online.
Chatbots is one of the most effective tools that help to ease online shopping experience as well as support businesses to communicate with customers at times when they are closed.
Post-pandemic, large organizations are already preparing for bot technology as a way out to deal with inquiries that could be handled by a customer service assistant.
As people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact, jobs could be lost due to the evolution of machines in the near future.
5. Technology leading to better living – Entertainment
The entertainment sector has also benefitted during the coronavirus outbreak after an increase in the implementation of chatbots.
The definition of entertainment has changed post-COVID-19 as sports and gaming have enjoyed a great boom.
According to estimates, since March 2020, a constant rise can be seen in the viewership of the game-streaming sites. At the same time, the gaming zone is dealing with the emergence of bots.
Chatbots may be used for player support in these games, which may see an increase of new players, or can be used for troubleshooting wherever gamers encounter a problem.
Beyond gaming, there is a potential use of chatbots —and, more generally, automation—to customize things like music, video streaming, and news media.
Chatbots – the new normal in the era of COVID-19
Nobody knew chatbots would gain so much of importance post-COVID-19. In the coming times, chatbots will, for sure, replace humans in many fields. Many perks are associated with the usage of bots, but at the same time, there are a few drawbacks too. As every coin has two sides, so does chatbots; it depends on how one would pursue it.
Chatbot, which once was ‘nice to have technology,’ has now changed to ‘must-have technology’—may that be for online learning, video conferencing, or telehealth.
The current situation has ultimately lead to the conclusion that developers need to continue designing applications for a plethora of different uses, and users need to brace up for more non-human interactions.
The coronavirus has developed a planet of minimal certainty. One thing you should expect to see in the coming months and years, however, is the position of chatbots expanding across multiple industries.
