80% of chief strategy officers, senior marketers, and sales executive respondents are already using chatbots or planned to use them by the end of 2021.
Before a full rollout of conversational AI, businesses can start with a proof of concept. Take the time to consult with enterprise business, technology, HR, sales and marketing stakeholders to solidify a single use case. Define and agree upon success metrics. This will identify an initial scope of work and the requisite measure of success and failure.
And, consider using the services of a conversational AI consultant with demonstrated ‘hands on’ expertise with the solution you are testing. This point is crucial because most organizations don’t have in-house know-how when it comes to writing consumer facing scripts or rules, strong use case definitions or comparative use cases from similar types of business.
Test the water and refine while testing
Your conversational AI test should be flexible enough so that you can assess your data at various checkpoints, then refine as you continue to learn. Testing the water with a proof of concept or pilot project allows stakeholders to determine whether conversational AI is the right emerging technology to solve the stated business problem.
Costs associated with implementing conversational AI technology
There are a variety of fees that may apply to an enterprise’s implementation of conversational AI. Here are some typical ranges:
- Basic level do-it-yourself are often free
- Rules based mid-level range between $10,000 and $30,000
- Predictive analytic or high level range between $40,000 to $100,000+
Change management – test and learn mentality
Business and consumer needs aren’t static. This emerging technology can be managed iteratively with a mindset of ongoing assessment and refinement to ensure conversational AI remains effective and relevant. Depending on the scope of the AI implementation, it can often take between 6-9 months to get a clear metrics but trends can be identified fairly quickly.
Change in business is inevitable and so the disruption conversational AI can have within enterprises should be considered as part of the project planning process. Here is where a consultant with expertise in emerging technology change management can apply key learnings from other projects. Plan in advance for the changes that will inevitably occur with an AI launch.
Business and consumer value with conversational AI
If you are a business operating within a competitive space, effective conversational implementations can be the difference between whether your customers abandon or embrace your AI. Real value and brand engagement is achieved when consumers are able to save time while getting the right assistance at the right time through conversational AI.
