Conversational Business - Trends and Principles

Conversational Business

georgianpartners.com Conversational Business

Jason M. Brenier

• Director, Conversational Business @Georgian Partners• Ph.D. Linguistics• Research @Stanford

– Spoken dialogue systems, natural language processing, text-to-speech synthesis, discourse processing, deception detection, acoustic phonetics

• Previous affiliations:– CTO @Idibon; Adaptive AI, human-in-the-loop NLP– Forensic Technology @Ernst & Young; fraud, risk & compliance, forensic

investigations, active machine learning and NLP for e-discovery, electronic communications surveillance, insider threat detection, AML

– Speech Design @Nuance; expressive text-to-speech, data-driven voices– Linguistics @Cataphora; email/IM behavior analytics, emotive tone,

sentiment, linguistic style


Trends

Conversational Interfaces

Long-running, real-time, bi-directional message transmission between specified, known participants using natural language

• Just the right amount of UX for the task• Conversational• Immediate or long-running transactions• Seamlessly weaves robust services together• Language vs. menu-driven• Multiple signals (text, emoji, images)• Dynamic views and flows• Private

The rise of messaging…


BusinessCorrespondence

ContentPublishing

SocialCommunication

PrintWebEmailSocial MediaMessaging

As remote communication evolves, conversation becomes ubiquitous.

Written correspondenceTelephoneFaxEmailMessaging

Written correspondenceTelephoneEmailSMS

MessagingSocial Media


Messaging defines a new customer interaction paradigm.

• Mobile app usage is declining by 20% YoY

• Most users spend 50% of their time in only one app— usually messaging.

• 75% of smartphone users use at least one messaging app.

• Number of messaging users have surpassed social network users.

• 5 of the all-time top 10 apps are messaging apps.• 55% of messaging push notifications are read.


The top ten most popular messaging apps


The journey from apps to chat requires a new approach.

WEB TO APPS

Humans learn appsFrom “and mobile” to “mobile first”

Platform = OS & app storeDiscoverability

Visual navigation / menu-driven UXMove to cloud

Similar design process Designing around the device

APPS TO CHAT

Apps learn to be humanFrom “and bots” to Conversational Business

Platform = messaging, voice, bot storesDiscoverability

Language-based UXStart in the cloud

New design process Designing around the language and dialogue


Chat is becoming ambient.

MESSAGING VOICE ASSISTANTS CONVERSATIONAL DEVICES


Chatbots: unique customer interactions at scale.

• No two conversations are the same

• Scale engagement across a large user population

• Live in messaging platforms, on SMS or in conversational devices

• Automate complex tasks

• Act as direct participants or assistants

• Use rules, machine learning or AI

11kbots in 3 months

23kbot developers

900Mactive users


Chatbot fundingGoal: Engage users with brands, automate services, direct energy toward business applications

$140M+since 2010

$85Min 2015/2016

30 rounds of fundingin 2015/2016

$2M Slack Fund14 Slackbot startups


A quickly evolving chatbot ecosystem accelerates the shift to conversational business.

INTERFACEPLATFORM – CONSUMER — confide,

kiboPLATFORM – BUSINESS — linkedin OS SMS IN-APP

APPLICATION – CONSUMER APPLICATION – BUSINESSGENERAL

COMMERCELOCAL BUSINESS TRAVEL SALES CUSTOMER

SERVICE - directlyTRAVEL

HEALTH GENERAL ASSISTANT

INFORMATIONAL HEALTH GENERAL ASSISTANT

INFORMATIONAL

FINANCE SCHEDULING

ENGINENATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING GENERAL-PURPOSE MACHINE LEARNING CROWDSOURCING

INTERFACEPLATFORM – CONSUMER — confide,

kiboPLATFORM – BUSINESS — linkedin OS SMS IN-APP

APPLICATION – CONSUMER APPLICATION – BUSINESSGENERAL

COMMERCELOCAL BUSINESS TRAVEL SALES CUSTOMER

SERVICE - directlyTRAVEL

HEALTH GENERAL ASSISTANT

INFORMATIONAL HEALTH GENERAL ASSISTANT

INFORMATIONAL

FINANCE SCHEDULING

ENGINENATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING GENERAL-PURPOSE MACHINE LEARNING CROWDSOURCING

Chatbot Development Platforms

Platforms provide natural language technology, intent parsers, sentiment analysis using AI/ML/NLP to enable automated chat

Chatbot Marketplaces

• Digital discovery and distribution platforms

• Platform-specific and -independent

Chatbot Applications

• Enterprise: AI-powered personal assistants to schedule meetings, manage customer service

• Consumer: provide automated recommendations, booking, purchasing services


Trends: Users desire more natural, engaging and personal interactions.

Cultivate rapportUsers desire engaging, personalized, private interactions with friends, colleagues, businesses and brands

Humanize the interfaceTrend toward intuitive, physiologically grounded UX and conversational intelligence

Summon function when it is neededDesire to access rich insights and services through a simple interface with minimal effort


What are the challenges?

• User expectations are high• Conversational intelligence is low • New interfaces must be more engaging

than apps• Discoverability, management, and switching• Attracting users and keeping them engaged• Graceful failure, iterative improvement• Security, privacy & trust


Principles ofConversational Business


Principles of Conversational Business

Inte

lligen

ce

Interface

Context

Purpose

Inte

grity



3. Engage users where they are.4. Enrich interactions with context.

5. Eliminate friction through conversational design.6. Personify your business.

10. Keep private conversations private.

1. Identify where conversational impact will be greatest.2. Focus on delivering complete experiences.

7. Be conversationally intelligent.8. Bot or not?9. Learn from every conversation.

Purpose

Context

Interface

Intelligence

Integrity


Identify where conversational impact will be greatest.

Messaging and voice-based conversational interfaces are a powerful way to engage users, but won’t be the answer for every business process or function. Have a strategy for identifying where conversational interactions will create the most value.

1

Purpose


Focus on delivering complete experiences.

Avoid frustrating users with conversational interactions that can’t complete the task at hand. Focus on delivering end-to-end interactions that align with user expectations.

2

Purpose


Engage users where they are.

Your users are already having conversations through messaging and voice interfaces. Rather than requiring interactions to take place on your terms, understand your users’ preferred platforms, channels and devices and engage with them there.

3

Context


Enrich interactions with context.

The best conversations are those in which the participants know something about each other. Remember who your users are, what they’ve said and what they’ve done to make conversations efficient, engaging, and meaningful.

4

Context


Eliminate friction through conversational design.

Make it easy for users to complete the task at hand with natural language. Consider participants, purpose, communication style, and channel throughout your design process. Use interaction data to iteratively improve the experience over time.

5

Interface


Personify your business.

Develop personas that engage users and become a representation of your brand. Built trust and loyalty as you deliver key business functions via customized, engaging conversational experiences.

6

Interface


Be conversationally intelligent.

Apply natural language understanding to process user intent and generate appropriate responses. Pay attention to the naturalness of the flow of the conversation in order to keep the user engaged. Communicate in your users preferred language and style.

7

Intelligence


Bot or not?

Use as much, or as little, automation to drive the conversational experience as required. Develop a strategy for introducing automation into the conversation at the right time. Utilize ‘humans in the loop’ as necessary to compensate for current technology limitations or to help generate experience data where none exists.

8

Intelligence


Learn from every conversation.

Early conversational interactions won’t be perfect. Record interactions to better understand users, refine responses, direct conversational flow, and enhance system capabilities. Inject that insight back into the conversational environment to improve the user experience and outcomes over time.

9

Intelligence


Keep private conversations private.

Conversational interactions come with higher expectations of privacy from users. Have a conversational privacy policy and proactively make security a part of the conversational design process. Set higher expectations on conversational privacy than the market norm to create competitive barriers.

10

Integrity



3. Engage users where they are.4. Enrich interactions with context.

5. Eliminate friction through conversational design.6. Personify your business.

10. Keep private conversations private.

1. Identify where conversational impact will be greatest.2. Focus on delivering complete experiences.

7. Be conversationally intelligent.8. Bot or not?9. Learn from every conversation.

Purpose

Context

Interface

Intelligence

Integrity


Questions?

Jason M. [email protected]