AI Expert Beerud Sheth Explains Why You Need Chatbots

We’ve been very clear in the past that enterprises should be investing in Artificial Intelligence/chatbots for immediate and future ROI. Marketing professionals can benefit greatly from the automated functions afforded by a bot. But we’ve yet to have a genuine expert opinion weigh in on the importance of AI when interacting with leads and customers.

Co-founder and CEO of messaging and AI-building company Gupshup, Beerud Sheth is one such expert in the field. Gupshup, based in Silicon Valley, was co-founded by Sheth and is primarily focused on automating enterprises’ messaging processes across multiple channels using a single API. Sheth recently developed a series of videos where he discusses some of the applications and usefulness of short messaging systems (SMS) and bots when dealing with customers. In the videos, Sheth explains that the conversational experiences provided by these technologies will ultimately prove a great boon to the companies using them.

In one video, Sheth notes that bots, for maximum effectiveness, can be used in conjunction with each other to create a more natural experience for the customer. He gives the example of a simple bot designed to take pizza orders, when chained with a language processing bot, is able to comprehend more advanced queries and serve the customer more efficiently. String that together with a translating bot. Now you have a multilingual advanced language pizza ordering program. “Think of bots as LEGO blocks,” he explains. “You can plug and play different blocks to create more advanced combinations without having to code it all (as one).”

In another clip, Sheth cites the growing popularity of products like Alexa and Google Home as a signal that the world is moving toward a preference for conversational experiences when they to deal with a brand, rather than some of the more static interactions of more familiar applications. But Sheth remains realistic, saying that legacy apps will continue to exist, just in more niche roles. “Conversational experiences don’t have to completely substitute mobile apps, I’m not predicting the death of apps by any stretch,” Sheth said. “Just like television didn’t kill the radio…when new technology comes in it just displaces the old technology in areas that it’s better at.”

Another video features Sheth discussing the relative ease through which bots can be updated to suit your needs as they evolve over time, and the minimal impact these changes have on the end-user. “Because chatbots reside in the cloud (on server-side) the developer can update them any time they want. And for the consumer, there’s no upgrade cycle because there’s no download, to begin with, so you just see the features as they roll out.”

The above videos and several others can all be found here, and you can follow Sheth and Gupshup on Twitter.