Both mobile and chat bots have two common criteria: first, they practically don’t exist as elements of the intranet in today’s Fortune 500 organizations. And secondly, they are concepts that are mistakenly viewed as simply technology, rather than then game changers of communication, collaboration and personal behavior change that they really are.Let’s start with the new idea – chat bots. For many, the idea itself is not well understood. A common definition is simply, “a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.” In reality a chat bot is simply a means for a computer to respond to an inquiry by a user – which could be text-based, audio-based, or even visually based.
Think about it this way – Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana are all, in essence, audio chat bots. Ask them a question, get an answer. If virtual reality was added, in the form of visual imagery, that would be another form of a chat bot. And the simplest chat bot is just a text message reply or open chat window of text.
There are many uses for chat bots inside the enterprise for employees and managers – not to mention with customers and suppliers.
Read Michael Rudnick’s full column on the Mobile Intranet and Chat Bots
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Also read my column on Intranet Design Fundamentals