Not long ago, the people’s preferred mode of communication is through personal face-to-face interaction. If you have issues with your bank, you visit them personally and talk with the manager. If you bought a defective item, you bring the item back to the store and argue with the supervisor.
Today, communication has become more diverse and interconnected. From texts to emails, and even instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and WeChat, people have many ways to interact with each other. In fact, businesses have even adapted to the change and get an average of over one billion business-related messages on Facebook Messenger App. By next year, experts estimate that more than a quarter of the world will use instant messaging apps.
For the customer service industry, this radical change in people’s communication preferences should be observed. The BPO sector, for example, is customer-centric and interacts with global customers day-in and day-out. If they keep on using traditional phones to provide support, then they will fail to communicate properly with at least a quarter of the world’s population.
Last year, Everise, a global experience company based in Singapore, launched Ana the Chatbot. This is one of their innovations that came out of the C3 Labs. It is their first internally developed chatbot and provides hiring automation and talent acquisition for Everise. Initially, Anna will address help address the inquiries that applicants might ask, ranging from basic company information to more complex inquiries by directing them to the website or other contact details. In later updates, Anna is expected to take the applicants further in the employee application journey.
So why are chatbots like Anna important?
By using chatbot automation to communicate with people, you are expanding your opportunities to connect with your target audience beyond the traditional methodologies. In Everise’s case, phones and emails.
This is very efficient for HR who understands that employees want to learn more about the company prior to committing to anything. For example. 87% of applicants prefer to access HR documents first before they join a company. 67% also wants to access details about their benefits, while 50% of candidates want to know more about job expectations before they begin work. Through innovations like Anna, Everise removes the obstacles that prevent applicants from taking the next step in the hiring journey.
Anna can also provide 24/7 access to employment information and documents, which is something the human workforce cannot easily provide. With Anna’s, pre-screening capabilities, candidates can efficiently undergo prescreening, which cuts labor for HR personnel.
Anna is integrated with Workday, Everise’s employment portal. Once a candidate is hired, Anna will create a 30-day engagement program that keeps them connected and engaged.
The idea of chatbots is not something new. In fact, it is mooted as far back as 1960 but only being utilized today because of the advancement in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and natural language processing. In the future, chatbots will play an ever-larger role in customer service, and Everise will take the lessons learned from Ana and apply them to solutions for their own clients.
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