A journey into ChatBot’s world

ChatBots are the automatic response system (ARS) which are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to resolve user’s queries by the software without getting humans involved. Now a days it’s very important for all the companies to deploy ChatBot on their websites to ensure instant responses with 24*7 online presence. ChatBot deployment is also considered as a major step in digital transformation strategies for any company worldwide.

When with Ignite IT Services I got my first chance to build a ChatBot from scratch, I accepted the assignment without having second thoughts!

Planning phase-

We decided to use Watson Assistant platform for developing our ChatBot. Initially the technology was looking little bit complicated and overwhelming but soon after few days of working, I was getting comfortable. Soon the project charter and the approach was shared with us and by that I was feeling enthusiastic and fully ready to take on the project. It sounds obvious, but a ChatBot project should always start by thinking about your possible queries from end users and should be aligned with their objectives.

 

One should start with thinking and spend time in planning comprehensively before designing automatic response system engine having objective of responding end users/customer’s queries. Therefore the first step was to prepare possible queries or intents from user’s perspective. Also, our ChatBot should be designed in such a manner that end user should feel that they are interacting with a human on the other side during their conversations.

 

Design phase-

So, the next step was to enter the answers to the different questions in a manner that satisfies the user’s queries. One can also reply with an image, options and text. If a question has multiple answers then we added the entities (responses for multiple options queries). Each entity has its unique answers designed in a well-structured manner. It took 2 weeks to complete the basic structure of our ChatBot. One of the first things you do when developing a ChatBot system is instrument it, so that it can be properly monitored with the records. We also designed a dashboard where you can review what queries did not work every day.

Test Phase-

Corrections, additions, deletions and connections are the various aspects to be tested comprehensively for a well-designed BOT. I took one week to test the BOT comprehensively for all possible queries and corresponding response system combinations before declaring the same for deployment ready!

 

Deployment Phase-

We should deploy the ChatBot only after testing it thoroughly. With some configurations and settings with API I connected the BOT to the website it was a delightful moment for me to see that my first project was working fine! Once ChatBot has gone live, the real work of analysis and iterating begins with final round of testing with the selected users chosen for beta testing.

 

My experience with building my ChatBot was wonderful and in the process, I learnt a lot and gained lot of knowledge about the ChatBot’s inner working in short time.

 

Next target is to integrate our ChatBot with Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine for creating much more powerful response system for our website.

–Ankush Banyal