What makes a great chatbot? Laser focus on customers

Fewer technologies have garnered more attention over the past year than chatbots, those virtual assistants that mimic human speech while facilitating tasks on behalf of humans, typically via a conversational messaging interface. At a time when software is driving unprecedented levels of automation, companies are using chatbots to help customers order anything from food to office supplies to additional computing capacity. Chatbots are a big reason why corporate adoption of cognitive systems and AI will drive worldwide revenues from nearly $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020, according to IDC. But what exactly makes a great chatbot? Perhaps more importantly given enterprises' investments in such tools, what makes a bad one?