The continuing march of technology had quite an impact on chatbots this past year, with machine learning taking the fore. The ability to deploy a chatbot that can not only answer FAQs and redirect relevant queries to live operators, but that can actually learn new answers to as-yet unasked questions--that's what we mean by ground-breaking. A spate of new sites came into their own this year that proved chatbots don't have to be chatty to be incredibly successful. Using a conversational interface on a database search tool, for example, allows users to enter semantic search phrases, and have the results parsed for relevance before being returned in similarly universal language. These sites and apps prove that the AI-powered software, with a user-friendly interface on the front-end, is a winning combination (we'll have examples to share below).

Chatbots, and particularly those backed by AI and machine learning algorithms, are gaining steam across industries because of their power and versatility. As their impact continues to be felt and adoption spreads from industry to industry, we thought now was a great time to discuss some of the ways chatbots can help your business become more efficient. As is true for most mid- to large-scale organizations, you undoubtedly have divisions that face both outward, to your clients and customers, and some that face inward, handling employee concerns. No matter who the customer is, chatbots can provide needed assistance in streamlining processes, cutting costs, and helping your people get back to the intuitive, people-centered aspects of their roles. These are some of the better-known uses for chatbots.