Chatbots as employee self-service tools are proving to be a magic bullet for companies that are looking at enabling their employees to optimally manage their work.
Companies today are realizing the consumer behavior and attitude of not wanting to go through a series of tasks and steps, having to rely on other individuals, and wait for others to finish up their tasks before they can get to get their work done. This is why Amazon came up with the idea of Just Walk Out Shopping, which basically uses the same technology like self-driving cars. In such stores, users can just walk in, get their stuff, and walk out of the store. Amazon will later send them a receipt of their bill, which they can pay off online. This is one of the most impactful examples of self-help technology of this decade.
Employees are the internal customers of the companies and have the same temperament when it comes to getting routine work done or seeking help at the workplace, as external customers would have.
So, how does self-service technology have anything to do with the employees?
Let’s say you have to submit a report that shows the analysis and comparison of your previous project and your upcoming project, and for that, you need the minutes of the meeting that happened during the wrapping up of your previous project. You are not sure who the notetaker for that meeting was, but you still need all the details. In normal circumstances, you will have to go to the office staff and ask who amongst the attendees was the notetaker, then go find the person, and wait for him/her to hand you the minutes report. But, if you have employee self-service technology in place, you can easily retrieve such information from the company database and get to draft your report yesterday!
What can employee self-service solutions do?
One thing all of us have in common is the fact that we all have a number of questions and doubts in terms of different things and processes. And when working in a corporate environment, it can be difficult to get timely answers due to the fast-paced nature of the industry. In such cases, frustration levels can rise and employee dissatisfaction can become real.
Google is a great help, but you won’t find answers to questions pertaining to your internal organizational affairs. That is when self-service tools such as chatbots come into the picture.
Earlier this year, the leader in AI-powered search, Lucidworks announced the introduction of Smart Answers, a Question Answering System that enhances chatbots and virtual assistants to deliver personalized self-service. This solution leverages deep learning for understanding and interpreting Natural Language questions with the aim of providing users with contextual answers. Scattered information can be gathered and delivered within minutes and without friction, which in itself is a huge benefit. Such conversational self-service tools are excellently efficient in equipping the users with the resources that they need to progressively find answers.
Another thing that typically causes a raucous at the workplace is having to carry out mundane tasks every single day. For example, Attendance. Even though HRMS automates recording and managing attendance records, having to punch in and out on time can sometimes be missed, leading to errors. And biometrics in the time of ‘no contact’ is a big no-no. So, what is the best way to enable employees to record their attendance, even when working from home? The answer again is chatbot. Pocket HRMS has come up with an AI-powered facial recognition-based chatbot that makes automated attendance even smarter. It not only records the attendance for remote workers but also allows them to report any issues to and through the bot.
Another advanced NLP leveraging AI chatbot that makes the lives of employees easier is Barista. Expressive recently announced innovations to its flagship product, Barista. Employees are always very keen to know all the latest updates on the status of their requests and manage their cases on the go. But hierarchical structures and technological infrastructures often limit them from getting real-time updates. With Barista they get any and every update whenever they want to, and no they wouldn’t have to be chained to their desks, they can manage their work even from their mobile devices with complete freedom of movement.
It is always great to have a machine with human-like qualities to be a facilitator and help in carrying out routine activities. Employee self-service chatbots are doing a great job in triaging employee queries and enabling them to serve themselves optimally and with ease. This market may relatively be new, but is showing phenomenal potential in the future market scape.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chandrima Samanta
Content-Editor at HrTech Cube
Chandrima is a Content management executive with a flair for creating high quality content irrespective of genre. She believes in crafting stories irrespective of genre and bringing them to a creative form. Prior to working for MartechCube she was a Business Analyst with Capgemini.