Individual Case Analysis #2

Laura Dimaris Pacheco Ceja

School of Business and Management, City University of Seattle

BUS420_03_ON: AI Business Applications

PhD. Deanne Larson

February 12th, 2022

 Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has allowed the development of many tools that

serve to simplify and streamline some of the processes that must be carried out on a day-to-day

basis in companies. One of these developed tools are chatbots, which are basically robots that

chat with people to provide support in carrying out procedures or to acquire some type of

information (Morgan, 2017).

The main function of chatbots is customer service oriented, that is, most companies use

them so that customers can solve problems or doubts in the fastest and most autonomous way

possible. The question is, what types of applications can be given to these chatbots and what are

the benefits they provide in different application areas?

Case Study 2: How the Use of Chatbots Can Help in Relations Between Departments of a

Company

The company Inoac Polytec de México has different departments such as engineering,

purchasing, sales, customer service, maintenance, security, among others. All these departments

work together and carry out very important tasks and procedures so that the company can get

ahead and grow day by day, but how should communication between all the departments be so

that the company's results are positive and there are no incidents due to lack of communication?

Many types of doubts tend to arise between departments, which is understandable

because each of the areas of the company knows its processes and does not pay more attention to

the procedures of the other areas. This individualistic way of working generates many

repercussions in decision-making, because they are only concerned with what can directly affect
their own department and there is no filter where the repercussions for the process carried out by

the other areas are considered.

An area of opportunity that the company Inoac Polytec de México has, is the

communication of the Customs Compliance and Logistics department with the other

departments, which within the company fulfill the role of "users". On many occasions, different

users approach the Customs Compliance and Logistics department with those responsible for

importing and exporting to, obtain information about the planned shipments of the week, ask

basic questions such as non-tariff regulations and restrictions that must be complied with, the

amount to pay for the taxes required to import or export the merchandise, among other types of

questions that can be solved easily without the need for an interaction between two people

because all this is in a database.

At the end of the day, the Customs Compliance and Logistics department answers the

same question up to ten times a day, which directly affects the loss of time due to the frequent

interruptions caused by this type of question. Additionally, it should be considered that the loss

of time is not only for the Customs Compliance and Logistics department, but also represents the

time invested by the other departments when they find it necessary to give up their work areas in

order to go to the customs office to clarify all doubts.

Due to this, the need presented by Inoac is to develop a chatbot that offers answers to user

requirements based on the information that is stored in the database to reduce interruptions on

both sides and thus only scale. questions that cannot be answered from the information loaded in

the database. It is important to mention that in this database the status of shipments is found in

real time as well as the tax rate to be paid based on the Harmonized System Codes (HS) of the

merchandise, among other data that are frequently asked.

 The case study "Amtrak: 5 million questions answered by chatbots annually" found on

the Overthink Group website mentions the use of chatbots in the public transportation industry.

The example mentions that Amtrak users can buy tickets themselves without having to request

them from a real worker, in addition to knowing the items they can take with them when

boarding the train, among other specifications. A very important fact is that they mention that

approximately five million questions are asked a year, which means that if these questions were

answered by a customer service agent, it would be very demanding, and many resources would

have to be used in hiring personnel to have the ability to answer all customer questions. In this

example, it can be seen how the fact that this "self-service" is implemented through chatbots

implies a great benefit both for the transport company and for the users who buy tickets through

this means.

On the other hand, there is the case "RapidMiner: Replaced all lead capture forms with

chatbots" also found on the Overthink Group website, which mentions the application of

chatbots in the data science software industry. In this case, the most relevant is the focus that was

given to the application of the chatbots, since it is mentioned that the people who use it do so

with full knowledge that they need help with something that can be solved with the virtual

assistant but If this is not the case, it gives the option of communicating with a real person to

follow up on the case. This tool is very useful because while chatbots provide the closest and

most accurate answer to what is being asked, there are situations where the chatbot cannot be

specific enough, so it is necessary for the conversation to be escalated with a human.

Solution

Now, in the comparison of both cases and their different chatbot applications, in the first

case it has been used as a tool for users to purchase services for themselves, and in the second
case they have been used as a support tool for users in case difficulties arise. Although they both

work in the same way, they have different purposes and consequently different results. After

analyzing the two cases presented in different industries, could both functions of chatbots be

combined to improve the processes and areas of opportunity that Inoac presents?

Inoac could implement chatbots for internal use in the company, from this perspective it

would be changing the traditional line of customer service and this time it would be supporting

internal users (departments) in the company for better communication management. Inoac should

combine the applications of the two cases mentioned above, that is, the chatbots would not be

exclusively support when incidents occur but would also be for the purpose of providing

information queries to prevent incidents. An example would be, if the purchasing department

wants to make a purchase of some threads, with the Data technical sheets of the material it would

know the Harmonized System Code (HS) that corresponds to it, so the route of the question in

the chatbot could be indicating the HS so that the chatbot responds if the HS must pay import

taxes or it will not have to be paid. Considering that all the information necessary to answer all

those questions (even without the use of the chatbot) is stored in a database of the Customs

Compliance and Logistics department. This example could use this chat assistant feature to

reduce the number of face-to-face questions between departments.

Another example of how this solution would work is when users want to know the

current status of the container or plane in which the raw material they need for production

comes, the chatbot could send them a real-time status indicating only the reference number of the

operation (which is shared with users at all times), this would mean fewer interruptions for

Customs and Logistics and users would be able to check the status as many times as they need,

which would imply a great reduction in the amount of interruptions for both departments.
 Benefits

The benefits that the implementation of the solution would provide will be for both

parties, that is, the Customs and Logistics department and for the users (other departments) since

both will be able to invest the time asking these questions in other activities. Additionally, if the

benefits are considered at the company level and not only between departments, but the fact also

that users are aware of the taxes they pay for the materials they request to import/export forces us

to have one more filter before the question: Is it convenient to buy this specific material? Of

course, it is very difficult to raise awareness about more customs and tax issues, but the fact that

users have a notion of tariff rates could reduce the amount of taxes paid annually.

Another benefit that plays an important factor is the level of user satisfaction, that is,

everyone likes their doubts to be answered as soon as possible, which implies giving high

priority. Chatbots have a great advantage because they are permanently available, which means

that they can attend to user requests at any time of the day (Carpentier, 2022).

Challenges

For the implementation of these solutions, the possible challenges that could arise should

be mentioned, which would be a determining factor for the correct functioning of the chatbot

application. Although the implementation of this technology internally predicts a series of

benefits, the reaction of users to the implementation of this new technology would be the most

determining factor for the success or failure of this solution.

The 86% of consumers prefer to interact with a human agent and 71% said they would be

less likely to use a brand if they didn't have human customer service representatives
 available; Additionally, only 30% believe that chatbots and virtual assistants facilitate the

resolution of customer support problems (Gil Press, 2019, para.2).

On the other hand, there could be a scenario where the chatbot does not have the

necessary information to answer enough questions that may arise, and this has to be escalated in

the vast majority of cases with human workers. In other words, although not many human

resources would be used to resolve all these doubts, it would be necessary to invest in the

operation of the chat assistant system.

Conclusion

Chatbots are a very powerful tool today, but it is important to know how they work, there

are times when it is not necessary to have a chatbot that meets the needs of customers. However,

to take full advantage of the resources that AI provides, is needed to create a chatbot that has

enough resources to serve as many requests as possible.

Users are not very interested if the person who is attending them is a real person or a

chatbot, as long as they solve the problem and clarify the doubts they present, there will be

customer satisfaction, which is the main purpose in the implementation of this type of

technology.
 References

Carpentier, A. (2022). The advantages and disadvantages of a chatbot for a company. Botnation.

https://botnation.ai/site/en/chatbot-advantage/

Gil Press. (2019, October 2). AI Stats News: 86% of consumers prefer humans to chatbots.

Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2019/10/02/ai-stats-news-86-of-

consumers-prefer-to-interact-with-a-human-agent-rather-than-a-

chatbot/?sh=7b6c746f2d3b

Morgan, B. (2017). What Is A Chatbot, And Why Is It Important For Customer Experience?

Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2017/03/09/what-is-a-chatbot-and-

why-is-it-important-for-customer-experience/?sh=1edf3e7d7188

Nelson, R. (2019). 10 Case Studies on Chatbots. Overthink Group.

https://overthinkgroup.com/chatbot-case-studies/