By Nikita Geldenhuys

What is your background in terms of technologies like bots and how did your journey with bot technology start?

My journey started in two different disciplines, one being from a pure tech perspective, and the other from a user experience (UX) perspective. I wanted to understand how bots were created, especially with regards to natural language processing. I also wanted to understand machine learning for contextual and personalised experiences, as well as architecture.

Then from the UX side of things, my interest was in figuring out how bots could provide a more engaging, personalised, useful, and compelling experience for the user while still retaining the "personality" and integrity of the brand. Understanding the psychology behind chatbots was also important to me.

What are some of the most exciting current applications of chatbots?

The most common examples I have found were all e-commerce based, such as being able to purchase a Vida coffee or product. One of my favourite applications is What’s for Dinner (and not only because I used to work on the brand).

From a text- based, social messaging point of view, I couldn’t really say there is something out there that is completely mind blowing. Chatbots are still very new and there is still so much to be explored, especially around bringing utility into the brand experience.

The things that do excite me though, is not a particular application but rather the possibilities that chatbots offer for customer service at scale.

Chatbots are slowly maturing from basic bots to artificially intelligent (AI) bots. Where is South Africa in terms of using new chatbot technology?

In my opinion, we are still very conservative in our approach and like to keep things “safe”. This means the adoption rate for any new technology or innovation for many brands is still not fast enough, but I am hoping to see this accelerate in 2017. There are some local companies that are investing heavily into the technology.

Do you think industries in South Africa currently have the right skills and experience to harness the potential of chatbots?

Chatbot technology, at its core, is really easy to implement. These days, there are many companies that provide cloud-based API services or open source libraries that anyone can leverage off of, integrating it into their own technology stack of choice without having to know too much around the science behind it.

A study by Weber Shandwick found that 55% of CMOs, surveyed in five global markets, expect AI to have a greater impact on marketing and communications than social media ever had. What role do you think AI, like bots, will play in the future of marketing?

Bots change the way consumers engage with brands. Experiences become personalised, personal, useful, and compelling. You are essentially taking a brand from feeling clinical, mechanical or impersonal to building a strong, meaningful relationship with users.

Psychologically, humans are social creatures and we love solving problems through engaging with other people. Through engaging with a bot, you essentially create a false mental perception of engagement, which mimics behaviour humans are already “comfortable” with.

Chatbots are currently being used on social media platforms such as Facebook and networks such as Slack. What applications are there for chatbots outside social media networks?

Chatbots are already built into your everyday mobile devices through Android and Google Now, as well as Siri. There is also a need to integrate chatbots into pre-existing online applications, such as e-commerce platforms.

Although these platforms haven’t done that yet, I am sure it’s only a matter of time before they do. I also foresee search engines becoming chatbots, changing the way we search for content and the way we are presented with content.

Are you currently working on chatbots for clients?

We have roadmaps for most of our clients, including our own proprietary platforms through Incentiv and Answered Insights, to develop meaningful solutions. We have also built a chatbot for Slack that is currently used by all Publicis Machine staff to look up information about the agency, book lunch for our agency lunch Wednesdays, and even look up documents such as travel forms.

We do have to be mindful not to just jump on the trend bandwagon for the sake of it. We are really looking to solve real-world challenges through customer-driven innovation, without trying to push a square peg in a round hole.

For more information on Nurun, visit www.nurun.com.

Read how Mercedes Benz South Africa is experimenting with chatbots: Meet Mercedes-Benz SA’s Facebook Messenger chatbot