Below is just one scenario in which AI-powered conversational interfaces and chatbots are removing the friction from management processes and helping contingent workforce managers realize new gains in efficiency.
Here is some food for though: How would your workday change if you could converse with a computer as if it was a human? Imagine you’re in a two-hour department meeting when your team leader says she just got budget approval for the extra headcount you requested. Instead of wasting time for the meeting to end, you grab your phone and send an email or text to your vendor management system (VMS), the technology platform your organization uses to source and manage contingent workers.
In your message, you ask the VMS to create a request for a new software engineer in your city. Within seconds, you receive a reply from the VMS with a question about the pay range for the position. Once confirmed, you get a final response that the request has been initiated, and you should start receiving candidates within a few days.
The Evolution Of Conversational Interfaces And Chatbots
From Siri to Amazon Echo, conversational interfaces seem to be everywhere. At their simplest level, these interfaces leverage machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to enable users to communicate with software via text or voice as if it was human.
This technology has frequently manifested itself in the form of chatbots — some more sophisticated than others. In the B2B space, their usage has historically been limited to pop-up software tips. If you’re a new user, this can be helpful, but for most, these pop-ups amount to little more than spam. But what if these interfaces could help with transactional tasks related to key work functions — and even provide personalized, actionable intelligence that delivered real value?
The Power Of Omnichannel
With the average manager using multiple devices, platforms and systems each day, B2B software solutions that provide seamless omnichannel access to tasks can be beneficial. In conversational interfaces and contingent labor management use cases, this means ensuring these tools are available in devices and systems that users utilize daily. This involves behind-the-scenes integrations between your system(s) of choice and your VMS so that users aren’t required to log into a new system to engage its conversational interface.
In other words, a user could simply send an email, text message or instant message to the system chatbot and get a response in real-time or start the process, stop and then restart when convenient.
Conclusion:
We can also expect to see chatbots getting progressively smarter in the next year or two, using machine learning and real-time analytics to not only help speed up execution but also provide actionable intelligence that drives smarter decision making. For leading organizations, leveraging these leading-edge chatbots and conversational interfaces will provide a compelling way to strengthen their contingent workforce programs and get a leg up on the competition.
The hi.guru Advantage
Keep your communication with your customers and employees strong, personal and most importantly instant. You can easily do this using the hi.guru conversational AI platform and ultimately enhance every communication experience by using responsive chatbots and other tools. It all starts by consolidating your existing communication channels into one and ensuring a better response time. Read more about our instant messaging platform and about creating a chatbot that’s just right for you.