The only industry thriving in lockdown

When little whispers of the Coronavirus turned into deafening roars spanning across continents, no one was ready.

When the World Health Organization declared the virus as a public health emergency of international concern, no one was ready.

When countries started issuing nation-wide lockdowns back in April 2020, no one was ready.

We’ve now entered the month of October- the dawn of Fall and pumpkin spiced lattes, and we’re still stuck at home. What started as a three-week lockdown to contain the virus, has now led to a standstill in many nation’s economies. It has created uncertainty not amongst people, but amongst businesses as well. With the number of containment zones increasing, there’s no telling when we’ll go back to “business as usual.”

With lots of industries taking hit, primarily travel, hospitality, and tourism, we had to ask-

Are there any industries that are thriving in lockdown? Was this secretly a blessing in disguise for some?

Enter technology and the chatbot industry

Because there was a lack of interactions in-person, digital has swooped in and filled the gaps.

No cinema? No problem! Just use Netflix!

No malls? No problem! Just order it through Amazon.

No meetups? No problem! Just use Zoom.

It was a huge change that hit everybody, but it was also the perfect time for digital transformation. IT industries realized this and decided to make their offerings more accessible to everyone. Automation and AI began to grow phenomenally. Tasks that couldn’t be carried out in person, had to be done through automation. And companies were also realizing the value in automating certain tasks.

But the industry that’s thriving the most in lockdown has been the chatbot industry.

Did you know that the chatbot market was projected to reach $1.25B by 2025?

Why are chatbots thriving in the current economy?

While people can get infected with the virus, machines won’t.

Chatbots can eliminate the need to physically come into the premises. Organizations that haven’t migrated to digital are struggling to get the job done, while the ones that have are now generating revenue in unexpected ways.

Any industry can leverage the power of chatbots. From reaching employees, to reaching customers and automating marketing campaigns, these bots can do it all.

Here are a couple of reasons why chatbots are being deployed across the globe

They save resources

By taking up routine, monotonous tasks, chatbots improve productivity by a landslide. Need to go over a policy? No worries- The AI chatbot can parse through your knowledge base compiled of all company policies to find the one you’re looking for. What would take over 15 minutes to find, a chatbot can resolve in seconds, which allows employees to focus their energy on more demanding tasks.

Chatbots have also become more accessible in the market, now available at more affordable prices, and even for free with certain platforms!

They build connections

The volume of customer queries has skyrocketed since the pandemic started. It's caused an overload that no business could expect. Businesses have struggled to address these queries, because let’s face it- the number of queries is overwhelming. Remember, your employees are also facing this so we must think of innovative ways to lighten their load.

Enter chatbots

With an uptime of 99.9%, chatbots acknowledge these customers in real-time and can even provide solutions. Even a simple response is enough for a customer to recognize that their voice is being heard.

A chatbot doesn’t just help customers, but they lighten the load off your agents as well. Instead of your employees feeling pressured to respond immediately, the bot takes care of it in an instant and it gives your agents the time and the energy to respond in a more thoughtful manner when the query gets too complex.

They elevate brand loyalty

The pandemic has left a lot of customers in the dark. Some of our favorite brands might have deserted us, so for a company to swoop in and build that trust again has become a challenge. Even keeping current customers engaged is a challenge. How do we replicate an in-person experience online?

The honest answer is, you can’t, but you can always create a new, innovative experience with a chatbot. As the AI chatbot gets to know your customers, you can begin creating personalized experiences tailored to your customers.

Voice-activated chatbots also amplify this and can transform your chatbot from being “just another chatbot,” to a digital virtual assistant to your customers. They have the potential to close the gap between your brand and your customer as your bot interacts with them more.

How you can get in on the action

As we’ve mentioned, businesses are now beginning to realize that chatbots are a game-changer, and so they’ve started to integrate them into their infrastructure. It's becoming more accessible, with businesses starting in less than 10 minutes.

You don’t have to build a chatbot platform from scratch to get started, you just simply have to get Engati.

Become a partner

Engati is the world’s leading multilingual no-code chatbot platform, established globally across 186 countries. Engati's platform is robust and provides scalable functionality across all domains.

Integrate our platform with your business by investing in a white label solution. Build a strong, reliable platform with Engati and watch your business flourish. You get access to the entire platform and your get to deploy and resell it under your name. Add your own logo, your own colors, and keep your brand identity intact. Interested?

Our solutions allow you to make the chatbot market more accessible to your local market, so get in on the action, and register with Engati to get started.