A bot as a colleague or even as your boss; it may sound unreal, but it's really happening. Bots are rapidly becoming more and more important and are increasingly able to perform tasks that are normally performed by you and your (human) colleagues.
What is a bot?
A bot is software that is designed to automate tasks that are normally carried out by people. Think for instance about booking a hotel reservation or scheduling a meeting in your agenda. The most common kind of bots are chat bots. These are part of messaging apps, and should make you feel like you are chatting with a human being.
Bots in the business world
Facebook Messenger can be used to order clothes, flowers or a taxi. But more interesting is the use of bots in the business world. Bots can assist employees in performing work as easily and efficiently as possible. For example:
- an IT bot to support users with questions about the network or their account information
- an HR bot to answer employees' questions about salary, leave days and terms of employment
- a declaration bot to check invoices and to pay employees
Bots in the workplace means some new colleagues for employees to communicate with. It increases the productivity and agility of the organization.
Bots instead of apps?
The number of apps that we use for leisure and business has increased rapidly in the last couple of years. But it is quite unpleasant to have to install an app for every business or service that you communicate with. And with every app you have to get familiar with the navigation and to learn how it works. It can be much easier. With bots you just simply send a message, like you would do to a friend as well. Quick and convenient.
Bots play an increasingly prominent role in our lives. Both in our private lives and in our work we will get to deal with bots more and more in the upcoming years, whether we like it or not. The proper use of bots offers us many advantages. Improved access to information, much easier communication and performing your work more efficiently.
As a Product Owner, Joan Gaastra is in the driver's seat at Dysel. He decides which functionalities are developed and how they are prioritized.
