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Why Chatbots Could Improve Your Training
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If you’ve ever had a little speech bubble icon or animated robot pop up on a website you’re visiting, you’ve likely encountered a chatbot.
Those helpful virtual assistants are just one form of chatbot. When you ask Siri for directions or Alexa to let you know the forecast, you’re also interacting with a chatbot. In fact, it’s estimated that 85 percent of customer interactions are handled without a human.
A chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate a conversation with human users through audio or text using artificial intelligence.
As learning management systems become more sophisticated, many companies are integrating intelligently-designed chatbots into their training process in a bid to facilitate the learning experience. Here are just some of the ways chatbots can help transform your learning and development.
Even in this age of connectivity, finding the answers you need when you need them isn’t always fast or easy. With a chatbot, employees are able to access just-in-time support, giving them immediate answers to questions and relevant follow-up questions or prompts—perfect for those in off-site meetings, on the factory floor or out on a job. This is also invaluable for onboarding. A virtual HR assistant can guide new employees through their training at their own pace, where and when they need it.
Chatbots learn from doing: the more information they’re given, the smarter they get. Just as Amazon and Netflix learn your preferences and make recommendations based on those, a chatbot can offer a targeted approach to eLearning, making the content presented adaptive, personalized and relevant, taking into account a learner’s needs and level of competence.
We all need a little encouragement sometimes and chatbots can be that perfect virtual cheerleader. Chatbots can prompt learners along in their learning journey, offering words of encouragement such as “well done!” or “that answer is correct.” This helps to not only motivate but engage learners, keeping them entertained while they learn as well as giving them additional information or challenges along the way to stave off boredom.
Chatbots don’t just provide employees the information they need, they also provide learning and development critical data as well. The chatbot provides information about how people learn and what they need to learn by recording data from its interactions. This data can be continuously analyzed and evaluated to fill in gaps in the learning design, creating more relevant and effective training based on their real—not perceived—needs.
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