From customer support, business intelligence, service management, lead generation to information retrieval, chatbots have gained widespread adoption across functions. The reason why organizations are actively embracing bot technology is that chatbots not only have several high value business use cases but also are easy to deploy with minimum risks.

If you believe that your organization can greatly benefit from investing in chatbots but your top management is still on the fence about it, we are here to help. Here are some ways you can strengthen your business case and persuade your leadership/executive sponsors to deploy enterprise chatbots.

1. Demonstrate ROI with Hard Data 

Data and facts help you sharpen your pitch and make decision-making simpler for your stakeholders. Show the ROI of chatbots by collating data and research both internally and externally for the chatbot use case you’re considering.  

Let’s say you’re planning to deploy customer service chatbots, your internal data could be:

• Our customer service  agents spend more than XX hours on answering basic questions

• Our CSAT score is below 6

• Our customer service costs have increased by 30% compared to the last year

• Our annual sales have gone down by 20% due to poor service experience

In the same way, you can collate similar data from external sources like analyst and research firms, vendors etc. For the example stated above, the external data could be along the lines of:

• According to this Forbes report, 62% of US consumers like chatbots as a means to  engage with companies. The adoption rates are even higher (more than 70%) in countries like the UK, Australia and France.

• Gartner Says 25 percent of customer service operations will use virtual customer assistants by 2020

• Chatbots can save up to 30% in customer support services – BI Intelligence

• Spark New Zealand has reduced its customer service costs by 25 percent through the use of human online chat and chatbots

You can also ask vendors for a pre-defined ROI/business value calculator to make this process easier and showcase the exact ROI stakeholders can expect.

2. Show What The Media and Industry Experts Are Saying

Media plays a huge part in influencing our choices and buying decisions. You can share how the sentiments of media, market analysts and industry watchers about AI bots are in sync with the consumers trends. Here are some quotes and statistics you can include in your next PowerPoint Presentation with your bosses: 

• PwC affirmed, “Chatbots are disrupting various forms of customer engagement as they effectively meet customer needs for enhanced user experience through AI.”
• Gartner anticipates that by 2022, modern workplaces would look a lot different than today and interacting with conversational platforms will soon be the norm. Analysts at the global research and advisory firm also believe that bots and virtual customer assistants will gain importance in the future.
• Gartner predicts that by 2021, over 50% of enterprises will increase their yearly spends on bots and chatbot creation. 
• 80% of businesses would deploy chatbots by 2020 after witnessing the benefits of conversational AI bots, according to Business Insider. 
• “Sixty-eight percent of service leaders indicate that bots and VCAs will be more important in the next two years. Service centers should seriously be considering how this technology could be integrated into current operations, in both customer-facing and rep-facing systems,” stated Lauren Villeneuve, senior principal, advisory at Gartner.

3. Present Case Studies

Build credibility for your suggestions and advice with case studies of companies that have successfully deployed chatbots. Look for examples within your industry and share relevant use cases with your leadership. Network with peers at events and find companies with comparable size and which share your operational model, IT infrastructure, and target market. 

Present the information graphically alongside a narrative that depicts the ease of implementation and the newfound business outcomes after the implementation.

We have observed that the best way to convince top management about investing in a new technology is by sharing real life stories, experiences and laying out quantifiable business benefits. 

If you need help in collating success stories relevant to your industry and company, please feel free to get in touch with us. We have helped organizations of all sizes and across industries in successfully deploying enterprise chatbot solutions. We’d love to share our success stories with you. 

4. Demo The Technology

While words are effective, hands-on experience of a new technology is even more powerful. We suggest getting in touch with a reputable vendor to arrange a quick demo to explain how chatbots could help your business to your boss. Ensure that the vendor is able to address all the pain-points, short-term objectives, long-term goals and possible objections/concerns of your stakeholders. 

The right vendor should not only  be able to demonstrate how their bot solution could help in solving your business problems but also explain the quantifiable benefits. 

5. Suggest A Pilot Project

Even if your leadership is intrigued by the statistics and demo, we understand that investing in a full fledged enterprise project could be an expensive proposition. Not everyone would be enthusiastic to deploy a new technology at a large scale. Counter this sentiment by suggesting the team to start with a pilot project. 

A pilot program will help to break down the big goal of deploying enterprise chatbots into measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound steps. The decision-makers will be able to see how it works, what problems it can solve and how effectively it can solve before making a company-wide launch. Launching a finite project with low risk is a feasible strategy to test a prevalent but abstract idea and convince your leadership  about the chatbot’s power. 

6. Explain The Long-term Impact of Investing in A Promising AI Technology

Investing in AI is no longer just an option for organizations – it’s a business imperative. Unlike any other traditional technologies, AI-powered technologies have the ability to “think”, become intelligent with time and maximize ROI and business outcomes constantly. 

And several senior executives are fast realizing this fact. According to Gartner, the percentage of enterprises employing AI grew 270 percent over the past four years.

Chatbots are one of the most prominent and widely adopted AI technologies among enterprises. Use this fact and explain how deploying a promising technology like chatbot aligns with the organization’s greater goal of adopting AI to accelerate digital transformation.

These are the six effective ways to convince your higher-ups about AI-powered bots. We understand that spearheading a company-wide change in an organization is challenging and complex. But it is also a very rewarding experience.

If you’re looking to deploy enterprise chatbots for your business or want to get your questions answered or need assistance in convincing your leadership, please do reach out to us. Our team of experts would be happy to offer a personalized consultation.