Business Chatbots Taking Over

Lynn DeCourcey Showcased in ExecutiveBiz

By G C Network | August 9, 2012

Kudos to my colleague Lynn DeCourcey for her recent interview on  ExecutiveBiz.com! Lynn is NJVC vice president and general manager, cyber security. She oversees all aspects of the company’s cyber…

BISNOW Data Center Event Highlight’s Cloud

By G C Network | July 28, 2012

A big thank you to BISNOW and my fellow panel members for an outstanding discussion and very informative event, last week’s Data Center Investment Conference and Expo. The federal marketplace…

GSA Seeks Cloud Brokerage Information

By G C Network | July 18, 2012

GSA is using the RFI process to collect information about alternative models and/or solutions for future cloud acquisition vehicles and processes that further these goals. One emerging concept in cloud…

DoD Cloud Computing Strategy

By G C Network | July 15, 2012

The DoD recently released the department’s formal cloud computing strategy. DoD Cloud Computing Strategy View more documents from Kevin Jackson. In the forward, DoD CIO Teresa Takai said that: “The…

FedRAMP PMO Releases First Set of 3PAOs

By G C Network | May 14, 2012

Late today the FedRAMP Program Management Office released the first list of certified Third Party Assessment Organizations (3PAOs). These companies are accredited to perform initial and periodic assessment of cloud…

FedRAMP Releases Updated Security Assessment Plan Templates

By G C Network | May 8, 2012

Last week the GSA FedRAMP Program Office released the latest version of the cloud computing Security Assessment Plan (SAR) template.  This document is the most recent step toward the Federal…

NJVC® and Gravitant® Announce New Strategic Alliance: Partnership to Benefit Federal Agencies with Powerful Provision and Management of Cloud Services that Unify Multiple Providers

By G C Network | April 4, 2012

Vienna, Va., April 4, 2012 — NJVC®, one of the largest information technology solutions providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, and Gravitant®, a provider of cloud brokerage and management…

NJVC® VP and GM, Cloud Services, Kevin L. Jackson to Speak on Cloud Security at 2012 Emerging Threats and Cyber Defense Symposium

By G C Network | March 18, 2012

Vienna, Va., March 15, 2012 — NJVC®, one of the largest information technology solutions (IT) providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, is pleased to announce that Kevin L. Jackson,…

NJVC’s Kevin L. Jackson Co-Authors INSA White Paper on Cloud Computing for the Intelligence Community

By G C Network | March 13, 2012

Findings Reflect Insight from More than 50 Cloud Thought Leaders   VIENNA, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NJVC®, one of the largest information technology solutions (IT) providers supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, announces…

INSA Study on Cloud Computing in the Intelligence Community: Rollout 13 March 2012 | SYS-CON MEDIA

By G C Network | March 10, 2012

(Originally posted by Bob Gourley at CTOvision)         Over the last year I’ve had the pleasure of serving with a team of volunteers from the Intelligence and National Security Alliance…

Chat apps characteristics make them very appealing to businesses and marketers. Prominent ones include their size, user retention, usage rates, and user demographics. In fact, the combined user base of the top four chat apps is larger than that of the top four social networks. Chat apps also have higher retention and usage rates than most mobile apps. Finally, the majority of their users are young, an extremely important demographic for brands, advertisers and publishers.


These chat app traits have accelerated the blending of artificial intelligence and business service functions to create the modern chatbot. Recent advances in this area include:
  • A chatbot’s ability to conduct engaging human conversations which has allowed businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers; 
  • The greater suitability of chatbots with mobile devices;
  •  The robust and rapid evolution of the chatbot ecosystem which include third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and a new marketplace for its enabling technology; and
  •  A promising chatbot business model for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms. 


A surprising example of this embryonic business model is my own 21 year-old daughter! Known as Ljskater_X_Void on Twitch, she uses an entire team of chatbots to manage her online audience: 

  • A customized Ankhbot (referred to as LjskaterxVoidBot) to interact with Twitch stream using a coin system to manage audience 
  • Discord Chatbot for managing streaming audience requests through ankhbot commands
  • Discord Music bot that lets audience request song from You Tube to be played during the stream
  • Quorra bot used to collect requests from stream audience
  • Ankhbot Social media timers to solicit interaction from audience through Twitter
  • Floof bot used to gather detailed information on individuals
  • Master Overwatch bot for collecting and displaying game 
  • Mee6 bot used to cross promote and advertise streaming partnersstatistics
  • NadekoBot used to create master bot (On Discord referred to as Skaterbot) to manage all the other bots
  • Muxybot connects through Discord to announce streaming events and stats



For technology support in the enterprise business space, a Watson-enabled Slack chatbotis being used to help enterprise teams identify and fix IT and network operational incidents. This bot blends messaging, cloud computing, IT support and network operations in order to improve customer service. To accelerate its own chatbot business, IBM has released a Watson Botkit middleware plugin that allows the Watson Conversation service to talk to Slack and other messaging channels.

Information technology is not the only industry vertical deploying chatbots:
  • News Industry uses chatbots to deliver breaking news directly as a private message in the user’s messenger. This information is displayed at login. 
  • A 3D printing industry chatbot that receives a 3D file and then instantly searches for 3D printing services providing you with price quotes and material options.
  •  With a chatbot implemented, entertainment industry customers can find movie and event details about movies and events, finding available timings, booking a reservation, and initiating cancellation much easier and faster without human assistance. It has also increased the business of online movie ticket and event ticket booking.
  • Health bots can answer more than 100 health questions, provides recommendations based on the query and even help to find a nearby doctor.
  • E-commerce companies use bots to provide product suggestions, price alerts, gift assistance and more
  • Customer service bots are replacing human assistance with the automated message service.
  • In the travel industry a bot can reduce the work load by sending ticket confirmation details, check in notifications, and other such important information automatically to the customer.


If chatbots are now in your business future, you should try Cognitive Concierge a part of IBM’s chatbot ecosystem that makes recommendations to the user based on a conversation with the application’s chatbot.


This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit ITBizAdvisor.com

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