I am pleased to report that I have just passed another Microsoft course, this time from the Microsoft Professional Program for Artificial Intelligence:
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, with a final mark of 100%.
This was a fascinating course, providing a very good introduction to machine learning, text analysis, computer vision (including face recognition and video analysis) and conversation as a platform (chatbots and Natural Language Processing [NLP]).
One example of how #AI can make it easier for your staff, customers or suppliers to interact with your software tools is to add a combined”Next Step / Tell me what you want to do” facility.
This uses natural language processing (NLP) combined with knowledge of who the user is (and what their role is, e.g. whether they are a member of staff, a customer, or a supplier, or a user with admin rights for example) and the context (which page or part of the app they are on, and what data they have stored in the system), to add two powerful new ways for the user to interact (with minimal training) with the app:
On any page, simply clicking the Go button asks the system “What’s my next step?”. The system then look intelligently at the user’s identity, role, data and location within the app and makes one or more suggestions as to what the user could usefully do next to make the most of the app.
Here are a couple of examples, taken from InQA’s WebPocketMoney application (referred to in this previous post).
Example 1: a new user has just registered and wonders what they should do. They could consult the online help file which will tell them that they need to register their family within the system. But far more simply, then can just ask “What’s my next step?” by clicking the Go button. The system guides them step by step, telling them initially that they need to create one or more families in the system:
Read More “Let your users ask “What’s my next step?” – a very useful AI addition to your apps”
Within a few short years, some companies and organisations will have adopted Artificial Intelligence (AI) in at least one part of their work: interfacing with their customers. (I’m using customers in the widest sense of the word: it could be students in education, or patients in healthcare for example).
Imagine the following:
If customers have a choice between interacting with one organisation in that way, or another in the more traditional way, I think they will vote with their feet.
Read More “Some reasons why your company/organisation should start using AI now”
Adding a chatbot to your organisation’s website can provide a more interactive experience for your users while at the same time reducing demands on your staff’s time. Chatbots can help to:
Once written, your chatbots can be made widely accessible to your staff via various channels, e.g. Microsoft Teams in Office 365, Skype for Business, Facebook and email. This means that when your staff or customers need information, they can obtain it very quickly via the most convenient route for them.
Read More “Why adding chatbots makes financial sense for your organisation”
It seems that Microsoft have recently amended Microsoft Teams (their collaboration tool within Office 365) so that “guest users”, that is to say users who are not part of your organisation’s Office 365 subscription, can be added to Teams. If so, that is a very welcome development, because:
Here is an example of using Polly (a polling and survey chat bot), to add polls to conversations in Teams:
InQA Limited 