Derek: Hello, everyone.
Derek with tatango.com here.
We are at a Mobile World Congress 2019, here at the Innovation City from the GSMA.
I have my friend Daniel from BOTfriends, and he's created a software platform for bots
that is using RCS.
So it's really cool that we're seeing all these demos not just from SMS providers.
Now we're seeing RCS demos from, actually, botmakers as well.
So this bot, it's from what, Porsche?
Daniel: Yes, it's from Porsche, the sports car company, and it answers a lot of questions
regarding recruiting.
So whenever you want to work at Porsche, you can inform yourself about jobs, about internships,
about dual-study courses, and so on.
Derek: Okay, so how does this work?
Let's say I'm, you know, a student and I'm interested in working for Porsche.
Who wouldn't want to be working for Porsche?
Hopefully, you get a free Porsche.
So let's say I'm the student, this is the phone, and that what is being mirrored up
there.
So what happens right off the bat?
Like, do they get a message or are you triggering the message?
Daniel: So first of all, you get a message.
It says, "Hello, I'm the chatbot for Porsche."
So it very offensively says that it is not a human, it's a machine, but it also tells
you that whenever you want to reach out to a real human, you can reach out to a real
employee.
And so what you could do first is you could maybe interact via the buttons.
So let's say you said we are a student, so we want to do an internship at Porsche.
So we just click on internship.
Derek: And what's really cool about that is when you clicked internship as a button, it
rendered it as almost like a message, so you don't need to actually type anything out.
That's cool.
Daniel: Yes.
So for those quick replies, it's very easy, and you immediately see what is the chatbot
about.
So we already developed this chatbot without the buttons and recognized that if we don't
have the button, they say ask a recruiting chatbot for the latest soccer results.
So we need to have those buttons, but you can also interact with via natural language.
So I could also say, for example, "How much do I earn as an intern?"
So you don't need to click the buttons.
You can also interact with via natural language.
Derek: So what you've found out, though, is if you didn't have the buttons, the consumers
would just text in random stuff?
Daniel: Random stuff, yeah.
Everything.
Soccer results, what's up in the cinema, and everything.
So this is why we highly recommend to use those buttons as well.
Derek: That's a really good point, I've actually never heard that before.
So that's why we do these videos, is to learn.
So essentially, if you just had, "Hey, if you're interested in an internship, text or
reply back with something," then they'd reply back with all kinds of crazy stuff.
If they do it with the buttons, you're kind of guiding the consumer the way that the botmaker
wants.
Daniel: Yes, exactly.
So you can really guide the conversation.
And what you could also do with that chatbot is ask, for example, small talk questions.
Do you have any small talk questions you would like to ask?
Derek: A smalt talk question?
What is a...?
Daniel: For example, are you a chatbot or are you...?
Derek: So you can ask even the chatbot, like, "Is this a real person?"
Daniel: Yes, for example.
Derek: Let's try that.
Like, "Is this a real human?"
Daniel: Let's see what happens.
Derek: So what is powering that?
Is that your technology or are using APIs for the smart language?
Daniel: So for the language, we are using a Google technology which is called Dialogflow,
but we also built some tools around Dialogflow which makes it easy to develop chatbots and
also voicebots on Dialogflow.
Derek: And your company BOTfriends is like a software platform that allows these companies
to build this?
Daniel: It's not actually a software platform, but it's a company that helps businesses to
realize chatbots.
So we help them in conversational design, which is very, very important for chatbot
and also in development.
Derek: So you're almost like an agency that helps them design, build, deploy.
And now you're working with Google for the RCS stuff.
Daniel: Exactly.
So on the one hand side, we are an agency, but on the other side, we are building standard
chatbots.
For example, if you want a recruiting chatbot or if you want an event chatbot, or if you
want a chatbot, for example, for other things, we have standard packages, which gives you
already, like, 500 questions.
So you don't need to start from scratch.
We already give you a package of questions and answers.
Derek: Now, I know selling chatbots to brands is hard.
You know, and it's interesting, so you have templates almost, and you're selling them
like, "Hey, if you're a car dealership, we kind of know what you want."
Daniel: Exactly.
Derek: Is there anything else you've learned, for those people out there that are selling
or trying to sell chatbots or RCS, that makes it easier, like the templates?
Daniel: Yes, the templates definitely makes it easier, but what you really have to do
is that your customer really understands what's the value of chatbots and also what value
it can bring today.
But even more important, what value it can bring in the future.
Derek: So for value for this kind of chatbot...because some of the people, I think, are watching
this video and they're looking at it going, "That's cool, but what's the value?"
Like, why would Porsche be interested in this?
Why is Porsche or any of your customers interested in chatbots?
Like, what is it producing in value for them?
Daniel: So for this case, we tried to write Porsche on Facebook Messenger, and it took
them, I think, one or two days to respond, which is good in comparison to others, but
which you could do even better.
So we said, "Hey, let's do a chatbot."
And what they are doing now is the conversations have doubled, and this is because whenever
you have a stupid question like, "How long does an internship take?" you wouldn't ask
that question to a real recruiter at Porsche because you would think, "What does he or
she think about me when I ask that standard question?"
And with the chatbot, the conversations have more than doubled.
Derek: And so the chatbot interactions have doubled.
Daniel: Before the chatbot, there were only personal interactions, and the total amount
of interactions have more than doubled.
And even if they have more than doubled...how do I say it?
The time was reduced by 25%, and this is because all the standard questions, like, "How long
does an internship take?
Do you have any jobs in marketing?
Do you have any jobs in development?" are answered by the chatbot.
And all the very, very individual, complex questions are answered by the employees or
the Porsche recruiters.
And therefore, before the chatbot, even if they had a very complex question, they only
gave a standard answer.
And the answer was not really helpful because there were only standard answers.
And now, with the chatbot taking over the standard questions, the Porsche employees
can really focus on the more complex questions and give helpful answers to them.
Derek: So, really, the chatbot has not only increased engagement.
It's reduced the amount of time that the Porsche employees need to spend with these candidates.
And it's not replacing them.
It's just making sure that they can focus on the real parts of their job that really
matter, not answering basic questions over and over again.
Daniel: Exactly.
Derek: That's really cool.
So where can people watching this video find out more about your company?
Daniel: Just go to www.botfriends.ai and write us, leave us a message.
And, yeah, looking forward to it.
Derek: Awesome.
So botfriends.ai?
Daniel: Yes, botfriends.ai.
Derek: Okay, and your name is Daniel?
Daniel: Yes.
Derek: And you're the founder?
Daniel: Yes.
Derek: Okay, very cool.
Daniel: Yes, I'm the founder.
One of the founders.
Derek: Okay.
Well, you gotta be careful with that sometimes.
Awesome.
Well, that is a RCS demo.
This is a chatbot demo from Mobile World Congress 2019.
We are at the GSMA Innovation City here in Barcelona.