A Chatbot Is for Life Not Just for Christmas with Alex Debecker

Alex Debecker is co-founder and CMO of ubisend, an AI company that helps businesses solve challenges with conversational software (aka ‘chatbots’). He moved to the UK in 2016, after having built and sold a marketing agency in Belgium

Over the last three years, the company’s client list has seen significant growth, with clients including the likes of Unilever, Google, NHS and Archant. Recognised as thought leaders in their field, ubisend push the boundaries of AI and trailblaze best practices of this nascent chatbot technology.

As CMO, Alex’s role has been pivotal in raising the profile of ubisend and acquiring their impressive client list.

On today’s show, Alex and Sean discuss a range of topics, including:

- A run through of what exactly a chatbot is, what they’re powered by and what they can do
- How the likes of Siri, Alex and Google Home share chatbot qualities
- Situations in which a chatbot is particularly useful and examples of sectors where they aren’t suitable
- Advancements in chatbot technology and how this might continue to develop
- How chatbots can understand context to maintain longer, more complex conversations
- The ways in which chatbots can learn and evolve
- The necessary resources and time to effectively implement chatbot technology
- How chatbots can be a useful source of information about customers and what analytical data can be extracted
- The integration of chatbots with other third-party solutions, systems and technology to gather even more data. Which of these systems work best with chatbots in different sectors
- Alex’s thoughts on the “creep” factors in a world where chatbot technology is increasingly difficult to distinguish from human interaction and why it’s important that chatbots don’t pretend to be human
- How to weigh up the initial cost of implementation vs. the potential ROI
- The future of chatbots and how it will simplify search for users