I am seeing more and more chatbot projects not being implemented or being delayed because the entire organization is not enthusiastic about the idea of a chatbot.

Especially in conservatively organized companies, it is not enough for a small team of 3 people to be enthusiastic about the idea; the entire organization is required for successful project approval and implementation.

How can you get your organization excited about chatbots?

First of all, it is important to understand why not everyone is automatically enthusiastic about the chatbot idea and what the most common arguments against a chatbot are.

Perhaps you have already heard one or two of the statements on the following list?

• Why am I the last to know about this?
• What is that anyway?
• He can’t do anything anyway!
• Too expensive!
• You want to replace our staff?
• No time!

Here are some tips on how you can counteract these arguments:

Why am I the last to know about this?

Many projects fail because not all relevant stakeholders have been involved from the outset. Don’t make the mistake of planning the chatbot “secretly” on a small scale and then presenting your final idea at the end.

It is better to involve all stakeholders from the outset and include them in the process. Show them that you take their input into consideration. This way, they feel integrated and can’t object to the chatbot in the end.

Possible stakeholders can be:

• IT
• Marketing
• Product management
• Customer service
• Communication
• Website
• Design
• Innovation
• Online marketing
• and many more

Of course, the number of stakeholders depends on your company and your project.

What is that anyway?

For anyone reading this article, the question “What is a chatbot?” may sound strange. But the reality is that not everyone knows what a chatbot is. And if you don’t know something, you either want to test it immediately or you are very averse to it.

So take the time to explain to your colleagues what a chatbot is. I am also frequently invited to give internal chatbot presentations, where I demonstrate the added value and limitations of the technology.

Another option is to create your own chatbot for your colleagues. With eggheads.ai, for example, you can easily create chatbots for internal training. Here is a small example.

Or you can create a chatbot as a digital assistant for your own colleagues. How about a chatbot in Microsoft Teams, for example, to help organize meetings?

He can’t do anything anyway

No, that’s not quite true! But chatbots are not, as they say, a jack of all trades. They can do a lot, but still not everything. The right expectation management is particularly important with chatbots. Make it clear from the outset what the chatbot can and cannot do. Then the expectations are set correctly and the chatbot has a fair chance of satisfying or perhaps even exceeding these expectations.

I usually recommend using the chatbot for individual limited use cases and then developing these further.

Too expensive!

The best question in response to this statement is probably “Do you know the added value of the chatbot?”. As a rule, people find something too expensive because they don’t know the benefits or underestimate them.

It’s best to present your colleagues with a business case in which you can clearly calculate the cost savings or profits that the chatbot will bring in the future.

Another option is to point out the cost drivers and explain to your colleagues why a chatbot is associated with acquisition costs. The most important cost drivers are:

• Concept creation
• With or without AI – rule-based vs. ai-based
• Content creation
• Interfaces
• Multilingualism
• Data security
• SaaS tool or in-house development
• Integration into own systems
• Maintenance, further development

You can also read more about the cost drivers of chatbots in this article “What does a chatbot cost?”.

You want to replace our staff?

The fear of being replaced by a robot is perhaps even justified in some sectors. In most cases, however, chatbots are not the reason why employees are being made redundant. Rather, the aim is for the chatbots to answer recurring questions or questions outside of customer service hours so that human employees have more time for complex questions.

Pass these sentences on to your colleagues and give them the assurance that the chatbot will be their new colleague rather than their competitor. Of course, the point of “involving the organization from the outset” also plays a role here.

No time!

Yes, that’s a real shame. Try to find out what your colleagues are currently working on and whether the chatbot might even make work easier in the long term?

Nothing there?

I hope the tips above will help you to successfully integrate the chatbot into your organization. If you still have problems getting your colleagues excited about the chatbot, then write me an e-mail and we can brainstorm together. Click here to go to my contact page.