Why bots?

1 July 2017 Integrated Solutions

Businesses shouldn’t be developing bots and artificial intelligence solutions just because they’re trendy, or because they think they can replace their employees. Smart businesses will use these technologies to free employees from mundane business processes and allow them to be more creative and ‘human’ at work.

Kriti Sharma.
Kriti Sharma.

That’s according to Kriti Sharma, VP of Bots and AI at Sage, who was recently named in Forbes Magazine’s ‘30 under 30’. She built her first robot at the age of 17, designed to bring chocolates to its controller. The software bots she works on at Sage today are designed to help business builders do less admin, and more of what they love.

Sage’s recently launched chatbot called Pegg.
Sage’s recently launched chatbot called Pegg.

Sharma is the brain behind Sage’s recently launched chatbot called Pegg, developed to hide the complexities of accounting and let entrepreneurs manage their finances through conversation. “Few business owners wake up and say “Yay! I get to do my invoices today”, she says. “Pegg takes away a lot of the pain by making it as easy as chatting to a friend on social media.”

Automation can give accountants more freedom, too. By taking over manual tasks like scanning receipts and updating expenses, bots will free up their time to focus on serving as strategic advisors to their customers and offering a more personalised service.

Higher value tasks

Jennifer Sutherland, innovation capability builder at Standard Bank believes that bots and automation could help unlock a friendlier and more human workplace, rather than taking us into a cold, dystopian future. Supported by automation, people serving customers will be able to focus on higher value tasks, be more creative and take more initiative.

“Creativity is a mindset. Many people believe they simply aren’t creative by nature, when in fact there are techniques to bolster creativity,” says Sutherland. “But they need the time and space to explore new things. When they are busy for eight hours a day on their core job, they don’t have time to learn something new, solve problems, or explore a new technology.”

AI, she believes, should serve to free up time for things like encouraging creativity, and help bring motivation and purpose back to the frontline of customer service.

Building friendly bots

Sharma notes that one of the important elements of a chatbot is the personality it projects – it must be likeable and it must be adaptable to the user’s personality. “We’ll be spending a lot of time with bots in the future because they will be our virtual assistants,” she says. “So we must be able to enjoy interacting with them. We place a big focus on building ‘nice’ robots”.

At the same time, Sharma believes that we should embrace ‘botness’ and build bots to be bots, not to be like humans. Humans, she says, aren’t naturally the most optimised for tasks like intelligent automation, which is what we’re developing bots for in the first place.

As bots are set to become a prominent feature of the future, it is important that they reflect the diversity of the audiences they serve and don’t replicate human biases. “We also shouldn’t build bots that project the same stereotypes and biases that characterise human society,” says Sharma.

For example, many virtual assistants today use female voices, building on the stereotype of associating women with administrative and personal assistance work. Sharma specifically developed Pegg as a gender-neutral bot for this reason. Bots should be inclusive and feel welcoming to people, irrespective of gender, language or culture.

To get this right, we should consider not only how bots’ personalities are projected, but also the diversity of the teams that make them and the diversity of the data that bots use for their inputs, Sharma says.

To listen to the full conversation by Kriti Sharma and Jennifer Sutherland, visit: https://soundcloud.com/sageinvisibleadmin/innovation-sage-invisible-admin-podcast





Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page



Further reading:

Future trends for electronic safety and security in mining
Fang Fences & Guards Mining (Industry) Integrated Solutions AI & Data Analytics
The mining industry is ever evolving, driven by technological advancements and the growing need for enhanced safety and security measures, with significant innovation seen in turnkey electronic security for mining operations.

Read more...
Unlocking enhanced security for mining
Mining (Industry) Integrated Solutions
In the dynamic landscape of African mining, security remains of paramount concern as threats evolve and challenges persist, and mining companies seek innovative solutions to safeguard their operations, assets, and personnel.

Read more...
A constant armed struggle
Technews Publishing XtraVision Editor's Choice Integrated Solutions Mining (Industry) IoT & Automation
SMART Security Solutions asked a few people involved in servicing mines to join us for a virtual round table and give us their insights into mine security today. A podcast of the discussion will be released shortly-stay tuned.

Read more...
Access and identity in 2024
Technews Publishing Gallagher HID Global IDEMIA Ideco Biometrics Enkulu Technologies neaMetrics Editor's Choice Access Control & Identity Management Integrated Solutions
SMART Security Solutions hosted a round table discussion with various players in the access and identity market, to find out what they experienced in the last year, as well as their expectations for 2024.

Read more...
Advanced security solution for high-risk areas
Secutel Technologies Surveillance Integrated Solutions
The need for a sophisticated intrusion detection system is paramount when faced with persistent security challenges, particularly in isolated battery rooms or high-risk areas prone to vandalism, cable theft, and battery theft.

Read more...
Vumacam and NAVIC enhance SafeCity initiative
Integrated Solutions Risk Management & Resilience
Vumacam and NAVIC, two of South Africa's most respected surveillance technology and vehicle intelligence providers, are proud to announce an alliance that will greatly expand the coverage and impact of the SafeCity initiative across the country.

Read more...
Gallagher Security’s achieves SOC2 Type 2 recertification
Gallagher News & Events Integrated Solutions Infrastructure
Gallagher has achieved System and Organization Controls (SOC2 Type 2) recertification after a fresh audit of the cloud-hosted services of its integrated security solution, Command Centre. The recertification was achieved on 21 December 2023.

Read more...
Integrated transportation security
Guardian Eye AI & Data Analytics Integrated Solutions Logistics (Industry)
HG Travel installs an AI-powered camera system integrated across 115 vehicles throughout a fleet comprising 160 vehicles of different sizes, along with predictive and self-monitoring tools to track tyre condition, fuel consumption and theft, and overall vehicle maintenance.

Read more...
Embracing next-generation surveillance for safer cities
Surveillance Integrated Solutions AI & Data Analytics
With the South African government highlighting the importance of building smart cities by integrating advanced technologies to make them more resilient and liveable, the role of next-generation network video and surveillance technologies cannot be ignored.

Read more...
Gallagher Security releases Command Centre v9
Gallagher News & Events Access Control & Identity Management Integrated Solutions
Richer features, greater integrations, with the release of Gallagher Security’s Command Centre v9 security site management software designed to integrate seamlessly with various systems and hardware.

Read more...