Who am I?

Hello and welcome to my next article in the AI Knowledge Hub! 🙋‍♂️

My name is Jacob Kowalski - a corporate tax consultant from Poland who is really into AI stuff.

I create many really cool things with AI: chatbots, AI assistants, automations, agents, etc. 🤖 

I think we are living through the biggest revolution of our generation and want to share my thoughts about it.

Maybe some of you will find it interesting, or maybe you want to share your take on this too.

If you want to know more about me and what I am doing, check out my page with the button below. 👇

Let AI handle the customers!

Hi everyone! 👋

Today's article will be about something rather simple and straightforward, yet it creates a lot of possibilities and use cases! 📝

In this one, I want to focus more on communication in business — both internal (with employees) and external (with customers). 📢

From my experience, and not only mine, communication in business, whether internal or external, plays a crucial role and is very time-consuming. ⏳

If you haven't developed the right communication structure and tools, there is chaos — even more so when you are employing many people or have a lot of clients. 🤯

That's why chatbots come into play — they automate communication for basic queries. But the problem is their capabilities are very limited, which lowers the conversation experience from the customer's perspective—they can recognize that they are talking to a robot at first sight. ⌨️

With AI development, this problem belongs to the past. A well-prepared AI chatbot can efficiently mimic humans. 🤖

Moreover, we now have access to Voice AI that can be used in AI voice assistants with voices that are hardly distinguishable from human ones. 💬

Let’s get into it! 👇

Chatbots and Voicebots - What Are These?

Before AI revolutionized communication, businesses relied on basic chatbots and voicebots that followed simple, pre-programmed rules.

Traditional Chatbots worked like digital flowcharts. They could only respond to specific keywords, phrases you typed exactly right, or pre-made buttons. For example, if you typed "refund policy" on a shopping website, the bot might show you a link to the refund page. But if you wrote "I want my money back," it would likely respond with "I don't understand" because it wasn't programmed for that exact phrase.

Traditional Voicebots operated similarly through phone systems. You've probably experienced this: "Press 1 for billing, Press 2 for technical support." These systems could only recognize specific words or numbers you spoke clearly. If you said "billing question" instead of just "billing," the system often failed to understand.

These kinds of bots are still used mainly in public sector: tax offices, healthcare and some banks.

You probably know this feeling of irritation when the bot does not understand a basic query and you have to repeat the same word for the fifth time. You want to immediately ask to "speak to a human."

These old systems save some basic labor costs but create poor user experiences that often drove customers away.

How AI Revolutionized Chat- and Voicebots?

AI transformed chatbots and voicebots from rigid, frustrating tools into intelligent assistants that actually understand what you're saying.

Modern AI chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to understand context, not just keywords. Instead of looking for exact phrases, they comprehend the meaning behind your words. If you type "I'm upset about my order," "My delivery is wrong," or "This isn't what I ordered," the AI understands you're having a delivery problem — regardless of how you phrase it.

It’s like you are speaking with Chat GPT, which is specialized with customer support and has information about everything related to the shop, the products, order and delivery.

AI voicebots now sound remarkably human. They can handle interruptions, understand accents, and even detect emotions based on the words you are using. Instead of robotic "Press 1 for billing," you can have natural conversations: "Hi, I need help with my bill" gets an intelligent response, not confusion.

In the market there are many of AI Tools which can be used for building the conversational AI Agents, the most popular ones are:

• ManyChat: Instagram and Facebook messaging automation with AI-powered responses

• Voiceflow: Drag-and-drop platform for building conversational AI assistants

• VAPI: Real-time voice AI that handles phone calls with human-like conversations

• Intercom: AI-first customer service platform with smart routing

• ChatGPT API: Powers custom chatbots with advanced reasoning capabilities

The new AI-powered systems understand context, remember previous conversations, and provide personalized responses. Customers often don't realize they're talking to AI until told. The frustration is gone—replaced by efficient, helpful interactions that feel genuinely human.

What’s more they save each conversation in order to enable further analysis and refinement of prompts, model chosen and troubleshooting.

This shift means businesses can provide 24/7 support while dramatically reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction simultaneously.

How the Chat- and Voicebots Can Be Leveraged in Your Business

AI-powered chatbots and voicebots can transform multiple areas of your business operations. Here are the most practical applications that deliver immediate results:

Core Customer Service Applications

• Customer Support: Handle 80% of routine inquiries instantly — password resets, account questions, product information, and basic troubleshooting. Escalate complex issues to human agents with full conversation context.

• Order Tracking: Customers can check order status, delivery updates, and shipping information by simply asking "Where's my order?" The bot pulls real-time data from your logistics system.

• Returns & Refunds: Process return requests, explain policies, and even initiate refund procedures automatically, reducing support ticket volume by up to 60%.

Booking & Scheduling Systems

• Medical Appointments: Patients book visits, receive appointment reminders, and get pre-visit instructions. The bot checks doctor availability in real-time and handles rescheduling automatically.

• Restaurant Reservations: Handle table bookings, special requests, dietary restrictions, and cancellations. Integrate with your reservation system to prevent double-bookings.

• Service Appointments: Hair salons, car services, home repairs — any appointment-based business can automate scheduling while capturing customer preferences.

Sales & Lead Generation

• Real Estate Presentations: Show property listings, schedule viewings, qualify buyer budgets, and collect contact information. Bots can present virtual tours and answer property-specific questions 24/7.

• Lead Qualification: Ask targeted questions to qualify prospects before passing them to sales teams, improving conversion rates and sales efficiency.

• Product Recommendations: Guide customers through product selection based on their needs, budget, and preferences — like having a personal shopping assistant.

Advanced Automation Integration

• CRM Integration: Automatically save leads, conversation history, and customer preferences directly into your CRM system eliminating manual data entry.

• Email Follow-ups: Trigger personalized email sequences based on chatbot conversations and customer behavior.

• Payment Processing: Complete transactions within the chat—subscription renewals, invoice payments, or product purchases without leaving the conversation.

Internal Business Operations

• HR Support: Answer employee questions about policies, vacation requests, benefits, and company procedures—reducing HR workload significantly.

• IT Helpdesk: Troubleshoot common technical issues, reset passwords, and guide employees through software problems before involving IT staff.

• Training & Onboarding: Deliver interactive training modules, answer new employee questions, and track completion progress.

The key advantage? These bots work 24/7, never get tired, and can handle multiple conversations simultaneously while maintaining consistent, professional responses for a fractions of the cost of a customer support team. They integrate seamlessly with your existing business systems, creating a unified automation ecosystem that scales with your growth.

If you want to see how these kind of chatbots work in practice check my projects at: https://jacobkowalski.carrd.co or chat with the chatbot deployed on that page.

Summary

Communication is rapidly changing throughout the years.

In the future, most likely we will speak only to AI robots to book appointments, make reservations, or return products.

The customer support employees are ones of the most vulnerable people resulting from the wide adoption of AI.

That is why you should learn more about the capabilities that AI opens up for you.

Whether you are a business owner or an employee, this knowledge will give you a competitive advantage or a better position in the job market.

Thanks for reading.

Jacob