* By Marcos Abellón 
New technologies are revolutionizing the way companies communicate with their customers every day. With the accelerated process of digital transformation, it is no longer a surprise or a novelty that interactions are - and need to be - much faster and more effective if there is to be competitiveness, whatever the size or segment of the organization.
It is very likely that you, for example, have already made some type of purchase, or at least some consultation via WhatsApp, is not it? After all, 99% of cell phones in Brazil have the application installed.
According to the most recent survey released by Sebrae, at least 72% of Brazilians have already used WhatsApp to interact with brands and more than 80% of SMEs (small and medium-sized companies) that use the application believe that it contributes to the growth of their business.
In 2018, Brazilians' favorite app created WhatsApp Business - a version of its messenger made especially for companies. However, over time, this version has not been fully effective for some organizations.
This is because the version of the application is very simple and basically only allows you to program automatic and fully humanized messages. Requests must be answered one by one, which creates a big problem for companies that need more and more agility and efficiency in their services.
The solution for this is part of a process that is becoming more and more popular, especially in retail, which seeks a system that allows optimizing operations and scaling up its service.
The automated answering systems simulate a human conversation and answer customer questions. All of this integrated with WhatsApp.
In addition, the benefits that this type of tool can bring to a retail company are countless. The automation of this type of process ensures more agility when answering, accuracy of response, reduction of failures, availability 24 hours, in addition to, of course, saving resources.
Ultimately, customers are satisfied with the option of communicating with companies in real time, in addition to reduced waiting times and the fact that they are no longer limited to certain times to make contact.
It is important to highlight that this robotization process can have varying degrees of complexity. The interesting thing is that when you use a tool to develop such a solution it is possible to customize the chatbots.
A pizzeria, for example, can put its menu on WhatsApp and allow the customer to have access to the menu, in the palm of their hand, and order their pizza in an automated way.
In the case of a clothing store, for example, the chatbot can be integrated with your ERP so that you have access to information about the cataloged products, the stock and can perform a more complete and effective service.
The robotization of customer service via WhatsApp therefore offers great potential for companies to attract new customers and improve their relationship with current ones. And best of all, service automation is not only available for large companies, but also for small ones.
* Marcos Abellón, creator of AnnA platform that connects people to systems through WhatsApp, Telegram and Messenger
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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