The document discusses crafting a conversational platform strategy. It outlines that a strategy should define where an organization wants to go, why it wants to go there, and how it will get there. Specifically, the strategy aims to build conversational interfaces to lower costs, improve customer satisfaction and experience, and improve employee experience. It suggests starting by understanding the current state and considering challenges, then testing ideas and checking progress along the way.

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Crafting a Conversational Platform
Strategy
Harshal Pimpalkhute
Sr. Product Manager
AWS
A I M 3 3 8
Gillian Armstrong
Technologist
Liberty Mutual

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Advent of conversational interactions
First gen:
Punch cards & memory registers
Second gen:
Pointers & sliders
Third gen:
Conversational
interfaces

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Complete solution

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Text and speech language understanding
Speech
recognition
Natural language
understanding
Powered by the same deep learning technology as Alexa

6. strat·e·gy
/ˈstradəjē/
a plan of action or policy designed
to achieve a major or overall aim

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The strategy
Our strategy outlines
• Where we are going
• Why we are going
there
• How we are going
to get there

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I already know how to do a software project!
People are the original
conversational interface.
We need to move beyond websites.
This changes how we design, build
and how our customers relate to
our software.

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Where are we going?
What is
our goal?
(Or we won’t
know we got
there!)

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Why are we going there?
“It’s nice
where I am”

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Some reasons to take the journey
Lower
costs
Improved customer
satisfaction and
experience
Improved
employee
experience and
job satisfaction

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A few suggestions …
Lower
costs
Deflect calls from call center agents
(improved self-service through virtual
agents or other channels)
Scale call center on demand
Test new ideas faster

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A few suggestions …
Improved
customer
satisfaction
and
experience
No need to wait for answer
More “human” experience than website
More convenience – Additional options
/ channels to access company
Easier information discovery
More personalization

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More people
would prefer to
use a bot than
would refuse to
use a bot
Prefer to use a
chatbot than speak
to a human
Willing to try, but
only if it works well
Refuse to use a
chatbot at all
Indifferent,
relatively tolerant

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Smart speaker
US household
ownership
forecast
2016
2020
7%
75%
SOURCE: US Census, Gartner,
Edison Research, Voicebot.ai

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A few suggestions …
Improved
employee
experience
and job
satisfaction More “human” and rewarding job
Augmented Intelligence – Employee
assistants, whisper agents
Less frustration caused by repetitive
low-value work
Time to learn more complex skills

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How do we get there?
We need to
think about how
we are going to
get there

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How do we get there?
We need to
know where
we are now

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How do we get there?
We need to
think about
what might
stop us

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How do we get there?
We need to
think about
what might
speed us up

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How do we get there?
We need to
work out our
checkpoints –
Are we still
going in the
right direction?

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The strategy
Our strategy outlines
• Where we are going
• Why we are going
there
• How we are going
to get there

23. Thank you!
© 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Harshal Pimpalkhute
Sr. Product Manager
AWS
Gillian Armstrong
@virtualgill
http://virtualgill.io

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