Mindtree and Conversable make bots the first contact in customer service

Technology services company Mindtree and corporate bot maker Conversable formally announced a partnership Wednesday to make bots that automate customer service.

The partnership means that Mindtree clients may soon begin to use Conversable-made bots.

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It also means that — similar to call waiting on 1-800 numbers — the first contact a customer has will be with a bot, not a human.

In fact, Conversable cofounder and CEO Ben Lamm believes bots can provide a more human customer experience than other forms of automated communication.

“I would argue that bots are more personal than any other non-human interaction,” Lamm told VentureBeat via email. “When consumers go to a website or download a mobile app, they are forced to follow a predetermined flow that the business and some external design team set. There is no personalization in that. With bots, the right platform, and structure, a consumer’s experience is completely personalized to the question they ask or data they are looking for — all through a conversational interface.”

Expectation management, error handling, natural language processing systems, and human escalation points will be used to keep customers from feeling like they called a company 1-800 number and are waiting on hold, Lamm said.

Unfortunately, many enterprise chatbot solutions are still unresponsive or lead to erroneous interactions.

To prevent mistakes made by other customer service bots, “…Conversable will leverage Mindtree’s in-depth digital knowledge and domain expertise to standardize backend systems integration,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.

It’s been a busy summer for Conversable. Since the company was launched in June, Conversable has made bots for Wingstop, Whole Foods, Pizza Hut, and defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Last week, Conversable partnered with online restaurant order startup Olo.