At Facebook F8, an annual developer conference that held from 1 to 2 May at San Jose, California, one of the innovations Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, highlighted was a Nigerian chatbot called LEO, created by United Bank for Africa (UBA).
It may have been a brief moment, but it was no less a significant introduction to the global technology community that innovation does live in Nigeria too. It was also a plus and a testament to the fact that Nigerian banks are not pushover in the disruption landscape.
A chatbot refers to a computer program or artificial intelligence designed to simulate conversation, answer queries, and handle specific requests. In so doing, it mimics critical human actions like thinking and decision. The technology has been around for a while, its uniqueness however lies in its capacity to learn and improve. Companies can choose launch their chatbot on any major chat product like Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, and Text Messages.
In Nigeria, Facebook has played a major role in the adoption of chatbots by businesses. Specifically, in April 2016, the social media giant, started to allow businesses deliver automated customer support, e-commerce guidance, content and interactive experiences through chatbots. Bots are able to send more than just text using the Facebook Messenger platform’s Send/Receive application programming interface (API).
Since Facebook opened its platform to businesses, only a few companies have leveraged the opportunities that in chatbots. However chatbots from non-Nigerian companies such as Google, Twitter, Amazon, Samsung and Apple have already become quite popular with people that use them.
UBA happens to be the first commercial bank in Nigeria to launch a chatbot on the Messenger app in January 2018. The financial services industry is one of the sectors projected to see the most disruption with chatbots.
Prior to UBA’s launch, fintech companies such as Kudi.ai and CowryWise already offered services using their homegrown chatbots. Jumia, the ecommerce giant also launched a chatbot in 2017.
Diamond Bank has followed in the footprints of LEO, by unveiling Ada. Like LEO, Ada provides personalised experience for Diamond Bank customers.
The opportunities chatbots offer to companies are underscored by the increasing number of people now spending more time in messaging apps than on social media and that is a huge turning point. Messaging apps are the platforms of the future and bots will largely be how users access all sorts of services.
