Retired school principal Frank Muehlheausler and his wife Karen save up every year so they can afford to escape St. Louis&#x27; freezing temperatures and spend a couple of months in Florida. The Muehlheauslers used VRBO, as they had in years past, to reserve a condo on a Sarasota golf course for ...

VRBO stops taking Houzlet rental listings after consumers complain about cancellations

VRBO, one of the nation&#x27;s largest vacation rental companies, announced it was removing Houzlet&#x27;s property listings from its website after consumers complained of cancellations and missing refunds.

Mayor Dave Bronson issued a veto on an ordinance passed Tuesday by the Anchorage Assembly concerning short-term rental licensing for city property owners.

Bronson vetoes ordinance concerning short-term rental licenses including Airbnb, Vrbo

/PRNewswire/ -- Today Vrbo® unveiled its 2024 Vacation Rentals of the Year in the U.S., which feature the most remarkable private vacation rentals across the...

VRBO ANNOUNCES THE 2024 US VACATION RENTALS OF THE YEAR

Vrbo announced its Vacation Rentals of the Year which features design-forward properties across the U.S., including waterfront stays, cabins and modern city escapes.

Vrbo’s 2024 Vacation Rentals Of The Year Tap Into The Latest Home Design Trends

Vrbo’s Vacation Rentals of the Year offer sweeping views and luxe amenities from coast to coast and beyond.

From Montana to the US Virgin Islands, these are some of Vrbo’s dreamiest vacation rentals

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I want to direct your attention to a subject of great importance, from my point of view, but often ignored: the recycling of photovoltaic panels. Have you ever reflected on the fate of solar panels at the end of their life span? The subject is not often addressed, but it deserves to be explored in depth. Therefore, I invite you to find out what the challenges of recycling photovoltaic panels are and what solutions have been discovered so far. The Current Panorama of Photovoltaic Panels Information shows us that in 2023, the photovoltaic systems market is in full expansion and innovation. Among the most recent developments are advanced photovoltaic solutions, which include high-performance materials, thermo-photovoltaic technologies, and sustainable variants. These trends are supported by decreasing costs and local production. In the USA, for example, the solar industry added 6.1 gigawatts of capacity in the first quarter of 2023, registering an increase of 47% compared to the previous year. ( ) Globally, the market was valued at 157.75 billion dollars in 2022, with a forecast of annual growth of 7.8% until 2030. ( ) source source This seems to be a positive aspect, however, we must consider a major consequence, namely the ecological impact and recycling difficulties of photovoltaic panels. Due to the high costs of recycling and limited infrastructure, you can clearly understand that many panels end up in landfills, representing a major ecological problem. However, besides protecting the environment, reusing components from used solar panels can reduce the need for raw materials, while also providing employment opportunities. Consider that in 2022, the global installed solar capacity was 268 gigawatts, an increase from 183 gigawatts in 2021, with an estimate of 315 gigawatts in 2023. ( ) What does this indicate? Of course, a future huge quantity of used photovoltaic panels. In the United Kingdom, it is estimated that solar panel waste will reach 1 million tonnes by 2050, and in Australia, they represent the fastest-growing stream of electronic waste, with over 100,000 tonnes of waste by 2035. ( ) And, as I mentioned above, the costs of recycling are often higher than those of disposal, requiring financial incentives and an adequate regulatory framework. However, Europe holds a leading role, having regulations that impose the collection and recycling of photovoltaic panels. source source Challenges and Solutions in the Recycling of Photovoltaic Panels You can easily see that the lack of an efficient system for photovoltaic panels has a major impact on the environment. Even though these panels generate clean energy, the manufacturing process and their waste at the end of the life cycle include toxic materials, which can affect the environment. Okay, then what's to be done? The most feasible and effective solutions must be found. Recycling is essential to prevent the environmental problems associated with the disposal of these panels. recycling A concrete example of recycling photovoltaic panels, or rather reconditioning, that I can offer you, is the process applied to silicon-based panels. This includes disassembling the panels into components, melting broken wafers, manufacturing new silicon cells, and final assembly, resulting in an 85% recycling rate. However, the high cost of this recycling process makes the option of landfill disposal more attractive to many decision-makers. Another process is the physical recycling process, the mechanical and most used one. In the first stage, all the materials contained in a panel are separated. These components are then ground, tested to determine the amount of toxins, and then reused. A panel can consist of various materials including silicon, glass, aluminum, copper, and silver. As for chemical recycling, which represents one of the newest solutions discovered, this is usually done after thermal treatment. It includes separating the materials of the panel through chemical processes, but this process also involves the release of dangerous gases, which represents a major issue in the recycling of photovoltaic panels. A positive thing is the possibility of reusing these substances several times in these recycling processes. To give you examples, there are two main technologies for recycling silicon-based photovoltaic panels: delamination and material separation. These technologies include dissolution in thinner, dissolution in nitric acid, thermal treatment, and ultrasonic irradiation, each with its specific advantages and disadvantages. For thin-film panels, recycling technologies include delamination, material separation, and material purification, with processes such as hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy, each also having its own advantages and disadvantages. ( ) source The integration of (AI) in recycling systems, including in the recycling of photovoltaic panels, represents a promising and innovative direction in waste management. If you wonder how exactly, here's the answer. A relevant example is the development, in the USA, of an intelligent waste management system, which uses smart sensors, visual cameras, and hyperspectral cameras in combination with an automatic waste sorting machine. These technologies allow capturing images of objects as they move on a conveyor belt, and sensors help monitor and control the waste management process. artificial intelligence Moreover, this technology uses machine learning models to improve the recognition and classification of non-recyclable waste. The collected information and images are uploaded to a cloud database to train and test these models, which can analyze data to identify patterns, make decisions, and continuously improve. These models will analyze the images and descriptions of waste, as well as information about the physical, chemical, and biological properties of these, to determine contaminants, energy density, and organic content. In the future, researchers plan to assess the technical feasibility and ecological performance of their system on a pilot scale. They also intend to develop a web platform that will allow them to share data sets and other information with interested parties. ( ) source Opportunities and Perspectives in the Recycling of Photovoltaic Panels Considering the complexity and costs of recycling processes, it is essential to develop more efficient and sustainable methods. Do you agree? This could include financial incentives and an adequate legislative framework, as well as research into discovering new innovative technologies in the waste recycling sector. However, this segment represents a very good business opportunity. You should know that the global market for recycling photovoltaic panels presents enormous potential, estimated to grow from 0.36 billion dollars in 2023 to 1.72 billion dollars by 2028. ( ) This opens the way for new industries focused on recycling used photovoltaic panels, and this growth is supported by numerous companies worldwide (United States, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, China, Canada, Spain, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Israel, Ireland, France, and Brazil), which deal with the recycling of photovoltaic panels. source Also, various governments around the world provide funding and support for the recycling of photovoltaic panels. I'll give you a few significant examples: United States: The U.S. Department of Energy, through the Office of Solar Energy Technologies (SETO), announced the funding opportunity "Materials, Operation, and Recycling of Photovoltaics (MORE PV)" for fiscal year 2023. This will provide up to 20 million dollars over three years for research and development projects. These projects aim to create innovative and practical approaches to increase the reuse and recycling of solar technologies, thus consolidating the circular economy for in the United States. ( ) photovoltaic systems source European Union: Through EIT RawMaterials, the European Union funds a project under the supervision of Veolia Germany, with a total of 4.8 million euros. This project aims to develop an efficient and unique technology for recycling photovoltaic modules that have reached the end of their useful life. ( ) source Japan: PV CYCLE aisbl and the Akita Prefectural Resource Technology Development Organization (Akita PRTDO) announced the creation of PV CYCLE Japan for the collective management of decommissioned photovoltaic panels. The initial activity of PV CYCLE JAPAN was to serve as a point of contact for a feasibility study on the collection of decommissioned photovoltaic panels for the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, the main goal being to promote the reuse and recycling of decommissioned photovoltaic panels. ( ) source China: The Chinese government, through the National Development and Reform Commission, has announced a plan to establish a recycling system for decommissioned photovoltaic panels. By 2025, China aims to build a mechanism for disposing of decommissioned equipment from photovoltaic power plants. Also, by 2030, the Chinese government intends to mature the complete recycling system for photovoltaic power plants, while also supporting third-party recycling companies to carry out recycling activities for decommissioned photovoltaic equipment. ( ) source These initiatives reflect a significant global commitment to promoting the recycling of photovoltaic panels and to supporting the development of a circular economy in the solar energy field. I conclude that recycling photovoltaic panels is not just an ecological necessity, but also an extraordinary business opportunity. With emerging technologies and an expanding market, this field offers fertile ground for innovation and sustainable development. We face challenges, but recycling photovoltaic panels can become a path to a greener and more prosperous future. How do you see this subject?

Recycling Photovoltaic Panels: Problem or Solution?

The Driving Force of Orion's Web3 Innovation with Stéphane Doueihi : Hello, Stéphane Doueihi; it's a pleasure to welcome you to our "Behind the Startup" series. We're excited to delve into your journey and the breadth of your expertise. Moreover, we would greatly appreciate it if you could shed light on the inspiration behind the ORION mission and how it envisions revolutionizing our online interactions through the utilization of technology. Ishan Pandey Web3 : Orion's mission is to revolutionize DeFi by integrating centralized and decentralized exchange liquidity, providing direct access from personal wallets. This approach lowers trading fees, democratizes access to prime crypto prices, and redistributes wealth globally. Our vision extends beyond traditional online interactions, harnessing Web3 technology to lead in DeFi trading innovation and establish Orion as a primary, community-driven crypto trading platform. Stéphane Doueihi : DAOs have gained a lot of attention recently. How is Orion utilizing DAO structures, and what are the advantages and challenges you've encountered in implementing them? Ishan Pandey : Our transition to a DAO structure signifies a major evolution in Orion's journey, emphasizing decentralized governance and community engagement. This shift towards a DAO model is pivotal, as it represents Orion’s commitment to transparency, resilience, and innovation in governance. It's a strategic move towards a more democratic and user-empowered ecosystem, aligning with the core principles of decentralization in DeFi. Stéphane Doueihi : As an early adopter in the blockchain domain, what inspired you to be an Orion DAO ambassador, and what do you envision for its role in the future of the crypto ecosystem? Ishan Pandey : My role as an Orion DAO ambassador and external representative at events and interviews is to advocate for Orion's trailblazing technology in blockchain and DeFi. I'm inspired by Orion's unique approach to liquidity aggregation, allowing decentralized access to top exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, and OKX, a feature that sets Orion apart in the blockchain world. Stéphane Doueihi My role as an Orion DAO ambassador also involves promoting Orion's unique liquidity protocol, which is a game-changer in the DeFi space. This protocol is not only powering Orion but is also available for third parties, potentially bringing all centralized exchange (CEX) liquidity into DeFi. This capability is pivotal in transforming how liquidity is accessed and utilized in the decentralized finance ecosystem. : Could you provide insights into ways you can support the ORION ecosystem, and how people are empowered being part of the eventual DAO? Ishan Pandey : In the Orion ecosystem, the veORN system offers significant APR for governance participation. Simultaneously, our 'Refer & Earn' program drives deeper user engagement with exponential rewards based on network effects, making it both sustainable and lucrative. These innovative programs empower users within the DAO, promoting a dynamic and active community central to Orion's decentralized philosophy. Stéphane Doueihi : Interoperability is a crucial aspect of blockchain. How does Orion facilitate the seamless exchange of assets across different blockchains, and what are the technical hurdles you've had to overcome to achieve this? Ishan Pandey : Orion Bridge exemplifies our commitment to seamless, ultra-fast, and secure cross-chain transfers. Its simplicity and user-friendliness, coupled with strong security measures, make it a standout in the blockchain space. This interoperability, integrated directly into Orion Terminal, offers users a hassle-free and secure trading experience across various blockchains. For more insights, I invite you to explore our detailed documentation. Stéphane Doueihi : Security is a paramount concern in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector, especially considering the increasing sophistication of cyber threats. Can you share with us the details about the security audits and safeguards Orion has in place to protect its platform and users' assets? Additionally, how does Orion ensure ongoing security in the face of rapidly evolving digital threats? Ishan Pandey : Security is paramount at Orion. Our comprehensive approach includes rigorous audits by top firms like Halborn and continuous system monitoring. These measures, combined with our unique liquidity aggregation model, ensure a secure trading environment, protecting user assets against evolving digital threats. Stéphane Doueihi Uniquely, we are TVL-light by design, utilizing atomic swaps and other advanced technologies to ensure safer transactions, though these technologies are complex to implement. Our liquidity aggregation model further ensures a secure trading environment against evolving threats. : The crypto industry is known for its rapid innovations. How does Orion stay ahead of the curve in terms of technology and product development, and what strategies do you employ to remain competitive? Ishan Pandey : Orion has consistently stayed ahead of the curve, focusing on creating innovative products from scratch using first principles rather than merely copying or forking existing projects. Orion's achievements, including our unique decentralized access to major exchange order books, an ultra-fast cross-chain bridge, a 5-tier referral system, and much more (such as our upcoming mobile app!), underscore our commitment to staying ahead in the crypto market. Our approach to innovation, focusing on user-centric features and community feedback, positions us at the forefront of the DeFi space. Stéphane Doueihi : What are some of the most exciting use cases or trends you see emerging in the crypto and blockchain space, and how is Orion positioned to capitalize on these opportunities? Ishan Pandey Stéphane Doueihi: Account abstraction is an exciting trend, and we're exploring it to simplify our trading UI/UX. Orion's strategic positioning allows us to leverage such cutting-edge concepts, enhancing our liquidity aggregation technology and community-driven development, further establishing our leadership in the sector. Don’t forget to like and share the story! : Vested Interest Disclosure This author is an independent contributor publishing via our . Be it through direct compensation, media partnerships, or networking, the author has a vested interest in the company/ies mentioned in this story. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR brand-as-author program

Exploring the Future of Crypto Trading and Web 3 with Orion's Stéphane Doueihi

MALDONADO

Serverless Python Google Cloud Platform: Hosting Django on Cloud Run 

Ads are a crucial part of the modern internet, but it is also a very complex and ever-changing market with trends that affect us all. Are there any players that can challenge the power of Google, what are the current data security developments in this space, and what is the next big ad thing? I've discussed these and some other questions with Vitaliy Gerko, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of OTM, acquired in 2021 by Veon global digital operator to elaborate on the current trends in 2022. Please share some background on OTM and your story in AdTech and MarTech I have more than 15 years of experience in the tech industry, it all started back in 2005 after I graduated from university. At that time, back in Belarus, I opened a web development and programming company, and we worked in the international market. After the release of the first iPhone, I became very interested in apps and AppStore, and in 2011, I was invited to join a new project team. It was a mobile application that offered motivated traffic, where users do certain things for bonuses. I was responsible for the creation of the product and its commercial success. After selling this project in 2014, I joined the team of my current partner Dmitry: the company OTM, which at the time was engaged in SMS marketing. We began building a full-stack programmatic platform, and since then, I have been responsible for the product and its technological development. We provide a fully automated stack of buying and selling ad inventory, we work directly with publishers, aggregating the traffic and selling it to our own DSP platform, where we have a lot of direct clients and agencies. We also trade that traffic to BigTech (Google, Yandex, VK) and international programmatic platforms. We're building OTM based on the experience of American companies, covering the full value chain: from publishers to advertisers. That way, you have the best control over the whole money chain between them. Our platform is full-stack, we have full-service and self-service DSP, DMP, several SSP, and ad exchanges, a lot of predictive and ML models which allow you to optimize traffic for KPIs and benchmarks of clients. In addition, my previous experience helps a lot when it comes to numbers. I have a good understanding of the unit economy and user acquisition, I know how third-party platforms work: DV360 by Google, and Meta, and use it for the development of OTM. We also use examples of such American platforms as Index Exchange and The Trade Desk. This year we will finish the realization of our deal with VEON, a global digital operator that provides mobile connectivity and services to 217 million customers all over the world. For us, this means that we will fully integrate the operator's capabilities into our own. At the same time, we are not implementing a full merger of the company into an operator, as we are trying to take into account the mistakes in the cases of Verizon after acquiring AOL and Yahoo, as well as AT&T after acquiring AppNexus. We are keeping the OTM brand, and we will use the flexibility of a small company to quickly get a slice of a big advertisement pie. We are moving all the operator's capabilities to us: data, communication channels, and we will build a holistic MarTech product based on OTM. What’s your view on the strained position that marketers find themselves in today, with all privacy-focused trends? Over the past few years, BigTech and regulators have become concerned about privacy and the protection of user data. Of course, this has affected the tech market. For example, starting from iOS 14, the system came out with the ability for the user to hide personal data from targeting advertising opportunities, By year-end 2023, Google plans to officially stop supporting third-party cookies on its Chrome browser, the most popular browser in the world. Google already has a monopoly position because of its browser, and if it prohibits using third-party cookies for targeted advertising, advertisers will be forced to carry money in closed ecosystems  (walled garden), which Google is. There's also Meta, Amazon Advertisement, but still now, Google's action could be seen by the regulator as a concession to itself. But the reality is that in the last year we've seen that others started working on technical solutions to get around the ban on third-party cookies. So, operators can issue a stable ID. In fact, for a telecom operator, the ID is a phone number, and it knows IDFA / GAID and user’s cookies, which allows using stable ID as an alternative replacement of third party cookies. Criteo and The Trade Desk and some other companies are joined the Unified ID 2.0 initiative to keep working in the cookieless world. is a new approach to identity that preserves the value exchange of advertising on the open internet, while providing improved consumer controls. It will be open source, interoperable, non-commercial and administered by an independent organization. This initiative Data privacy regulations also put analytics through hard times. Firms complying with GDPR in Europe and following an opt-in model (not tracking analytics unless a visitor grants them permission), recorded as much as 90% traffic declines. Nevertheless,  a cookieless version of Google Analytics allows you to capture some traffic with the help of Client IDs. So, even though restrictions are getting tighter, on the other hand, we shall also see more opportunities. How does your company tackle user data protection? We fully comply with local and global user data regulations, operate only with IDs and no personal data. We use them for further matching and audience segmentation. Our clients can use this information of impersonal user cohorts, without specific user information for targeting and ad campaign setup. Do you think that due to the recent changes and buzz around ads people generally have become more educated on advertisement mechanisms? I don't think users have come to understand the advertising ecosystem very deeply, rather, their understanding has somewhat progressed. But I do know that, in general, we are all very tired of advertising as it is now. Certainly, users have understood that all devices, platforms, and services are following us to using information about our behavior, purchases and clickstream for their commercial purposes basically to show ads. I think the solution is not the choice between paid service/platform/content with no ads, and free access with ads. I think there is an option to make some kind of balance between these extremes. Of course, users data has a direct impact on the advertising ecosystem. But as Tim O'Reilly assessed in his article "Data is the New Sand," the money that a user can get from "selling" their data to Google and Facebook is negligible. Since users generally have now more advertisement literacy, for example, they know how retargeting works, it's likely that in the attention economy there will be some sort of equal exchange, and users will take their place in that value chain. So that for their attention and data, they could get some kind of value point. What it will be is a question, it is unlikely to be about money. Perhaps it will be resolved at the level of granting access to content and services. What  ‘privacy-first’ solutions do you see as most promising? After the deal with VEON, we solved the problem for ourselves, because telecom operators have unique IDs in the form of phone numbers. So you can match IDFA, GAID and cookies with the phone number, The operator has a lot of user data, and we can make models based on operator data involving stable IDs. The other issue is that any operator in the world doesn't take 100% of the population. Of course, it would be desirable that all operators create a single platform with stable IDs. I have not seen such a solution in the U.S., but it is generally possible. On any request to this platform on a commercial basis, this platform will give you stable IDs. No matter, Verizon, AT&T or Wi-Fi operator: the user goes to the site, the publisher sends this incoming request to the platform, and gets a unique unified ID. And you can use this ID to build knowledge about this user and use ID to collect the necessary segment for targeting ad campaigns In general, we use operator capabilities, but we also follow developments of other programmatic platforms and big tech: Google, Meta, Amazon, and the ecosystem trends in general. Final question, what are the most powerful current tech trends that will also affect online advertising? The transition to the creators' economy and everything that is happening now in the AdTech and MarTech markets foreshadows that the entire advertising ecosystem, BigTech, everything will change one way or another. Right now my interest is most attracted to the Web3 industry, Blockchain and Crypto-projects are sprouting numerous talented people, groups of serious and advanced specialists, even though there are a lot of scams and other disadvantages in these areas at the moment. The advertising system will change a lot, because, for example, blockchain technology is about transparency, including advertising money. There's a lot of fraud on the ad market, and a lot of money and budgets are wasted, so blockchain is more likely to have a positive effect. Only a small part of the money from the chain reaches the publisher, users are very little valued, and, most likely blockchain will correct this, it is only unknown how quickly there will be qualitative changes in the value chain.

Digital Ad Trends to Watch in 2022: Market Monopoly, Privacy Concerns, and New Disruptive Tech

Top Software Development Companies 2022 That Are Growing Fast

I doubt you haven’t heard about some cases where chatbots failed miserably in having any actual business benefit. Our experience working with the biggest companies in the world like Elisa, Veon, and Swedbank has taught us some interesting things we are about to share in this article. The benefits of a chatbot can vary depending on the industry, type of chatbot, and size of the organization, but commonly it saves time, money, and manpower. This article goes through the 8 most important benefits of chatbots that are essential for any organization that considers implementing one into the business. A chatbot is something that most people have interacted with within their life or have heard, at least on the concept level. In fact, it has become an essential part of many businesses that have customer service, especially if it is a mature industry with high customer expectations and big competition in the market. In simple words, a chatbot is an artificial intelligence system that is able to mimic human conversation. 1. Is Available 24/7 You probably have no idea how many users are browsing your website off-hours with questions about the service or a product. It might be your existing customer that would want to cancel their subscription or a potential customer that makes online research on a service. Some companies hire additional people to serve customers at later hours. However, it still does not mean that customers are ready to wait for their requests to be handled. In some industries, even one minute can mean that you either turn the potential client into a paid customer, or you never see them again. The intelligent chatbot does not have such issues as it can answer a big portion of customer inquiries. Natural language processing models allow chatbots to resolve customers’ inquiries with a high first contact resolution rate. These models truly perform the task for a client without any human assistance. Even if you have a call center and customers are turning to you during off-hours, AI chatbots are able to handle these requests by implementing additional components from a callbot solution. The speech recognition model transcribes the call in real-time, and the NLP classifier identifies the issue behind the request. If a chatbot has an answer and the customer agrees to continue the conversation in the chatbot, an SMS with a chatbot link is sent to the customer, allowing to resolve the issue without human assistance. 2. Creates a Personalized Experience Another important chatbot benefit that sometimes is overlooked relates to customer personalization. As revealed in the Segment research, 71% of the consumers are not happy when their shopping experience is impersonal. A chatbot is able to process customers’ personal data while browsing, which allows the bot to make a personalized suggestion or give advice during the session should the customer experience a problem. Intelligent chatbots have the possibility to integrate with the backend systems through an API connection. This makes customers’ experiences more personalized as the bot can instantly analyze relevant background information. It will solve issues based on personal data. For example, instead of providing generic information about invoices, the bot looks at the person’s invoice data and communicates that. It can also make transactions instead of giving generic instructions on how to do these. Corporate chatbot use cases give a good overview of the capabilities of such enhanced systems. 3. Detects Sales Opportunities There are various ways how a chatbot can leverage sales revenue. One of these is the outbound chatbot that you probably have faced yourself on some websites. Such bots push messages with different options, e.g., time booking for a barber visit or purchase of a service that does not require human agent attention. These bots send messages while you are browsing a website or online store and allow integrating sales funnels with lead magnets and follow-up messages. Such chatbots are limited to a specific function and may sometimes annoy customers. Some enhanced AI chatbots are able to detect sales opportunities and forward these to the appropriate agent or department. It is crucial for big enterprises with thousands of inquiries a day. With a long waiting time, some of the sales opportunities are lost, as customers are not willing to wait. For instance, Titan AI Chatbot software implemented at one of our customers from the telecommunication industry detects additionally around 5% of contacts with sales potential, 50% of which turn into paid customers. The AI chatbot can also automate the sales process if there is integration with the backend systems through an API and business decisions allow it. 4. Cuts Down Costs Based on our experience and feedback from customers, on average cost per human customer service contact is EUR 3 to 5, depending on the market, the complexity of the questions, and the industry. The calculation can be performed by dividing the operational costs (OpEx) related to human agents by the number of contacts handled. A truly intelligent chatbot can automate around 60% of all the customer contacts, out of which it can fully resolve around half. Depending on the case, the resolution rate can be increased even up to 70%. This means that with 5000 incoming customer inquiries per month and 60% bot automation, a company will save EUR 10,500 on costs. Of course, these numbers may vary depending on the industry, specifics of the implemented chatbot, and business operations of the company. 5. Improves Onboarding of New Customer Service Agents Even the best AI chatbots automate only 60% to 80% of the incoming inquiries. Still, some of the requests require a human touch, for instance, questions regarding the termination of the contract or complicated technical issues. In big organizations like telecommunication companies or banks, there might be hundreds of different questions that crop up. Knowing everything can be tricky, even for experienced employees. Especially considering the fact that answers are written in manuals that are updated from time to time. Also, businesses should keep in mind the fact that customer support agents do not work longer than 2 years in the same position, meaning that companies have to constantly onboard and train new employees. Some enhanced chatbots have the possibility to forward specific clusters of questions to certain employees. This does not only increase the speed of staff onboarding but also the quality of the answer, as it is easier to become an expert in one question than dozens at the same time. 6. Turn Your CapEx into OpEx Nowadays, many companies switch from traditional hardware and software ownership to using SaaS business models. This helps to optimize capital expenditures (CapEx) and increase the amount of free cash flow that can be reinvested into other parts of the business. When it comes to customer service and an increasing amount of incoming customer contacts, the strategy of building additional customer contact centers and hiring new agents is not efficient. It will require a heavy investment into the building and the infrastructure. Besides, if you rely on outsourcing your customer service, it is more difficult to control the quality of the service. As the Covid crisis showed, some companies have had to completely restructure customer service within one day. In contrast, chatbot software technologies allow scaling the business fast in case you have a sudden increase in contacts. You can turn your CapEx into OpEx, as you will pay only for the contacts handled. 7. Standardizes the Solutions and Creates a Knowledge Base Human beings are predisposed to interpret an answer based on their personal understanding. In customer service, there are always people that give answers based on their feeling on what is right, as people tend to rely on their experience and are often overconfident. Even if most agents follow manuals, it will not guarantee that the customer will get the right answer, as sometimes manuals are outdated. Without a proper solution, customer agents will either give a wrong answer based on their personal interpretation of the manual or simply due to the fact that it has not been updated on time. A chatbot allows standardizing the knowledge base across all the customer services. This almost fully eliminates the human error factor and guarantees meeting the expected SLA. 8. Give Customer Service Cases an Owner Who is Responsible for Results When communication goes through many people (agent, customer service manager, and finally the person who deals with that part of the business), responsibility is shared. In this case, it becomes very complicated to understand what customers are actually asking and make improvements in the customer service procedures. With chats, it’s easier for the final responsible person to review how the issue is handled and suggest or make improvements. This helps to standardize the process and ensure that provided information is up to date. For instance, Titan chatbot software uses solution flow management that allows product owners to be in charge of creating dialogues, to understand the customer’s reason to turn to customer support, and to eliminate unnecessary contacts in the future. This precludes confusion and shared responsibility and helps to focus on key goals in customer service. Conclusion The most important have been described in this article. Depending on the industry and specific use case, the biggest benefits from the business perspective come from the significant decrease in customer service cost, the ability to detect sales opportunities, and optimization of the employee onboarding process. From the client’s perspective, a chatbot improves the customer experience and matches their expectations better because the answers are instant, just like with Google. If companies do not start investing in automation, they will be left behind. benefits of chatbots We recommend reading our article about truly automated customer service that will give you a deeper understanding of the way you can automate customer service with enhanced AI systems.  If you are planning to implement a chatbot in the near future, please keep in mind that you cannot treat it as a regular IT project. We have seen cases where companies fail due to a wrong understanding of the process. Also published on . https://mindtitan.com/resources/gzuides/chatbot/benefits-of-chatbots/

The Magic of Conversational AI: 8 Ways Chatbots are Helping Businesses

Una colección de los blogs más populares traducidos Traductores y editores: Carlos Secada , Felipe Chiriboga , Daniel Entin , Juan A. Navarro El mundo está recolectando más datos que nunca. Con ellos, puedes lograr cosas que habrían parecido imposibles hace sólo unos años atrás. La ciencia de datos es la disciplina de hacer que los datos sean útiles. Los tres sub campos de la Ciencia de Datos incluyen la extracción de grandes cantidades de información para la inspiración ( ), la toma de decisiones basada en información limitada ( ), y el uso de patrones en los datos para automatizar tareas ( ). analítica estadística Machine Learning / Inteligencia Artificial La educación en ciencia de datos contribuye en gran medida a garantizar que las personas sean los arquitectos de su propio brillante futuro. La Inteligencia Artificial (IA) representa un salto fundamental en el progreso humano y abre un futuro emocionante de oportunidades sin precedentes. Todos deben ser parte de ese futuro y participar en sus ideas, así que escribo para todos y no solo para los expertos. No quiero que las personas pierdan la oportunidad de hacer realidad sus sueños. ¡Con la ayuda y colaboración de traductores increíbles, también podemos derribar la barrera del idioma! Esta página te ofrece una colección de artículos en español para principiantes, ¡esperamos que los disfrutes! ******************************************************** La explicación más simple de Machine Learning que jamás habrás leído Seguramente has escuchado hablar de aprendizaje automático, o “machine learning” en inglés, y de inteligencia artificial. Pero, ¿en realidad sabes lo que son? Quizá no sabes bien de qué se tratan pero, te aseguro, no eres la única persona … La explicación más simple de Machine Learning que jamás habrás leido ¿Por qué las empresas fracasan haciendo Machine Learning? Imagina contratar a un chef para que te fabrique un horno, o un ingeniero eléctrico para hornear pan. Éste es el tipo de error que veo cometer a las empresas una y otra vez, cuando se trata de machine learning … ¿Por qué las empresas fracasan haciendo Machine Learning? ¿Qué diablos es Ciencia de Datos? Si exploramos la del nacimiento del término ciencia de datos, veremos dos temas que se juntan: (1) Big Data (Grandes Datos), que significa más trabajo para las computadoras. que pueden meter los pies en el hielo y la cabeza en el horno, y decir que en promedio están bien. historia Estadísticos Y así nace la ciencia de datos … ¿Qué diablos es Ciencia de Datos? Consejos para descubrir cuándo aplicar Inteligencia Artificial ¡Emocionate! El futuro está aquí: el aprendizaje automático, también conocido por sus siglas en inglés (ML — machine learning) y la inteligencia artificial (IA) te permiten automatizar lo inefable. Suena genial… si sabes cómo detectar un buen caso de uso … Imagina una isla borracha… Consejos para descubrir cuándo aplicar Inteligencia Artificial La verdadera razón por qué la Inteligencia Artificial es difícil No quiero que la AI sea sólo materia para académicos, expertos, grandes empresas y aquellos que hablan el mismo idioma que los bloggers de moda. Es mentira que la sea algo de genios y algo medio místico. Permíteme contarte las razones reales por las cuales es difícil utilizar AI hoy inteligencia artificial aplicada … La verdadera razón por qué la Inteligencia Artificial es difícil

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