Internet bots have become increasingly more popular over the past few years. Their intelligence and flexibility has improved the user experience of many people on many major websites and applications. Slack, the messaging app for business teams, is one such application that has really taken to the advent of bots. Companies have even been created that make bots specifically for Slack, or make customized bots that can be changed to fit a company’s individualized needs. This leaves most people with one big question:
Why has Slack become so popular and why is Slack considered to be a great place for bots to thrive?
Firstly, Slack creates a user experience that is relaxing and fun, yet conducive to productive group work. The language that the program uses, the colors, and the way it’s organized appeals to younger employees who appreciate the aesthetics of products, and the employers who see an increase in productivity.
Slack has the ability to keep many different conversations and projects organized, which helps eliminate the headaches that poor communications can cause . Additionally, Slack has some fantastic bots that give the program some customizability that help each group of people or company adapt to Slack and increase their productivity. Here are two companies that are hopping on the incredible rise of Slack and artificial intelligence.
Growbot
Growbot is an employee feedback bot that has taken Slack by storm. Growbot allows people in any given Slack channel to give immediate feedback to their coworkers.
Growbot recognizes keywords like “props” and “kudos” and keeps track of the positive reinforcement that each employee gets from their coworkers, thus encouraging a fun environment and building teamwork within a company.
Co-founder Justin Vandehey and his brother, Jeremy, co-founded Growbot after they recognized that the current feedback software in use did not collect real-time data. So they left their jobs at Intuit and started Growbot. Soon after, Slack itself entered into the seed round of Growbot, and the bot has been taking off since, with over 8,000 companies currently using Growbot.
Justin believes that Growbot, and bots as a whole, are on the rise and the variety and depth of these bots will only increase. He also is a firm believer that Slack’s current and future success is due in large part to the user experience that Slack provides, as well as the platform it gives to artificial intelligence.
Slack facilitates a more organized, yet fun working environment for teams. Growbot aims to keep that fun and productive atmosphere that Slack is famous for and simply add another dimension to it. Growbot has partnered with Delta to create “Go Fridays”, a campaign that uses Growbot to give incentives to employees to have more fun during their Summer Fridays.
Justin believes that more partnerships and campaigns like “Go Fridays” are just around the corner, and Growbot will welcome them with open arms. He is sure that Growbot and other bots like it, designed for Slack or other platforms, will become a more integral part of our lives, managing the small things that take up our time. Justin sees that the improvement and expanded impact of bots will allow people to use their time more productively, and leave the unproductive, busy work for the bots.
ChatOverload
ChatOverload started with a similar premise as Growbot. Founder David Markovich recognized that Slack was on a meteoric rise that seemed unstoppable. He believes that even though Slack is very large now, it will become an even more integral part of business life in the future. ChatOverload was founded as a way to ride the rise of Slack and help people convert and take full advantage of the newest way we do business. They provide several services, from helping businesses convert and adjust to Slack, to creating uniquely customized bots to fit any business in Slack.
“A bot can be made for any repeatable task.”
David believes strongly that the impact of artificial intelligence is only just beginning, and he is very excited for the future. To him, it’s only a matter of time before every single simple, repeatable task that a human does not want to be bothered by is handled by a bot. Don’t want to start your coffee maker in the morning? Have a bot automatically do it when you check your phone for the first time each day.
However, David believes that the hurdle that people have to overcome in order for this to become a reality is simply getting information and training to create these bots, and a willingness to integrate them into their lives. As far as David is concerned, it’s only a matter of time before artificial intelligence is taking control of the menial day-to-day work in our lives, allowing us to use our time more wisely.
What is the future of bots? The beauty of artificial intelligence is that there are very few constraints as to what they can do. Growbot and ChatOverload are two fantastic bot-makers that are on the cutting edge of bots and see an incredibly bright future in artificial intelligence.
