En route to a chatbot that does understand you

Chat apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, text-based chatbots and voice input virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant: conversational interfaces are becoming more and more common. With the creation of the Conversational Interface Coalition, the Dutch creative industry is taking the initiative for a common continued development of these interfaces.

By working together in the Conversational Interface Coalition (CIC), institutions of knowledge and companies that work on conversational design want to build a firm international position for Dutch chatbots and other forms of conversational design. The CIC was founded on 25 January at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences.

Head start
The Dutch creative industry has a good name. Several Dutch companies are active in the area of conversational design and chatbots, both nationally as well as internationally. Marlies van Steenbergen, lecturer in Digital Smart Services at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences: “The phase in which conversational interfaces are seen as a revolutionary concept, is over. More and more companies are having chatbots and other voice input interfaces developed. At the same time they are not nearly commonplace enough that we know exactly what works well and what doesn’t. That is actually very favorable, because that means there are a lot of gains to be made. If we work together well, develop and share knowledge, then the Dutch creative industry can take a head start here.”

Enormous challenge
Bart Ahsmann, CEO of CLICKNL (top sector Creative Industry) says the following about the importance of a coalition like the CIC and the opportunities that are out there: “The consumers that work with these chatbots need better and more personalized services, when a face-to-face service is hardly profitable to get off the ground. Designing these types of innovative services for personal interaction is an enormous challenge in which the creative industry has a substantial role. It asks for new insights, methods and innovative projects. The energy of the CIC initiative is promising. The issue asks for new insights, methods and innovative projects. The energy of the CIC initiative is promising and CLICKNL is happy to contribute.”

Starting signal
Alain Dujardin, Creative Director at the digital agency Greenberry: “The continued development of chatbots asks for a more intense collaboration between researchers, developers and companies. There are a lot of opportunities to research how conversational design can improve the user experience of technology. What do we have to take into account in the design process? With this coalition we give the starting signal for the Netherlands to be the frontrunner in a structural development of well-designed conversational solutions.

Partners
The Conversational Interface Coalition (CIC) was founded on 25 January by Economic Board Utrecht (EBU), market research agency Totta Research, digital agency Greenberry and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. Together with other Dutch companies and organizations that develop Conversational Interfaces, the CIC wants to develop and share the knowledge on this subject. The CIC was set up with a SIA RAAK subsidy.