Before the US reached its current golden age, it went through a period known as the Wild West stage. This had less to do with cowboys and shootouts and more to do with limitless possibilities that can almost overwhelm you. That’s exactly where chatbots are today, With a myriad of ways to customize your chatbot, it’s so easy to get lost in all your options! To sustain your focus, we offer 5 tips to help you make your next chatbot a better one:

Emulate the WeChat Model

This Chinese cross-platform instant messaging app has housed chatbots since 2011 and shows no signs of letting up. When compared with other countries, China’s bot market is at a further development stage, meaning there are many things to learn from WeChat’s chatbots. Here a few of them:

• Two types of bot accounts: WeChat offers Subscription and Service accounts. Subscription accounts mainly gather news and blogs, whereas Service accounts are fully-functional bots that offer features like speech recognition as well.
• News: News bots make up over 34 percent of the Top 500 Bots in China. This means that WeChat is the main news source for Chinese citizens.
• Top five categories: Current Affairs, Culture, Entertainment & Sports, Humor, and Emotions — these five categories compose almost 50 percent of the top 500 bots on WeChat in July 2016.

Focus on chatbot-only use cases

With every new technology comes new ways of doing things that weren’t possible before. So this begs the question: “What problems can you solve with chatbots that you couldn’t otherwise solve without them?” Take Uber, for example. The reason behind its success is the implementation of this strategy -- leveraging smartphones with GPS and payment capabilities to get cabs (something that couldn’t have been done before). Currently, bots face the same challenge. Here are some examples of chatbot-only use cases:

• Legal Help: DoNotPay, the world’s first robotic lawyer, managed to overturn 160,000 tickets in London and NYC, saving over $3 million for customers. And since the bot takes 25 percent of the savings, the company made nearly one million dollars.
• Customer Service: Calling an 800 number is usually not the most pleasant experience, and so few people even bother. . Moreover, many companies struggle with improving customer service. Bots will change that.

Make it special

Chatbots are an extension of what we do practically every day: talk. An average person has between 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day; we constantly think in words and are constantly conversing with ourselves. A.I. isn’t quite at our level yet. We aren’t capable of schmoozing with our bots or telling them how bad our day went. But through speech, bots can take the first step toward that reality by helping us rationally solve problems.

What do we really need?

It’s undeniable that in today’s modern world, increasingly more people feel lonely and disconnected, so they look for ways to connect with the outside world. A recent survey of over 12,000 Assistant.ai users reveals that over 40 percent can picture a relationship with their A.I., and that 25 percent are actually open to the idea. Human beings tend to anthropomorphize and assume relationships since we’re constantly seeking to relate. If poorly-made chatbots can offer us an anthropomorphous opportunity, imagine what properly engineered ones can do.

Strike a nerve

For people to really care, you have to truly touch them on an emotional level -- or as the expression goes, hit a nerve. An ideal way in to do this is by calling them to action via personality. This allows us to easily connect and establish a relationship, and that’s why bots are considered to be the ideal vehicle to a personalized marketing relationship. They allow for an intimately unique experience that meets both physical and emotional needs.

So what makes a good chatbot? Sufficient problem solving capacities while being fun, positive and engaging. If you are unsure about anything written in the article, don’t hesitate to give us a call! We’ll be more than happy to answer any chatbot-related questions you have.

As difficult as virtualization may be to understand, it continues to march toward widespread adoption. Up until now, the service was mostly limited to making hardware and software resources better allocated based on needs. However, corporate bigwigs AT&T and Verizon are jumping into the game by adding the option to virtualize network services. We’ve broken down the key elements of this service to help you decide whether your SMB could benefit from it.

The overarching theme of virtualization is combining hardware and software resources into one large, communal pool where individual servers and workstations can pull as much as they need, rather than allocating them inefficient individual puddles that either go dry, or unused. In a workstation model, this is realized in the form of minimally equipped endpoints that access much more powerful software and hardware resource pools via web browser.

When it comes to network virtualization, it’s quite similar to virtual private networks, or VPNs. Developments in cloud and software functionalities allow administrators to eliminate time-consuming and micromanaged VPNs while achieving the same swift and secure connections between servers, workstations, and other network-enabled devices residing in physically separate networks. VPNs are like pumps between each of your network ‘puddles,’ individual pieces that require individual maintenance. Network virtualization is like installing one pump with on/off switches on each outbound pipe.

This means that setting up a VPN for the addition of a satellite office is as simple as inputting a few simple pieces of information to gain a world of seemingly local network possibilities. In another example, rather than recabling your office when one department becomes too cumbersome to fit on one switch or hub, connections and protocols can be expanded and redefined by a software client.

With the increasing popularity of any service with the word ‘virtualized’ in it, telecom carriers Verizon and AT&T have begun offering this service to clients. Whether it's because your business has a growing list of locations, or because your local network needs the flexibility to grow swiftly without waiting for costly hardware and software expansions, these services have you covered.

Both Verizon and AT&T will offer three ways to manage your virtualized network: locally, from the cloud, or a hybrid combination of the two. Once you’ve decided on a framework and deployment strategy, make sure to take time with the transition. Established networks are complex and messy ordeals, and it’s better to start migrating those puddles over time rather than all at once. Instead, move them one-by-one so any problems that arise can also be dealt with one-by-one.

Although consumer-level companies like AT&T and Verizon are offering this service, not just anyone can hop on and start getting the most out of a virtualized network. It takes expert configuration, deployment, and most importantly maintenance. With 24/7 coverage of your network, we eat, sleep, and breathe cutting-edge technology. Call us today and we’ll bring your SMB into the age of virtualization.

Living in today's mobile world, you want everything on the go with you: from songs to photos and videos of your most cherished moments, not forgetting all the latest apps, and all of a sudden, you run out of storage space. Before you start to get panic, try reading some of the tips below on how you can free up space on your device.

1.Buy a microSD card

The easiest fix is to buy a microSD card, if your device is compatible that is. Do keep in mind that you cannot use the extra storage for apps or system files but only for music, videos, photos, and other media files.

2.Erase apps you don’t really use

Downloading apps are like snowballs, because before you know it there are too many of them and your device just freezes over. If that’s the case, simply delete the ones you don’t need. Deleting an app doesn’t mean it’s gone forever, you can always download it again. Normally, gaming apps take up a huge chunk of storage space. You can go to Settings > Storage and tap Apps to see how much space each app uses so that you can decide which apps to get rid of, for now.

3.Clear app cache

Apps that remain on your device will still have loads of cached files, so it might be a good time to do some spring cleaning. Don’t worry since clearing app cache will not delete important files on your device. Go to Settings > Apps then go through each app to clear its cache. Or if you want to erase all the cache in bulk, you need to go to Android’s recovery mode and choose to wipe the app cache. Since each Android device is different, you’d better google to see how to enter the recovery mode for your model.

4.Make use of the cloud

Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud and more. You name it. These are services that allow you to send your media and document files to the cloud and free up space on your device. Google Photos gives you unlimited storage for both photos and videos. The only limitation is that the size of the photos must be smaller than 16 megapixels and less than 1080p for videos. It also has an option that allows you to delete files that have been sent to the cloud. In order to do so, open Google Photos app and go to Menu > Setting, then hit Free up device storage and all the backed-up files will disappear from your device.

But for privacy’s sake, note that by using these services, you’ve granted the cloud service providers access to your files. Make sure you know which photos or videos you should sent to the cloud, since the cloud is essentially other people’s (or in this case, your cloud service provider's) computers. It’s best that you keep naughty photos to yourself.

5.Stop storing and start streaming

Unless you are heading somewhere with no internet connection, there’s no need to store all your music files on your device. Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Napster, Tidal are some examples of music streaming services you can use, at a certain price of course. So if you’re a fan of freebies, Plex might be another viable option. Plex is a media server software that runs media content from a personal library and streams them on your device.

6.Add external storage

This option might be a little bit bulky and might require prettiness to give way to functionality. External storage comes in two forms: a plug-in drive similar to USB flash drive, and a wireless media hub. The first one enables you to download files from your device to your PC so you can have some more space left on the device. Or you can just stick the plug-in drive to your device and play files from it directly. Wireless media hubs like Western Digital MyPassport Wireless or Ravpower Filehub can be used to backup your files and let you access them wirelessly. Noted that you cannot play DRM-protected music or videos with this external storage--only your own media files.

Dealing with limited storage is just one of the numerous issues regarding Android devices. Compared to its iOS counterpart, Android gives users a lot more flexibility, which means there are many more functions to be explored. Why not get in touch with us today? Our experts are ready to advise you on how to boost your overall productivity.