ASHESIBOT: A CHATBOT FOR HANDLING ASHESI FACEBOOK MESSENGER PLATFORM

ABSTRACT As each day passes, new ways of improving our lives through technology emerge. Companies keep on exploring ways of reaching out to their customers and other stakeholders in a way that is more comfortable and efficient. Regardless of their exploration, the problem of presenting information in a way that allows quick retrieval of information by users remains a challenge. To solve the problem of information retrieval, companies have implemented search bars on their website and other functionalities. Unfortunately, search bars have proven to be inefficient because they bring everything that matches with the input of the user. Additionally, others have implemented live chat systems to help mitigate the problem of information retrieval. However, live chats are time-consuming especially when there are few workers behind the live chats systems providing services to numerous customers who demand immediate attention. These problems necessitate a novel approach for retrieving information that meets the needs of businesses and individuals; using chatbots. The idea of chatbots is not new, but it is becoming more refined and useful with the application of machine learning to solve the problem of information retrieval. The advent of chatbots on websites and social media platforms is fast spreading, helping with a 24/7 retrieval of information. The use of automated chatbots to handle a conversation with a business’s customers is now a trend because it allows for quick retrieval of information with little or no support from the staff members. Use of chatbots gives room for staff members of an organization to focus on more significant issues. Customers equally benefit from using automated chatbot system as they no longer need to be in a queue. To sum up, this paper seeks to solve the problem of information retrieval for Ashesi Facebook messenger subscribers using an automated chatbot.