How to Make chatbots productive – A user-oriented implementation framework

Abstract

Many organizations are pursuing the implementation of chatbots to enable automation of service processes. However, previous research has highlighted the existence of practical setbacks in the implementation of chatbots in corporate environments. To gain practical insights on the issues related to the implementation processes from several perspectives and stages of deployment, we conducted semi-structured interviews with developers and experts of chatbot development. Using qualitative content analysis and based on a review of literature on human computer interaction (HCI), information systems (IS), and chatbots, we present an implementation framework that supports the successful deployment of chatbots and discuss the implementation of chatbots through a user-oriented lens. The proposed framework contains 101 guiding questions to support chatbot implementation in an eight-step process. The questions are structured according to the people, activity, context, and technology (PACT) framework. The adapted PACT framework is evaluated through expert interviews and a focus group discussion (FGD) and is further applied in a case study. The framework can be seen as a bridge between science and practice that serves as a notional structure for practitioners to introduce a chatbot in a structured and user-oriented manner.