Customer business and needs:
Our customer has a local delivery service which services only her town and some outside areas close to town. She needed to automate her whole booking system in order to take less phone calls and Whatsapp messages.

Some of the features she needed in the system includes:
· Answer FAQs.
· Automated contact system.
· Must be easy to use and technology driven.
· Make bookings.
· Build her CRM system with every new contact captured for future marketing.
· Only ask the user once for their contact info, so only ask 1st time user is in system.
· System must be able to “recognize” frequent users. IE: have a memory or login feature.
· System must be able to take payments from customer when order is completed.
· Allow deliveries only in the dedicated area.
· Greet customers according to time of day.
· Allocate delivery drivers to certain services.
· System must have a separate section for Vendors.
· System must be able to calculate delivery fees and notify the user automatically.
· Have an automated invoicing system.

Our customer had a long list of “must do” features but ultimately she needed something that could be adapted as and when her business model changes. It is very easy to think that a native application can do all these things but they are extremely expensive and developing them is not so easy or quick.

Our solution:

Based on the above and the fact that this is a startup business with limited cash flow resources we suggested a Virtual Assistant. This Va would be able to do all these things mentioned and in turn also take the place of at least 4 other employees.

Here is what we built:

We developed and deployed an Artificial Intelligent Messenger chatbot with the following features:

• It is technology driven and build on one of the most robust applications of our time. Facebook messenger is going nowhere and is free to use.
• The bot can answer all our customers FAQ’s and its easy to change or add some more.
• The bot can book different services according to time for example: Take Away services is only available from 10 Am to 8 Pm. If the user attempts to book a service outside that time frame the bot will not allow it and inform the user about the service hours.
• The system can “remember” users by tagging them as frequent users. A user only have to supply his/her info once. The bot will recognize the user and direct them to then service required without asking for info again.
• Users can also update their info just before checkout, in case they moved or their contact info changed. The bot will confirm the info before check out
• The bot will store all user info in a CRM and a Google sheet for future marketing purposes.
• The user have the option to unsubscribe from the bot.
• We developed a password protected section for Vendors where they can place orders without a checkout but invoicing on a monthly basis.
• The bot can allocate random drivers for deliveries.
• The bot will ask the user if he/she wants to tip the driver and then calculate the tip amount into the fee payable.
• The system can calculate delivery fees according to certain criteria. For example: If a user stays in a gated community the fee will be X-Amount per delivery more. The bot can calculate additional charges and add it to the amount charged.
• The bot can confirm the users order before checkout.
• Users can get support in 3 ways via the system. It supports Whatsapp, Live chat and direct phone calls.
• For the automated invoicing system the bot will allocate an order number to each order which is then used for the reference on the invoices.

This system is not only less expensive to develop and deploy but also much more interactive, and driven by artificial intelligence. The bot keeps on learning and after a while will be fully conversational.

This basically means that users will be able to text the bot and get answers instead of clicking buttons.

The added advantage is that our customer do not have to employ a receptionist or a telesales person. The bot handles it all. Also, its extremely easy and quick to do updates without any interruption of services.

WOWbot (Waiters on Wheels) is certainly the most innovative delivery service in the western Cape and it will keep on growing.