Custom AI Chatbots or Off-the Shelf Solutions? Find Your Answer
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Key Differences: Custom vs. Off-the-Shelf Chatbots
When choosing the right chatbot for your business, the first question that arises is: off-the-shelf or custom-made chatbots? Let’s look at each option, their advantages and disadvantages, and find out the difference between them.
Customization and Flexibility
Custom chatbots are built for a specific purpose and give you the freedom to customize every single aspect. Therefore, if your needs are narrowly focused, it may be better to look at customized chatbots than off-the-shelf ones.
On the other hand, off-the-shelf chatbots are ready-to-use solutions that work on a plug-and-play basis. They are designed for a wide range of industries and requirements, so they are well-suited for most general tasks.
Time and Cost
With custom-built chatbots, you’ll typically face a longer development timeline and a more significant investment. In that time, you’ll work closely with developers and designers to ensure your chatbot does precisely what you need.
Pre-built chatbots are ready to go out of the box, which means they are much faster to deploy and cost much less. This is ideal if you need a chatbot that can be launched within days or even hours.
Maintaining and Updating
Custom-made chatbots are very adaptable, but they also require constant maintenance. If your business grows or you decide to add new features, you may need to hire developers to work on updates.
In most cases with off-the-shelf chatbots, the vendor usually handles the updates and maintenance. When a chatbot software company releases a new feature or update, you should get it automatically.
Integration with Existing Systems
A custom chatbot is a better option than an off-the-shelf chatbot if your business uses a lot of specialized systems, for example, CRM, ERP, or unique databases. Custom solutions can be designed to communicate seamlessly with your existing platforms.
Pre-built chatbots usually have basic integration capabilities, working well with widely used platforms.
Scalability and Performance
Custom chatbot solutions can be designed for scalability from day one, which means that as your business grows, your chatbot will grow with it. If you expect high traffic or complex interactions in the future, a custom chatbot may be a safer choice, as it can be optimized for high performance.
Pre-built chatbots are typically designed to handle standard traffic and basic queries. They may start to lag if you suddenly experience a massive spike in activity or queries become more complex.
User Experience and Branding
When considering a pre-built chatbot or a custom chatbot, user experience and branding are crucial. You can customize the colors and a few settings of off-the-shelf chatbots, but custom chatbots can be designed to match your brand’s voice, personality, and style.
AI Capabilities
Both pre-made and custom chatbots can be powered by AI, but here’s the difference. Off-the-shelf chatbots are great for basic interactions, answering FAQs, and managing customer support. Custom chatbots are ideal for businesses that need advanced conversational capabilities, personalized user experiences, and deep system integration.
Why are AI capabilities important? Generative AI development can take chatbots beyond simply scripted responses and allow them to engage in more complex and meaningful conversations. Imagine an interactive AI chatbot that can guide a user through a mobile app and offer interactive content tailored to the user’s needs — that’s where AI shines.
So, what’s the verdict? Both off-the-shelf and custom-made chatbots have their benefits. If you’re a business looking for a quick and budget-friendly way to engage users, an off-the-shelf chatbot can be a good choice.
However, if your chatbot is going to play a crucial role in your business, meet specific needs, or integrate deeply with your existing infrastructure, custom-made chatbots are better than ready-made options. Custom chatbots’ flexibility, scalability, and brand alignment can pay off big in the long run.
For a real-life example of the benefits, take a look at an AI chatbot assistant developed by CHI Software that can address specific business challenges.
Finding the Perfect Fit: Which Chatbot Is the Best for Your Business?
How do you choose the right chatbot for your business? In this section, we’ll take a look at different chatbot use cases and how they can meet various needs.
Customer Support
Pre-built bots are designed for routine tasks, so they are perfect if you simply need to provide customers with quick answers to common questions such as ‘Where is my order?’ or ‘What is the return policy?’.
However, if your business wants to offer personalized recommendations, dynamic content, or unique answers, custom bots are a better option. Customized solutions can use customer data to create highly personalized experiences.
Erica, a virtual financial assistant on the Bank of America mobile app, is an excellent example of a custom-made chatbots application. The tool was designed to provide clients with balance updates, transaction history, bill reminders, and financial advice.
eCommerce and Sales Assistance
eCommerce businesses can benefit from off-the-shelf chatbots that help with product recommendations, order management, and upselling. Also, off-the-shelf bots often come with templates specifically designed to attract and qualify leads.
However, industries with long sales cycles, such as B2B, real estate, and financial services, can benefit more from custom chatbots. Unlike off-the-shelf solutions, custom chatbots can integrate with CRM systems, track customer activity, and provide detailed answers to non-standard questions.
Employee Service
HR departments may use pre-built chatbots to answer standard questions from employees about salaries or vacation arrangements, as these queries are usually routine and have straightforward answers.
But if your goal is to increase workplace productivity with chatbots, it’s better to look at customized solutions. Custom chatbot can facilitate information sharing within a team. It can answer questions about policies, distribute company announcements, or give employees more opportunities to communicate with each other.
For example, General Mills, a prominent American food processing corporation, turned their attention to internal custom AI chatbots to streamline workflows and enhance collaboration between departments.
Companies can also simplify the onboarding and training processes by using a chatbot as an assistant that can create personalized routes, send reminders, and provide access to necessary materials. Genies, an American startup with a focus on mobile apps, decided to implement an AI-powered chatbot in its HR department to engage the onboarding process.
Technical Support
For common technical issues such as password resets or access requests, out-of-the-box chatbots are ideal. It’s a practical solution for companies that need simple and inexpensive IT support.
Custom AI chatbots can guide users through multi-step processes, redirect them to live agents if necessary, and integrate with CRM systems and knowledge bases to offer more specific support.
“When deciding between off-the-shelf and custom AIi chatbots, it’s essential to consider the technical limitations of ready-made options,” says Olha Kanishcheva, a consulting ML/NLP Engineer at CHI Software. “While they may seem cost-effective initially, off-the-shelf chatbots often lack the flexibility to integrate with your specific tech stack, which can lead to data inconsistencies and a fragmented user experience. Custom chatbots, on the other hand, can be built to seamlessly integrate with your existing systems, ensuring a smoother workflow and better overall performance.”
So, between custom chatbot development or pre-built solutions — which one’s your match? In our original article, we break down some considerations that will help make this choice clearer — follow the link to continue reading.
