Newport-based tech agency becomes a chatbot developer

Coup Media has become one of the first British digital agencies to develop chatbots for clients.

The Newport-based company is currently in the process of developing bots and a platform that’ll help businesses create and deploy their own chatbots.

It’s been exploring chatbots for the last 12 months, primarily focusing on platforms such as Slack, Whatsapp, Skype and Facebook Messenger.

Although the company is experimenting with a range of services, it’s looking to develop chatbots for Facebook specifically due to the number of active users it sports.

Facebook has become a pioneer in the chatbot arena. Since launching a chatbot functionality within Messenger, over 11,000 bots have been made available for users to try.

The company will offer mainstream chatbot development services to clients in the foreseeable future, but it’s already working with a number of customers to test the technology.

These clients, although disclosed, include one of the world’s biggest charities and a UK-based media group. The bots will presumably help them deliver automated services to customers.

Coup has also been testing chabot technology at its events and conferences. During the last OiConf, the company launched a light chatbot to guide delegates throughout the day, update agendas and provide directions.

Paul Sheperd, CEO of Coup Media, believes that chatbot technology will dramatically transform the marketing process over the next few years and create a new social revolution.

“ChatBots will cause a seismic shift in marketing the way that social media did 10 years ago and I’m glad we’re nimble enough to adopt and run with technologies like this,” he said.

“Our NLP and AI strengths – gained developing the Tweview analytics platform – have meant we were well placed to enter the space seamlessly. ChatBots are quickly replicating the capabilities of apps, but with much less friction in terms of access.

He doesn’t think they’ll kill off the app, though. “While I think that calling ChatBots ‘app killers’ is probably a little premature, it’s definitely an exciting time for the space,” continued Sheperd.