Cisco Brings In Chatbot Partners For Spark Platform

Cisco has started work with messaging company Gupshup to grow the use of chatbots in the company’s Spark collaboration platform.

As companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter forge ahead with the rollout and research of chatbots, Cisco sees how they can benefit its enterprise users communicating through Spark.

Cisco has also announced a partnership with API.ai, a company that develops natural language software, to aid in developers in building chat bot interfaces.

Expose the enterprise

“Chatbots are quickly transforming the way we use computers, providing a simpler, easier and conversational interface to advanced services,” said Beerud Sheth, CEO of Gupshup. “Working with Cisco has made it possible for us to expose the enterprise to bots, which will soon transform virtually every business workflow.”

Gupshup launched its bot building platform gupshup.io in April, where developers can test and deploy bots across various messaging channels. In the enterprise, bots could be tasked with menial duties such as filing reports or booking meetings.

“Transforming the collaboration experience is about bringing people together, giving them quick access to critical information and the ability to share and communicate in real-time. Providing our customers and developers access to Gupshup’s intuitive bot platform will create customizable experiences that enhance Cisco Spark’s capabilities,” added Jason Goecke of Cisco’s Tropo Business Unit.

Cisco Spark

Cisco’s Spark platform was launched in 2014, with the company announcing the chatbot news at this week’s Cisco Live in Las Vegas.

API.AI’s integrations into Cisco Tropo and Cisco Spark should help developers to create bots and interfaces trained to understand natural language and respond back in real-time.

“Businesses need the ability to facilitate reliable, real-time collaboration among team members while adhering to corporate policies governing privacy, security and data control,” said the company.

“API.AI’s capability to provide natural language understanding and sophisticated conversational interfaces are a perfect match for enterprise developers building bots and collaborative communication solutions.”

In May, Microsoft acquired Wand Labs, a company that develops messaging apps with artificial intelligence. Wand Labs specialises in conversational intelligence, and will add to Microsoft’s current efforts in chat bots, such as the company’s Tay.ai malfunctioning Twitter bot.

Meanwhile, Google took the wraps of its chatbot research at the company’s annual I/O developer conference earlier this year. The search giant unveiled a messaging app called Allo, and a device similar to Amazon’s Echo hub called Google home. Both products rely on a more conversation-like chatbot interface to help users.

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