Service
AI Chatbots
Should we build an AI chatbot for our business?
Short answer
Usually not — at least not the thing the word describes. A chatbot generates replies; it has no access to your systems, so it can explain your refund policy but cannot issue the refund. Since most customer contact requires reading and writing live records, deflection lands far below expectation. What almost every business asking for a chatbot actually needs is an agent: the same conversation, plus permission to act.
Read this before you buy one
We do not sell chatbots, and this page exists to say so
You searched for a chatbot, so this page should be straight with you rather than take the order. If a system cannot change anything in your business, its ceiling is deflection — and deflection on questions that need a lookup is close to zero. The honest version of this purchase is an AI agent with a written scope of authority. It costs more, it takes longer, and it is the one that works.
What we build instead: AI AgentsDefinitions
What this is, and what it is not.
It is
- Appropriate for pure information delivery over a stable, well-documented knowledge base
- Cheap and quick when that genuinely is the requirement
It is not
- Able to check an order, move an appointment or update a record
- A solution to support cost, which is dominated by questions requiring live data
- What most businesses mean when they ask for one
Fit
When this is the right answer — and when it is not.
Both lists matter. A firm that never tells you no is not giving you information.
Right when
- The questions are genuinely static — opening hours, policy explanations, product information
- There is no system state involved in any answer
- You need something live quickly and accept the ceiling
Wrong when
- Your volume is dominated by status, changes or account-specific questions
- You expect a meaningful reduction in support cost
- You want customers to be able to complete something, not just ask about it
What we do
In this order.
- 01
First, a ticket classification
A month of your real contact volume sorted by type. This tells you what share needs live data — and therefore whether a chatbot could ever work here.
- 02
Then the honest recommendation
If the volume is static information, we will say a chatbot is fine and it is a small piece of work. If it is not, we will show you the numbers rather than sell you one anyway.
- 03
If it is an agent, the scope of authority first
What it may do unattended, what it must propose for approval, what it must never attempt. Written and signed before code.
Boundaries
What stays with a person.
- Every customer-facing system discloses that it is automated
- A route to a person is always available and never hidden
- The system never invents a policy it cannot cite
Competitors quoted us far less for a chatbot.
They are probably quoting accurately for a chatbot. The question worth asking them is which of your systems it will write to — the answer tells you what you are actually buying.
So when is a chatbot the right answer?
When every answer is static and lives in documentation. That is a real case and we will tell you when you are in it. It is just far rarer than the market implies.
The broader capability
AI Agents That Act Inside Your Systems
A chatbot replies.
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