Sogeti Thinkubator accelerates chatbot time to market for DSW Zorgverzekeraar

The solution Sogeti developed through its Thinkubator approach, using Microsoft technologies such as Azure Cognitive Services, will help improve the customer experience for many of DSW’s 600,000 customers.

Vianen, The Netherlands – March 6th, 2019 - Sogeti, part of the Capgemini Group, has announced its development of a chatbot for health insurance company DSW. Designed to answer customer questions via a pop-up window on the company website, it is expected that chatbot 'Nikki' will answer about 75 percent of all customer queries.

In cooperation with DSW, Sogeti delivered the Cognitive chatbot Nikki in just six weeks. The use of a smart algorithm ensures that the chatbot is constantly learning. As a result, Nikki will be able to understand increasingly complex conversations and provide appropriate answers to customer questions.

Sogeti developed the DSW chatbot using its four-step 'Thinkubator'¹ approach, replacing the traditional 'Proof of Concept' step with a Minimum Lovable Product (MLP) working business prototype.

These steps took DSW from a joint workshop with Sogeti, during which they chose scenarios for questions that Nikki would be expected to answer, through development of a roadmap to launch, prototype testing, and finally, the delivery of an immediately usable product.

DSW and Sogeti teams worked hand in hand to build the chatbot, making decisions on expertise and data needed and selecting the appropriate Microsoft technology on which it is based. Sogeti deployed various Cognitive Services from Microsoft Azure Cloud, leveraging the Microsoft Bot Framework to design and build the dialog structure of the bot. Other technologies included a Text Analytics API to measure conversation sentiment.

The Thinkubator approach leveraged pre-existing templates and accelerators which really helped speed up the delivery of a working Cognitive chatbot for DSW. Incorporating feedback from potential users during the development process ensured the Thinkubator approach delivered DSW’s goal of creating an accessible, empathetic and helpful 'human' chatbot.

The chatbot communicates in a way that is familiar to a largely younger target group that frequently uses online chat functions. For example, it uses emojis, such as a smiley face to indicate a successful answer to a question.

"We were impressed by the speed and intensive collaboration of the Sogeti team in the development of Nikki. This ensured that we could make our chatbot live in a very short time," says Mariëlle Terlien, Head Functional IT at DSW.

"During the Thinkubator process we’re not only building the chatbot but also defining the business case, solution design and roadmap of the solution. Chatbot Nikki makes a valuable contribution to customer satisfaction for DSW.  It is an innovation that provides direct business value for the health insurer," concludes Chris den Arend, Chatbot Lead at Sogeti.

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[1] Thinkubator is a 4 step, 6-week innovative process developed by Sogeti Labs. See Additional Resources below for more information