Implementation
According to Francombe, his department primarily provides technology-related assistance to students through means
including live web chat and email. The Service Delivery Department at Portsmouth began their search for a chatbot to
innovate the way they help students.
Likewise, it was important that the chatbot’s responses were clear, of a high-quality, and as concise as possible. The
University of Portsmouth chose Ivy.ai over alternatives offered by Google and Microsoft because of the way it delivers
information to users. Ivy.ai’s multimedia presentation allows the university to imbed YouTube videos, PDFs, and
interactive buttons. Francombe said they hoped to avoid linking users away to other sources, and Ivy.ai was a great fit
for that.
Results
Since implementation in March of 2019, live web chat inquiries reduced by 50 percent. Francomb reported that
students are willingly electing to engage with the bot (Anna), due to her 24/7 availability. She mostly assists with
questions related to wi-fi, printing, VPNs, passwords, and Portsmouth’s AppsAnywhere portal for university
applications.
Francombe added that the chatbot is particularly useful for such subjects that do not require in-depth
technical assistance. With significantly fewer inquiries overall, the service department reinvests time into additional
service innovations and responding to more complicated inquiries.