A specialist computer programming business in Warrington is at the centre of the world’s ‘next great leap in productivity’. Chatbots – programmes that automate processes on command – are set to boost productivity per employee by as much as ten per cent a year, leaving them free to do higher value work.

Chatbot Labs is already winning contracts to deliver what it describes as ‘game-changing’ boosts to company efficiency.

Widespread take-up of the technology should create 10,000 new jobs in the north west alone, predicts company boss Chris Bain.

The five developers, located in The Base on Dallam Lane, says a chatbot is ‘the office equivalent of Alexa or Siri,’ taking verbal or written instructions and interrogating all the company’s software systems and databases to find answers to queries or undertake menial tasks such as uploading programmes.

Chatbot Labs is already developing a system for one branch of the NHS to help make the training of more than a million employees more efficient by allowing trainers to access and package information on command.Each chatbot will be unique to the host organisation’s software and data sets.

It learns as it goes along, essentially becoming like a huge FAQ bank. Every time a new question is asked and answered it is stored for future replication and even speedier response.

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