The Tool Desk
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Start with the outcome you need
Write down what should improve and who the chatbot will serve. Possible goals include answering routine customer questions, helping prospective customers find information, or automating an internal task. Make the goal concrete enough to judge whether the bot did its job: for example, whether it answered a defined set of questions correctly or recognized when a request needed a person.
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Salesforce’s chatbot selection guidance frames the first question as: “What is the business outcome you want? For example, reduce cost, increase sales, or minimize customer service volume?” The quote is from Aron Kale, Salesforce’s director of product management on the AI team. Treat it as useful vendor guidance, not as evidence that a chatbot will deliver a particular return.
Match the chatbot to the work
Decide what users need the chatbot to do before choosing a product or architecture. GOV.UK’s selection guidance puts the central question plainly: “What type of response or decision will the user need?” A bot that answers a narrow set of common questions has different requirements from one that retrieves account information, changes a record, or completes a multi-step service workflow.
#1 Best Overall
| Work the bot must do | What to look for | Key trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Provide straightforward information | A simple chatbot or webchat that can present the approved information and explain when it cannot answer. | It may be easier to configure, but will not meet needs that depend on current customer records or actions in other systems. |
| Guide users through a structured process | Configurable questions, responses, and steps that fit the process users actually follow. | The process must be maintained as policies and services change. |
| Retrieve business data or complete a workflow | Suitable integrations, APIs, permissions, and access to the relevant current data; test the full workflow, not just the conversation. | More system connections can increase implementation, security, and maintenance requirements. |
| Meet unusual control, data-handling, or accountability needs | Consider whether a customized AI solution is justified rather than assuming a ready-to-use tool will fit. | Customization may offer greater control but requires the capacity to build and operate it. |
The National AI Centre distinguishes ready-to-use tools, integrations, and customized AI solutions as different approaches. That distinction helps frame the choice; it does not mean that one approach is best for every business.
Map the workflow, channels, and information
Describe the real interaction from the user’s first question through the answer, any action the bot takes, and a handoff when automation is not appropriate. This reveals requirements that a generic product demonstration can obscure.
List the information and systems involved
Identify the sources the bot needs, such as approved policies, product details, customer records, order or service status, a CRM, a support tool, an API, or a database. For each source, establish whether the chatbot can access the right information, how current it will be, and what permissions apply. Salesforce’s buyer guidance specifically calls out business-data access and integrations; GOV.UK advises checking whether a tool fits business processes.
Specify channels and languages
List where people will use the service and which languages the intended audience needs. Do not assume that a product’s support for one channel or language means it supports every required channel or language. Salesforce’s conversational AI guidance discusses language support, templates, knowledge management, APIs, and secure cloud platforms; confirm the specific capabilities and availability you need with the provider.
Decide what the bot may do—and when a person takes over
Separate answering a question from taking an action. If the bot can change records or advance a workflow, define the conditions and permissions for those actions. Identify requests it must refer to a person, including cases where the answer is unavailable, the user needs help beyond the bot’s scope, or the consequences of a wrong response are significant.
Compare candidates with a requirements checklist
Use the same written checklist for each candidate. Mark each requirement as essential or optional so a polished demonstration does not outweigh a missing control or integration.
Rank #3
- Use case and task complexity: Can the bot answer questions, guide a structured process, or complete the required workflow?
- Data and integrations: Can it connect to the required systems and access current information with appropriate permissions?
- Channels and languages: Does it serve the actual users where they need help and in the languages they use?
- Knowledge and configuration: How is information added and maintained, and can the staff responsible for the service manage it?
- Privacy and security: What data is collected, stored, and used? What do the platform settings, terms, and privacy policy say?
- Transparency and escalation: Will users know they are interacting with an automated service, understand its limits, and have a useful route to a person?
- Ownership effort: What expertise, configuration, training, budget, and ongoing maintenance will the solution require?
- Flexibility: Can it adapt if the service or process changes, and can it fit into the workflows staff already use?
Test the same real tasks in every shortlisted option
Use representative questions and workflows drawn from the intended service. Include ordinary requests, a request that depends on the relevant business information, and a case where the answer is unavailable or a person should take over. This is a practical evaluation method, not a published benchmark or a claim that any particular product has been tested.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstall- Prepare realistic scenarios. Write down the user’s request, the information the bot should use, the acceptable result, and any point where it should stop or escalate.
- Use the same scenarios for each candidate. Keep the underlying task and expected result consistent so that differences are meaningful.
- Check the information and actions. Confirm that the bot uses the intended source, gives an appropriate answer, and completes only the steps it is supposed to perform.
- Test an unanswered or sensitive case. See whether the bot communicates its limits clearly and offers the planned human route rather than leaving the user stuck.
- Ask staff to assess maintainability. Have the people who will own the information and workflow consider how they would update the bot when the service changes.
Judge the outcome against the measures that fit your chosen workflow. The sources cited here do not establish a universal return-on-investment, resolution, deflection, or response-time benchmark, so do not treat an unsupported industry figure as a promise for your business.
Review privacy, safety, and user expectations
Security and service design belong in the decision before deployment, not as a final configuration detail. The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s small-business guidance recommends reviewing AI platform settings, terms, privacy policies, data access, and vendor data handling. It also advises limiting collection to what the chatbot needs, doing vendor due diligence, and ensuring qualified human oversight in high-risk legal, medical, or financial use cases.
- Understand what information users may enter and what the provider does with it.
- Limit collection to information needed for the chatbot’s task.
- Review the platform’s settings, terms, privacy policy, and data-handling practices.
- For relevant contracts, address data protection, breach notification, and uptime.
- Keep qualified human oversight for high-risk use cases.
- Check the legal and regulatory requirements that apply to your industry, customers, and locations.
This is general cybersecurity guidance, not jurisdiction-specific legal advice. A chatbot should also identify itself as automated, explain what it can and cannot do, and provide an appropriate route to human help. GOV.UK notes that people can confuse chatbot and webchat experiences, so clear expectations matter.
Account for implementation and ongoing ownership
The purchase price alone does not describe the burden of running a chatbot. Salesforce advises buyers to set realistic expectations about expertise, budget, learning time, and out-of-the-box capability. Include the work needed to configure the service, connect systems, prepare and maintain information, train staff, review failures, and adapt the bot as processes evolve.
A business already using a CRM or service platform may value a native integration if it supports the needed workflow and controls. A business with unusual data-control or process requirements may have reason to consider a more customized solution. These are conditional decision rules, not vendor rankings. Confirm current features, integrations, data terms, and pricing directly with providers before purchase because commercial offerings change.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to make the final choice
- Choose one initial workflow and audience. Keep the first scope clear enough to test and own.
- Write down the required result and boundaries. Specify what a successful response looks like, what data the bot may use, and when it should hand off.
- Set essential requirements. Record necessary integrations, channels, languages, privacy controls, transparency, and staff capacity.
- Compare solution shapes. Decide whether a straightforward tool, an integrated solution, or a customized approach best matches the workflow and the organization’s ability to maintain it.
- Evaluate candidates on identical scenarios. Check answers, data use, workflow steps, limitations, and escalation.
- Select the option that meets the essential requirements at an acceptable ownership cost. Do not trade away necessary safety, data access, or human support for features the workflow does not need.
For further selection guidance, see Salesforce’s chatbot buyer questions, GOV.UK’s guidance on using chatbots and webchat tools, the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s AI guidance for small business, Salesforce’s overview of conversational AI for customer service, and the National AI Centre’s guide to choosing an AI solution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a small business start with a simple chatbot or a customized AI solution?
Start from the workflow. A straightforward information service may be served by a simpler chatbot or webchat. If the bot needs current business data, process integration, or greater control over data handling and accountability, assess whether integrations or a customized solution are necessary and whether your team can operate them.
What should I test before choosing a chatbot?
Test representative questions and complete workflows, including one case where information is unavailable or a person is needed. Check whether each candidate uses the intended information, completes only the appropriate steps, explains its limits, and hands the request off usefully.
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Should a chatbot tell users that it is automated?
Yes. GOV.UK recommends making clear that users are interacting with an automated service and explaining its capabilities and limits so they know what help to expect.
What should a business check about chatbot data?
Review the provider’s platform settings, terms, privacy policy, data access, and data-handling practices. Collect only what the chatbot needs, conduct vendor due diligence, and check applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Is there a universal chatbot ROI or resolution benchmark?
No universal benchmark is established by the sources cited here. Define measures around the specific workflow and assess candidates against the same tasks rather than assuming a general industry figure predicts your results.
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