In South Africa, the place WhatsApp dominates as probably the most broadly used social media platform, the messaging app is evolving past simply serving to individuals talk and get companies. Tregter, a Cape City-based startup established in 2019, makes use of WhatsApp chatbots to collect knowledge for analysis, even in underserved rural communities.
“A giant use case for chatbots is knowledge assortment,” says Ferdinand Steenkamp, Tregter’s co-founder. “Now we have assisted a number of distributors with constructing chatbots, whether or not that could possibly be to get data out to their purchasers, or whether or not they need to gather knowledge extra simply.”
Tregter works with the Do Extra Basis, an organisation that goals to enhance the lives of youngsters in South Africa’s underserved communities.
“This can be a professional bono challenge, utilizing WhatsApp chatbot to gather knowledge on early childhood growth throughout rural South Africa. This permits the inspiration to scale their knowledge assortment efforts and goal rural communities,” Steenkamp explains.
WhatsApp chatbot for the Do Extra Basis is accompanied with cloud-based and analytics options.
Steenkamp notes that the deployment of a WhatsApp chatbot is a hybrid method combining the accessibility of a cell messaging platform (WhatsApp) with a cloud-based platform, which, amongst different issues, consists of a database the place they will gather and analyse massive volumes of information securely.
“We additionally created a platform for analysts the place they will examine and visualise their knowledge,” Steenkamp says.
This initiative demonstrates how chatbots can facilitate important analysis in areas the place entry is usually restricted.
Tregter operates in a aggressive house the place a number of firms are additionally utilizing data-driven methods and chatbot applied sciences. South Africa has over 40 chatbot startups, with about three new firms opening annually within the final decade, Tracxna knowledge reveals. Nonetheless, WhatsApp chatbots are dominant attributable to WhatsApp’s widespread use—about 40% of South Africans use the platform.
Most of those WhatsApp chatbots concentrate on customer support, gross sales, scheduling, and knowledge dissemination. Tregter is exploring a rising space of utilizing chatbots for analysis. By specializing in underserved rural communities and the usage of WhatsApp chatbots.Tregter is betting on accessibility of WhatsApp which makes it a perfect platform for reaching numerous populations, together with these in rural areas.
“What plenty of firms have been doing earlier than was manually accumulating knowledge. So they’d have a single individual answerable for capturing knowledge. This course of was not solely time-consuming but additionally vulnerable to errors and inconsistencies,” says Steenkamp.
By automating knowledge assortment via chatbots, Tregter considerably improves knowledge high quality and reduces the time required to collect insights.
“We discovered an on the spot enchancment in knowledge high quality and in addition a large discount within the time it takes to get from knowledge acquired to insights as a result of now we have constructed validations into the info capturing, and all of it occurs routinely. As soon as it’s captured, it’s dwell, and anybody has entry to that knowledge,” Steenkamp says.
Past analysis, Tregter sees WhatsApp as the way forward for buyer interplay.
“WhatsApp is the app that everyone has,” Steenkamp states.
He argues that firms investing hundreds of thousands in bespoke cell apps for knowledge assortment are sometimes lacking the mark, as customers are reluctant to obtain quite a few apps and a few reasonably priced telephones in South Africa usually would not have house for a lot of apps.
As a startup, safety and privateness are high priorities. Steenkamp highlights the importance of cloud migration and guaranteeing customers have the mandatory entry for his or her duties whereas sustaining knowledge safety.
“An incredible first begin could be to maneuver to the cloud the place, I might not say it’s safe by default, however you get much more security measures,” he explains.
Regardless of these challenges, Tregter stays bootstrapped, specializing in proving product-market match earlier than in search of exterior funding.
“We don’t imagine on this concept of taking cash after which hoping to seek out one thing that works,” Steenkamp says, highlighting a sensible method to startup progress. The corporate is actively engaged on producing its options, aiming to launch a SaaS platform to achieve a wider viewers.
As AI-powered chatbots evolve, Tregter is keenly conscious of the necessity to adapt to the African context.
“Now we have to have a look at the client in South Africa and all through Africa, and simply discover out if we are able to implement these applied sciences in a means that works for them,” Steenkamp cautions.
Whereas AI, voice assistants and augmented actuality maintain promise, Tregter’s focus stays on leveraging present platforms like WhatsApp to bridge digital literacy gaps and ship tangible worth.
“A lot of the inhabitants in South Africa understands how WhatsApp works, and so there may be instantly a niche that will get bridged,” Steenkamp says.
