Enhancing User Experience: Virtual Assistants in Greek University Helpdesk Service

Abstract

It is commonly accepted that we live in a digital era of constant changes. Digital revolution has brought significant changes in the way we live, work, and interact with each other, with messaging apps turning to the centerpiece of our communication. Individuals and especially youngsters are constantly connected through devices for both social and entertainment reasons. This growing enthusiasm for messaging apps brought the use of bots as supplementary virtual assistants into the spotlight. Examples of companies employing bots into their business chats examples marked that chatbots contribute to a better user experience while at the same time reduce personnel workload. The results raised the question whether the introduction of virtual assistants will benefit the everyday life of Greek Universities. To examine our hypothesis in the realms of University of Western Macedonia, we introduced the "bot-UoWM", a zero- code conversational chatbot that supports Greek Natural Language, in well-known social media platforms. To evaluate the system, we conducted an empirical study using a questionnaire on 80 participants. The obtained survey data were analyzed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. The evaluation results show that our system improves user acceptance and understanding of the results. They also indicate that bots could help different users with their seeking tasks. Our results and discussions highlight the impact of using visual and interactive features as assistants for higher education.