UAB’s Collat School of Business is using the AskBlaze chatbot to give personalized answers to students’ frequently asked questions — saving time and helping students get answers quickly, even after hours. 

“I have been using Ask Blaze for a couple of years now,” said Andrea Pound, a program manager for the Collat School of Business Dean's Office. “It has been a great way to get information to students that have questions after business hours or may be intimidated to make a phone call or visit campus.”  

Now the AskBlaze chatbot is available for units across campus. Each department can create content specific to their units — and reduce the time and resources typically dedicated to resolving those issues so employees can focus on other tasks. In the meantime, students and staff get answers quickly and easily. 

“The AskBlaze Chatbot is a great tool that allows schools and administrative units to field frequently asked questions for their customers, and we are happy to help fulfill this service,” said Jamie Witter, director of IT Client Services.   

UAB IT will set up the chatbot and train departments how to set up their content in AskBlaze. Departments will need a content creator, moderator, and system administrator to maintain the chatbot. One person can fill multiple roles, but it is important that a different person serves as the moderator.  

AskBlaze will search the content for the answer that best matches the question, and if a suitable answer is not found, it will search content created by other schools and administrative units at UAB. AskBlaze can analyze the questions asked and return  feedback for the departments so they can fine-tune the answers they give. In turn, those asking questions can give feedback on their answers. 

The more questions asked — and the more content created — the more AskBlaze learns. 

“I advise anyone exploring options to use AskBlaze to keep using it and keep putting it out there. The more that people use it, the ‘smarter’ it becomes,” Pound said.  

Access  AskBlaze through UAB mobile app or online. Request AskBlaze for your department.