Text-Based Chatbot Company Makes It Easier for Utah Businesses to Reopen

Pete CodellaArticles, COVID-19

This article is part of a series featuring Utah-based companies and what they’re doing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Utah businesses are re-opening with a new set of rules, regulations and safety precautions, leaving many of them searching for tools to interact with customers safely and easily.

42Chat is a Utah-based technology company that creates award-winning SMS-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots for the event industry.

As restaurants, salons, daycare facilities and gyms start to re-open and adjust to the “new normal,” many face the new requirement that managers take employee temperatures daily. Realizing this process is necessary to the safe re-opening of business triggered an idea for founding partner Bob Caldwell and the 42Chat team.

“We’ve all safely quarantined,” noted Caldwell, “and now it is time to get back to opening businesses and being consumers, thoughtfully and safely.”

The 42Chat team delivers SMS-based (text) AI chatbots that automatically take health symptom screenings, capture user data, and record it all for small businesses. The system automatically captures users’ phone numbers as part of the base level identification requirements and makes tracking and tracing easier if the Health Department ever needs it. The system also provides a valuable channel for businesses to communicate with employees, vendors and customers about changes or important health updates.

“Our goal is to make it easy for businesses to capture required data and for employees, vendors and customers to feel safe,” Caldwell added. “When we do that, we can all start to enjoy a “new normal” life again.”

42Chat’s new “HealthShield Bot” lets users send texts, take surveys and get a green “check” to safely enter a business or a red “stop” if the answers restrict entry or more data is needed. The HealthShield tool is fully customizable to all rapidly changing federal, state and local rules around re-opening. 

“Utah has been a great place to start and grow a business. We are excited to help Utah businesses get back to business,” said Caldwell.