Opinion: ChatOps Can Improve Data Processing, Decision-Making

Mattermost’s vice president and general manager for the North America public sector said military leaders must keep military chat capabilities agile and optimal as they build the Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept.

Barry Duplantis, a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer and a 4×24 member, said in a C4ISRNET opinion piece that “ChatOps” is a military concept involving the use of chat tools for project management. He explained that ChatOps uses collaboration platforms and asynchronous communication channels to support team activities and potentially enhance communications in mission environments.

The U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command deployed ChatOps during the Mobility Guardian 2023 readiness exercise to share instant updates with participants.

When used effectively and securely, ChatOps can help teams reduce manual effort, reduce steps for information ingress, support automation and artificial intelligence for decision-making applications and enable AI integration, Duplantis said in his C4ISRNET opinion piece.

ChatOps is part of the U.S. military’s pursuit of communications automation and chat-like capabilities for warfighters.

In mid-August, the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command sought information on how commercial chatbots could augment its Distributed Common Ground Surface System-Marine Corps GEOINT platform. According to the RFI, chatbots have the potential to automatically collect and process geospatial intelligence data and process them to support decision-making capabilities.