Video credit Tech2 via Youtube
Image Credit Querlo Team via Youtube edited by Sofs
The Journey of Chatbots
Chatbots have been around since 1964. However they are expanding exponentially in functionality due to the use of new technological advances and are taking the business world by storm.
The global chatbot market is set to grow at CAGR ( compound annual growth rate) of 37.11 during the period of 2017 – 2021 – Orbis Research
Real time messaging on social media changed our outlook on how we kept in touch and communicated with the social world around us. The credit for making chatbots commonplace goes to Facebook Messenger, it did a splendid job of integrating chatbots into their platform and possibly giving chatbots a whole new life.
When the business world entered social media they made it possible for us to interact directly with them through the messenger or chatbots. You could directly ask questions to the manufacturer and have instants answers to your queries. In a short time interaction with manufacturing, marketing and customer support was made possible to the customer leading to better customer engagement and customer satisfaction.
The amount of data and leads generated through direct interaction is astonishing. This could help businesses fine tune their reach and customization of their products.
Image credit Google trends via Chatbot magazine
Infographic depicting how chatbots are employed in every industry.
The Impact of Chatbots On Our Lives
Ticket bookings/reservations have become easier and so have cancellation. Customer support and public relations have made the most difficult struggles easier for us through these chatbots. Today we can create a customized pizza and have it delivered to us through the services of a chatbot. Banking has become easier too and so has trading in the stock market.
Chatbots are expected to replace traditional mobile apps by the year 2021 according to Gartner.
Life has certainly become easier, but yet the chatbot is still an emerging technology. There is so much potential and the world is yet to know what the simple chatbot of yesteryears will evolve into.
Siri, Bixby, IBM Watson, Alexa, Google Assist, Cortana and others have been assisting us in various ways. Being not so greatly technically savvy I have learned how to use Google Assist to help me in various operations from setting up my laptop to finding the things I need online .
It's hard to imagine a life without chatbots which help us do those things we find difficult online, with ease and accuracy. Alexa, Siri and the other bots which assist us in our everyday life may indeed make us completely reliant on them. Yet right now we are happy with any help technology can provide us.
The Impact Of Chatbots On Businesses
Chatbots are expected to cut costs by $8 billion by the year 2022 according to a survey by Juniper Research.
Chatbots are easy to build and are cost effective. They are also easy to use. They are the company's ambassadors while interacting with the customer, so, from a marketing point of view, chatbots are the perfect embodiment of brand building.
According to Gartner by 2020, 85% of our engagement with business’ will be done without human interaction instead we’ll be using self service or chatbots.
Chatbots offer specialized services. A well-optimized chatbot does not overwhelm the user by making things complicated. Chatbots automate processes and take on human work especially the mundane or basic analytic tasks. They are the future of businesses.
Image credit Resource Nester via Google
Kindly join me in an interactive blog which deals with the following topics
What are chatbots?
Why chatbots?
Advantages of Chatbots
How are chatbots currently employed?
Disadvantages of Chatbots
Image credit Screen shot of the Querlo chat on Chatbots the Future of Businesses via Bitlanders
Querlo chat on Chatbots the Future of Businesses Via Bitlanders By Sofs
Final Thoughts
Even though we may not understand the concept or the functionalities of AI fully it is not hard to see that the AI has made deep inroads virtually into every aspect of our personal and professional lives.
It is true that these chatbots and virtual assistants do make life easier. They take over monotonous tasks and free up time to focus on what is important. The life of call center employees may become much easier with the bots interfacing for them. They may only have to deal with things that really require human intelligence and assistance.
Businesses would be able to earn more profits and cut costs by employing chatbots. However, chatbots are going to take over their jobs someday. Humans would have to compete with chatbots or AI devices to find jobs in these industries.
The other aspect is that we may become too dependent on them that when there is a malfunction or 'death' of a virtual assistant we may be lost without those necessary skills. Our calculations skills have long been left behind with the invention of calculators, I wonder if we would lose our survival and life skills to these chatbots. Would we even forget the art of talking to another human with compassion and emotion? It may seem like exaggerated right now, but do give it a little thought as you move on to other things.
This blog post is written in support of the announcement made by Micky about the Bitlanders AI-Themed Blogging.This blog also incorporates the C Blog (Double bonus reward topics). This article is the 8 in this series on Artificial Intelligence.
All images used in this blog have been duly credited, no copyright Infringement Intended.
My other blogs in this series Include
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - MAKING LIFE EASY AT HOME
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HEALTHCARE - C- BLOGGING
THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REVOLUTION - DRIVERLESS CARS
BIO-METRIC ACCESS AND SECURITY IN THE WORLD OF AI
AI ENHANCED WEARABLES _WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY DEVICES
BUILDING A CAREER IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
CURRENT TRENDS IN AI - WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR US
Thank you for reading and interacting with me on this blog. I hope that information I have shared on Chatbots the future of businesses has been helpful to you.
- ♥♥♥♥♥ Sofs ♥♥♥♥♥-
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