Bots Are The Anti-Apps
Year 2016 is shaping up to be the year of bots. That’s exciting, but upon closer inspection it looks more like the year of bot confusion. People seem quite confounded and confused by this whole bot business. Many are embracing bots as if they’re the long awaited final cherry on the top of the familiar apps. Others are rejecting bots, feeling unclear on why should bots get used instead of apps.
This confusion stems from the fact that most do not understand the radical shift that bots bring. Bots are not the finishing touch that makes apps even more useful. At the same token, bots are also not some useless novelty. Bots are revolutionary.
What is it that bots revolutionize? The bot revolution is about abolishing the self-serve model. Apps are your quintessential self-serve utilities. We need something done, and instead of seeking help from experts, we use apps and serve ourselves. That deal feels like progress because it lowers the price of getting the service. Instead of paying for the human expertise, we save money by using apps. For example, instead of paying an accountant to do our taxes, we use a tax app and do it ourselves. In the process, we save a few bucks. That’s progress, plain and simple. Thank you, high tech industry.
Now For The Bad News
The bad news is, it’s no fun serving ourselves. Instead of wasting countless hours on Expedia, I’d much rather have an agent find the best deals for me. So why do I not then continue using an agent when shopping for travel deals? Why did we all switch to using apps like Expedia? Because it’s more convenient to get things done from the comfort of our homes. When using an app we save on effort needed to visit the agent’s office. Plus, we don’t have to accommodate agent’s schedule — we can shop for deals 24/7.
Despite all those conveniences offered to us by apps, self-serve remains the biggest inconvenience.
The Ultimate Convenience
Bots propose to change all that. Bots continue the convenience of being able to do things on our own schedule, in our own preferred space. But then on top of that, bots offer the ability to avoid self-serve and instead bring the agent expertise to us. So with bots, we have best of both worlds. We have the convenience of remaining in a comfortable position while enjoying the expert service.
The ultimate convenience that bots propose to bring is the absence of user experience. With a quality bot service, there will be no need for interaction. No buttons to push, no screens to touch. Just express our wishes and sit back and watch the bot deliver.
And because bots operate on the principle of economies of scale, all those services will become quite affordable.
Intrigued? Want to learn more about the bot revolution? Read more detailed explanations here:
The Age of Self-Serve is Coming to an End
Only No Ux Is Good UX
Stop Building Lame Bots!
Four Types Of Bots
Is There A Downside To Conversational Interfaces?
Are Bots just a Fad? Are GUIs really Superior?
How to Design a Bot Protocol
Breaking The Fourth Wall In Software
How Much NLP Do Bots Need?
Screens Are For Consumption, Not For Interaction
