Who will be the next Alexa?
AI-Powered Digital Assistants will define the future work structure and businesses!
In a digital world, one would need solutions to their concerned problems digitally and fast without compromising the correctness of the data provided, to cater to specifically targeted concerns digital assistants are inculcated into businesses to serve their consumers.
In the forthcoming years, the conventional work design where employees are glued to their seats investing hours in front of their computers, mobiles, or laptops is recast and propelling to a more advanced model where digital channels provide a more interactive beneficial experience.
Tasks can be performed with an increased percentage of correctness and efficacy when carried out by AI-powered digital assistants turning it exempt from any direct command of individuals. It is strenuous and more prone to making mistakes when relying on individuals. Whilst this can be mitigated when its reliance shifted upon digital assistants. Digital assistants can perform tasks varying in their complexity. From getting directions to your destination, listening to your music to knowing how your business sales are doing year-to-date.
Digital Assistant, what is it?
Digital assistants are AI-powered advanced bots that cater to general consumers and businesses and provide them personalized, conversational experience. It formulates reports based on the gathered statistical data. It generates responses based on user history and preferences such as, make pointers from the conversational responses, provide predictions, etc.
It is getting more popular with the convenience it yields abating physical engagement. It can retrieve and provide a copious amount of data regarding traffic intensity, weather conditions, news, events, stock prices, etc. Below you’ll learn about its benefits.
How Digital Assistants can benefit
Digital assistants like Apple, Amazon Siri cater to consumers and can complete an enormous amount of tasks also providing an intuitive interface for connected homes or cars. It provides a range of clear concise data and answers to general questions, event updates, offers based on the user’s profile, history, past behavior, etc. With a simple “Hey Siri, show the fastest route to the nearest ATM” you get presented with the most feasible directions, provides weather forecast details when out of the station, open restaurants, etc.
Digital assistant furnishes a single, feasible locus point between consumers and contractors. Thus, they are used in customer contact centers managing communications.
E-commerce platforms are shifting towards virtual assistants to provide 24x7x365 assistance to their consumers. Chatbots are becoming fundamentals for any online business or platform as a standard approach to linking the increasing number of online digital prospects with the human call center. Internally, they can be used to onboard recruits. Tasks like inventory management, ordering supplies, reflecting system updates or changes, managing passwords, knowledge management can be swiftly regulated automating it to make it available all the time.
Below are some famous digital assistants:-
- Alexa (Amazon Alexa)
- Siri
- Cortana
- Google Assistant
- Databot
- Lyra
- Hound
- Bixby
- Robin
- Speaktoit Assistant
Contextual based digital assistants
Digital assistants can perform complex tasks depending upon how it’s programmed to carry out functions in advanced levels. An example would be, when you’re traveling for a trip the digital assistance will recognize and prompt you to set up an out-of-office autoreply, similarly, it can revert into deleting the reply if the trip has been canceled.
The digital assistant can be equipped with critical contexts by integrating with enterprise applications, from cloud financial and procurement systems to calendars and HR organization charts that aid it to understand company structure information and the hierarchy.
Tone and emotion-based digital assistants
Customers are frustrated with the ineffective outdated delayed responses due to which Traditional Interactive Voice Response systems are superseded with Intelligent Digital assistants. It allows seamless communication across various channels improving a customer-friendly interface. Currently, customers share their experience through rating on different scales which can range from 1 to 5 or 10. With advanced intelligent tools and a customer’s conversational feedback can be assessed to filter out the major points. For example, Philip says, “I liked the hotel services but I felt like the security of my belongings were compromised”. This can be filtered as “One complaint and one commendation”.
Future business structure handled by Digital Assistants
In the upcoming years, the whole customer service prospect will be controlled by digital assistants e.g. chatbots, AI capabilities are fused with cloud applications storing data and business structure model, and chatbots will, in turn, become an essential root requirement for every other common business activity. (src)
Below are functions that the latest digital assistants can do:
- Carry out complex tasks and provide answers to questions like” How are my sales from year-to-date?”
- Provide targeted suggestions to customers and employees.
- Present automated responses to IT service desk questions including transactional and informational requests.
- Monitor workflow of an employee and sends reminders to submit reports.
- Can handle customer service requests better assess complex feedbacks.
- Helps detect increased sales, detect frauds, service improvement. (src)
Companies adapted to digital assistants got significant improvement in their workflow and increased productivity. How? The work is partitioned with Chatbots assisting its employees and consumers, providing them updated reports and answers targeted requests. They offer more services with less manpower, saves money, provide correct service without compromising its efficiency, accumulate real-time statistical data and provide proper reports and can make relevant suggestions.
Future businesses
Digital Assistants are likely to be integrated into every cloud application positioning it as the general interface for most businesses. Possibly, it can take over the customer service section and handle complex issues.
Oracle CEO Mark Hurd predicted during last month’s Oracle OpenWorld that by 2025, 85% of customer interactions will be automated. Digital assistants that can glean the emotional content of customer interactions are one big reason that will be possible.(src)
AI is a strong proponent of smart work and with rapid advancement, the work structure will likely become smarter when coalesced with 5G technology and yield results faster.
Merging virtual reality with augmented reality can synergize it to allow for more advanced devices that are still oblivious. Big tech companies like Google invest heavily in digital assistants.
Gartner predicts that both the consumer and businesses will be spending $3.5 billion by the end of this year, 2021, on what it refers to as Virtual Personal Assistants (VPAs).(src)
49% of organizations that adapted to using AI devices use Microsoft Cortana for performing tasks, 47 % use Siri(Apple Siri) followed by Google Assistant 23% and Alexa 13%. 46% use it for dictation, 26% aid to collaborative tasks, 24% employee calendar management, and 14% and 13% for customer service and IT help desk. (src)
This predicates the transposition of the traditional business model with these AI devices in the forthcoming years. With accounting for the fast advancement, keeping up with needs will require intelligent digital assistants to respond to complex questions. How do you think digital assistants can solve your problems? How would you implement it in your business? Comment, if you’ve ever used any such digital assistant that structured your lifestyle. I’d be glad to know.
