MAY 2018CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM6 MAY - 11 - 2018CHATBOTSPECIALEditorialThe Future of Virtual Assistance is HereAs the age of automation dawns upon humanity with the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, more companies are beginning to automate their customer service and customer support with the power of chatbots. Deemed as one of the most promising technologies in the modern digital world, chatbots are helping businesses meet consumers' heightened expectations with faster responses, instant gratification, and more. While not just making relevant conversations with customers, modern-day chatbots are equally adept in the areas of business processing, payments, and marketing. Thus, it is time that customer-centric enterprises jump on the chatbot bandwagon and enhance their customer gratification strategies.This year, the industry is witnessing business giants like Google and Amazon pushing their way through the "smart speakers" market with their recent launches--Google Home, Alexa, and Echo. Reports suggest that Amazon has already sold more than 20 million Echo and Alexa devices. On the other hand, Google is trying to make voice-activated assistants available on all Android-powered devices, including smartphones, wearables, and even smart TVs. These general purpose assistant bots provide a much broader range of tools and skills, which help users perform everyday tasks like looking up stock prices, reporting local weather forecasts, adding items to a shopping list, calling someone, and even playing music. And from the way things stand, this trend is here to stay.Another significant breakthrough in the chatbot realm is the inclusion of natural language processing technology to make conversations seem more human-like. Owing to this trend, companies are pouring money into the development of technologies like AI negotiation capabilities and reinforcement learning to help machines get a better understanding of the human language and user requests.In the coming years, chatbots are expected to present more opportunities and new capabilities for enterprises. That said, some of today's chatbot platforms have already started offering advanced functionalities like voice recognition (voicebots) and in-message purchases. To help enterprises better understand the nuances of different chatbot technologies, CIO Application has put together this special edition on chatbot solutions. Let us know your thoughts.Copyright © 2018 ValleyMedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed by the publisher thereof.Volume 03 - 21Published by ValleyMedia, Inc. To subscribe to CIO ApplicationsVisit www.cioapplications.com *Some of the Insights are based on the interviews with respective CIOs and CXOs to our editorial staffManaging EditorJoe PhillipGraphics & ArtDeclan ColeAnil KumarSenior WritersClara MathewRoyce D'SouzaLeah JaneEditorial StaffBen JacksonClara BrittoJames SmithPooja RayVinodh Kumar TJoe PhillipManaging Editoreditor@cioapplications.comJoe PhillipSalesGeorge Thomasgeorge@cioapplications.comT: 510.757.1040Emailsales@cioapplications.comeditor@cioapplications.commarketing@cioapplications.comContact UsPhone: 510.330.5174Fax: 510.894.8405
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