Chatbots are here to stay

The conversational user interface technologies are currently one of the top trending topics in the technology business. Most big brands have started formulating their chatbot strategy within their larger AI and automation strategy. Innovations such as chatbots, smart speakers, and self-driving cars are driving such major policy decisions. The world is gearing up to bear the onslaught of automation technologies that are poised to replace humans in repetitive and structured tasks.

The recent rise of chatbots has been fueled by many factors:

• Milliennials have been steadily moving toward chat as their preferred channel to interact with brands. Customer contact surveys show that people want to use web chat channels when available, compared to other traditional channels, such as email and phone, to contact businesses.
• The growth of chat messaging apps on smartphones and other devices has surpassed the usage of social media apps such as Facebook and Twitter. Now people spend more time on messaging apps, chatting with friends, family, colleagues, and even businesses.
• Rising customer demand on chat is putting tremendous pressure on brands. The lack of skilled human resources to handle growing chat traffic is also an important contributor of the rise of chatbots.
• Availability of cognitive service tools for natural language understanding, speech recognition, speech synthesis, conversation management, analytics, and so on has made the design and development of chatbots easier than it was a few years ago.
• Opening up of messaging channels and innovative new avenues, such as smart speakers, has made delivering services over chatbots a reality. The fact that there is a growing interest in messaging apps and devices such as smart speakers presents an attractive opportunity for brands to build chatbots to take advantage of the users who are already available on these channels.

There are several surveys and statistics that show that conversational interfaces are here to stay. Through the following list, we offer some of the most compelling survey findings and predictions that show that chatbots are here for the long run:

• Gartner (https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-top-strategic-predictions-for-2018-and-beyond/) predicts that by 2021, brands that design their websites to include voice and visual search will increase their revenue by 30% and that more that 50% of businesses will spend more on chatbots than traditional mobile apps.
• In an Oracle survey, 80% of respondents (C-level executives) said that they are planning to introduce chatbot services by 2020, if not already [OR].
• Juniper research predicts that use of chatbots will produce annual cost savings of  USD 8 billion by 2022, up from USD 20 million in 2017 [JR].
• A Hubspot survey found that about 47% of consumers are open to buying items through a chatbot and around 40% don't care whether they talk to a chatbot or a human as long as they get help easily and quickly [HB].
• Finally, according to a recent Grand View Research report, the global chatbot market is poised to reach a staggering USD 1.25 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 24.3% from USD 190 million in 2016 [GVR].