By 2021, the Virtual Assistant Market will Reach $15.8 Billion Worldwide

Greetings!

2016 has gone by so fast, I can't believe we are already in November. Through the course of the year we have talked about the major growth we have seen within the Virtual Assistant space. Executives are recognizing the benefits a Virtual Assistant will bring to any company, tech giants are acquiring Artificial Intelligence companies at a rapid pace this year, and analyst firms are predicting continued adoption of Virtual Assistants in the coming years. 

Last year around this time, Gartner put out the top predictions to look out for. One of them being, "by 2020, smart agents will facilitate 40% of mobile interactions. This is based on the belief that the world is moving to a post-app era, where assistants such as Apple's Siri act as a type of universal interface." (ComputerWorld) 

This year, analysts from Gartner recently put out the top 10 strategic predictions for 2017. They start off the article with saying, "By 2020, the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and conversational user interfaces, we are increasingly likely to interact with a bot (and not know it) than ever before. The digital experience has become addictive by entering out lives through smartphones, tablets, virtual personal assistants (VPAs) or the entertainment systems in our homes and cars." (Gartner Predicts a Virtual World of Exponential Growth)

Another report from Research and Markets concluded that "by 2021, the Virtual Assistant market will reach $15.8 billion worldwide." 

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With adoption only expecting to increase, the democratization of AI, specifically Virtual Assistant is going to be key. Making it as easily accessible as possible will empower even more people to embrace the experience. If you would like more information on what noHold is doing to democratize AI, please contact us here.

Have a great weekend.
Cheers!

Chatbots, Intelligent Assistants, Virtual Agents...But Which Term is Correct?

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Artificial intelligence (A.I.) and automated self-service solutions have gained major traction within the past few years. With big name brands turning to A.I. (Google, Microsoft, etc.), consumers have become more comfortable having a conversation with technology (Artificial Intelligence). Virtual Agents are one of those technologies that have become familiar, and demanded by consumers. In short, a Virtual Agent is an intelligent web-based self-service tool used to support customers and employees throughout many processes. Similar to live chat, but end users interact and get answers from an A.I.

As a company with over 15 years of experience creating Virtual Assistants for trusted brands around the globe, we are always excited to see a continual increase in the adoption of these self-service practices. Over the years, we have witnessed many different companies and analyst firms try to coin different terms to describe these diagnostic and interactive self-service tools. Here is a list of some of the terms we see floating around our space the most: 

• Avatars
• Chatbots
• Enterprise Virtual Assistants
• Intelligent Assistants
• Intelligent Personal Assistants
• Intelligent Virtual Assistants
• Interactive Artificial Intelligence Assistant
• Virtual Agents (VAs)
• Virtual Assistants
• Virtual Customer Assistants
• Virtual Customer Care Expert
• Virtual Personal Assistants

Photo Credit: hrpayrollsystems.net

Now, the million dollar question...which term is correct? The truth is, they all are. Which ever term you want to use, in the grand scheme of things, they all refer to the same thing. Understandably, it can get confusing with all these different variations of the same word, but we hope shedding some light to this debated topic will eliminate some of that confusion. As we like to say, tomayto/tomahto.
Cheers!
www.nohold.com

Virtual Customer Assistants Advancing in 2015 to Solve Complex Problems

Virtual Personal Assistants (VPAs) have become a household name; something we use daily without thinking twice about it. Things such as Siri, 'Okay Google', Cortana, etc. have been integrated into our lives, it has become second nature to communicate with Artificial Intelligence. Most people actually prefer it to get quick and easy answers to their needs: getting directions, scheduling an appointment, calling a friend, etc. 

Virtual Customer Assistants (VCAs) have been used to streamline customer support questions long before VPAs became popular. VCAs have advanced greatly since their inception, though. Now, VCA's are not just used to answer simple support questions, they have the capacity to integrate with back end systems to understand more complex problems and connect with more sophisticated devices. Stay tuned for next weeks announcement on a project noHold and one of the largest networking companies in the world have been working on. 
Cheers! 
www.nohold.com

The Most Disruptive Technology Trend in IT History... The Smart Machine Era

Earlier in the month, one of the top analyst firms in the industry posted their predictions of the top 10 strategic technology trends for the coming year. For example, being able to compute everywhere on mobile devices, embracing the Internet of Things, and 3D printing are just a few of the kinds of disruptive technologies we will be further immersed in as 2015 approaches. 

The smart machine era is another trend that is considered to be the most disruptive in IT history thus far. In this era of smart machines, they now have the capability to analyze the environment around them, learn from it, and make educated decisions on their own. Leading analysts agree that prototype self-driving cars, intelligent robots, and Virtual Personal Assistants (VPAs) will continue to develop at a fast pace. 

Similarly, Virtual Customer Assistants (VCA) are evolving rapidly. Using this type of disruptive technology will not only decrease support costs, but also improve the customer experience and increase revenue. According to a distinguished magazine publication, when consumers start a support interaction, they are 4x more likely to leave that interaction unsatisfied and stop shopping with your brand. The presence of a VCA allows users to find the answers to their own questions, on their own time – quickly.    

Companies that want to stay competitive need to start thinking about incorporating these strategic trends into their organization. Is your company already adopting some of these trends? If so, which ones and how? Does your eServices strategy emphasize the importance of self-service?     
www.nohold.com