Chatbot Trends You Need to Know Before Investing

“Chatbot” doesn’t need an introduction! According to research by Juniper, chatbots will save businesses up to $8 billion by 2022.

That’s a significant impact for businesses of all sizes. If you are an executive or a business owner who wants to put the power of AI-powered chatbots to work for your business, it is imperative you understand what is happening in the world of chatbots.

2019 looks to be the year when chatbots emerge as a viable business-building growth tool. Rather than creating a mobile app for their business, many businesses will opt for an easy-to-develop (and deploy) chatbot to connect with consumers.
The following are seven top chatbot trends you need to know before investing in building one.

1. Expect to see an explosion of the following
   1. BOTs, both chat and voice enabled.
   2. New use cases across all functions of an organization (some crazy ones too).
   3. New chatbots products, platforms and services.
   4. Market consolidation (M&As)
   5. Potentially new laws around how AI & chatbots should be used. Example: California B.O.T. Act of 2018, effective July 1st, 2018.
2. Chatbots and IoT are a match made in heaven. As more devices become internet-connected, expect to see an influx of IoT-enabled chatbots. Whether it is learning how to use your new wearable device or user-onboarding for enterprise clients managing an IoE (internet of everything) device, chatbots will play a critical role going forward.
3. There will be increasing usage of chatbots on company websites. While chatbots on social networking platforms like Facebook are already popular, a growing number of businesses want to “own” these conversations and keep communication happening on their website instead of a third-party platform.
4. Online businesses will discover the power and potential of chatbots for driving sales, improving customer satisfaction ratings, and customer education. Expect to see a growing number of developers offering chatbots for specific e-commerce platforms like Shopify. (apps.shopify.com/search/query?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=chatbot).
5. Business leaders who want to increase the effectiveness of their sales funnel will start to use chatbots to a greater degree to appropriately funnel potential customers to the right departments. The more a company can learn about a consumer’s needs before speaking to a live person, the better they can help that consumer by connecting them with the right person from the start.
6. As artificial intelligence SDKs and APIs (programmableweb.com/search/artificial%20intelligence) become increasingly refined, expect to see an explosion of interest from companies who want to put the power of AI to work for their business. From IBM’s Watson to Apple’s Siri, the number of AI tools for developers is surging. The more tools savvy developers have at their disposal, the greater the products they can create for organizations on the hunt for chatbots.
7. Open-source code will play a significant role in the proliferation of chatbots. From Botpress.io to Rasa.com, there is already growth happening in the open-source chatbot sector. The more businesses develop a hunger for chatbots, the more significant impetus there will be for developers to code their creations.

Understanding upcoming chatbot trends is critical if you want to harness the power of chatbots for your company. The better you understand what the future holds for chatbots, the faster you can capitalize on a trend before your competitors.

Are Chatbots part of your 2019 growth strategy? If so, good luck in creating new conversational experience for your prospects and customers.
Article published on Chatbotslife.com – https://chatbotslife.com/chatbot-trends-you-need-to-know-before-investing-8cd037bea463