Chatbots: The Virtual Customer Service Agent of the Future
Artificial intelligence is one of the fastest growing areas in the high-tech sector, with large corporations like Microsoft and Facebook investing heavily in the world of virtual assistants that seem like they can do everything from paying your bills to finding the nearest open pizza place in the middle of the night. In 2014, the global artificial intelligence market was worth about $126 billion, and is expected to reach a value of $3 trillion by 2024, which means it is growing at a rate of about 36% a year, according to a report from Transparency Market Research. One of the main factors behind the expanding market is the use of so-called chatbots to help with customer service. These virtual assistants mimic customer service representatives by answering questions, giving directions, and taking orders. Not only are they available to chat with customers on company websites, eliminating customer wait-times or having to be transferred to different representatives, but chatbots are also increasingly available on mobile SMS texting, Facebook, Skype, and other messaging platforms so interacting with them is akin to chatting...
Read More
