Purpose: The slides provide an overview on the Conversational Services and Chatbots trend
Content: Summary information about the Conversational Services and Chatbots marketplace, including trends drivers, spending trends, industry business cases, and adoption challenges. Also included are links to additional resources.
How To Use This Report: This report is best read/studied and used as a learning document. You may want to view the slides in slideshow mode so you can easily follow the links
Available on Slideshare: This presentation (and other Trend Reports for 2017) will be available publically on Slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/horizonwatching
Please Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017
1. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
Welcome to the new era of conversational services
Honor Sherlock, Senior Advisor, IBM Watson, Market Development & Insights
Bill Chamberlin, Product Manger, HorizonWatch, Market Development & Insights
February 17, 2017
Conversational Services and
Chatbots Trend Report, 2017
2. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
About This Trend Report
15Feb2017
Purpose: The slides provide an overview on the Conversational Services and
Chatbots trend
Content: Summary information about the Conversational Services and
Chatbots marketplace, including trends drivers, spending trends, industry
business cases, and adoption challenges. Also included are links to additional
resources.
How To Use This Report: This report is best read/studied and used as a
learning document. You may want to view the slides in slideshow mode so you
can easily follow the links
Available on Slideshare: This presentation (and other Trend Reports for
2017) will be available publically on Slideshare at
http://www.slideshare.net/horizonwatching
Please Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to
be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular
technology or solution.
2 Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017 (External Version)
3. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
Conversational services and chatbots will transform
how individuals interact and engage with brands
Definition: Using artificial intelligence (AI), Conversational
Services are designed to interact with users primarily through
conversational voice or text. Associated industry terms
include, but are not limited to: chatbots, virtual agents,
conversational ui/ux, and conversations as a platform.
Implications:
– Brands that do not master conversational services will have a
hard time competing in this environment.
– Conversational services will replace the need for many
stand-alone smartphone apps.
– There is no turning back. People expect to communicate in a
more conversational way - anytime, anywhere. This will
impact both the consumer and enterprise markets.
– Intelligent agents will continue to gain traction and some
subset of the population will use it for everything.
– Brands that do not master conversational services will have a
hard time competing in this environment.
– Conversational services will replace the need for many
stand-alone smartphone apps.
– Monetization will get figured out. Chatbots could be lucrative
for messaging apps and developers, similar to how app
stores have developed into money-making ecosystems.
3
Key Insights
CIO.com: How natural language
processing empowers consumers
“Enterprise architecture and technology
innovation leaders must prepare for
conversational AI platforms, applications,
chatbots and other virtual agents (which
serve as the visible or audible face of
conversational AI), and the significant new
business opportunities and issues they will
usher in..” Gartner Conversational AI to Shake
Up Your Technical and Business Worlds
“Intelligent assistants powered by voice
interfaces have the potential to dramatically
increase the use of consumer IoT applications
by improving their accessibility and
implementation.” IDC
15Feb2017 Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017 (External Version)
4. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
Trends to watch in 2017… and beyond
4
• Hype continues: Conversational services and chatbots
are being heavily discussed in all media channels. Expect
the hype to continue throughout 2017 as vendors add
offerings, the media publishes articles and social media
buzzes.
• Venture capital deals. Chatbot startups are in early stages
of growth, trending upwards in their type of backings and
amount of investments received. Startups providing
conversational services to enterprises are receiving greater
investment than those providing Consumer services.
• Developer platforms and tools. Developers are crying
out for easier to use platforms and tools that make it easier
for them to integrate conversational services with other
development platforms, including IoT, mobile, and cloud.
• Early use cases. Top early use cases include customer
service and support, customer advice and recommendation,
and conversational commerce. Leading verticals include
computer & professional services, retail and manufacturing.
• Benefits sought. Improving user experience and
increasing productivity are the leading business benefits
sought.
• Deployment channels for chatbots. Facebook
Messenger and Slack are the most popular messaging
platforms; Facebook Messenger is a leader among
consumer bots and Slack leads for business bots
Key Trends Overview
4
“Consumers will increasingly use digital
personal assistants to interact with
consumer services in the connected
home.” Gartner
Forrester: The State Of Chatbots
VentureBeat: The state of bots: 11
examples of conversational commerce in
2016
15Feb2017 Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017 (External Version)
5. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
While there is great promise, there is no shortage of
barriers to adoption
Discoverability: There’s no simple way to find and
begin using chatbots
Developers. As to be expected, there is a skills gap.
Natural language processing is not a core
competency in IT departments. Developer tools and
platforms are still nascent.
Enterprises. Enterprises need to be careful of
chatbots causing brand-damaging blunders. Robust
connectivity that integrates conversational capability
into existing infrastructure is required. Support for
multiple languages will be required. Metrics to
measure bot effectiveness need to be
developed/standardized. There will need to be a
strong focus on user security and privacy
Consumers. Privacy breaches and security are big
concerns. Most conversational services and chatbots
disappoint today as they are not necessarily
intuitive... nor are they conversational.
Adoption Challenges
5
VentureBeat: Facebook’s chatbot revolution
slowed by problems with search and discovery
“The established model of creating a digital or
virtual agent requires experienced developers
with a highly specific skill set to create complex
systems that rely on custom – and often
cumbersome – rules.” IBM: IBM Watson's new
conversational capabilities bring brands and
consumers closer
“User experiences with such applications
remain disappointing. Although it is easy to
get a system to produce words, none of the
current agents or bots display general
conversational competence.” IBM Research
Conversational UX Design CHI 2017 Workshop
15Feb2017 Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017 (External Version)
6. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
Links to information and resources on IBM websites
6
Important Links
IBM: Watson Virtual Agent
IBM: A developer's guide to chatbots
IBM: How you build a chatbot matters. Here’s why.
IBM: Chat bots 101: A primer for app developers
IBM: 7 things marketing pros need to know about chatbots
IBM: CMO’s guide to chatbots
IBM: 10 Steps to Train a Chatbot and its Machine Learning
Models to Maximize Performance
IBM: Voice search and chatbots are transforming
commerce
IBM: The conversational chatbox design challenge
IBM: Recent Advances in Conversational Speech
Recognition
IBM: Creating applications with the Conversational Agent
Starter
IBM: IBM Watson’s New Conversational Capabilities Bring
Brands and Consumers Closer
IBM Video Introducing Watson Virtual Agent
IBM: Chat bots 101: A primer for app developers
15Feb2017 Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017 (External Version)
7. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
Selected public-facing analyst websites and
resources
7
Important Links
Forrester: Virtual Assistant (search) /
Intelligent Assistant (search) / Chatbots
(search)
Frost & Sullivan: Virtual Assistant (search) /
Intelligent Assistant (search) / Chatbots
(search)
IDC: Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent
Assistant (search) / Chatbots (search)
Gartner: Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent
Assistant (search) / Chatbots (search)
MarketsandMarkets: Virtual Assistant
(search) / Intelligent Assistant (search) /
Chatbots (search)
IDC: CES 2017: Intelligent Assistants and AI
Everywhere
Forrester: The State Of Chatbots
15Feb2017 Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017 (External Version)
8. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
Selected media websites and resources
8
Important Links
CIO.com Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent Assistant
(search) / Chatbots (search)
ComputerWorld Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent
Assistant (search) / Chatbots (search)
eWeek Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent Assistant
(search) / Chatbots (search)
Forbes Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent Assistant
(search) / Chatbots (search)
InformationWeek Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent
Assistant (search) / Chatbots (search)
InfoWorld Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent
Assistant (search) / Chatbots (search)
Wired Virtual Assistant (search) / Intelligent Assistant
(search) / Chatbots (search)
InformationWeek: The Rise Of The Bots:
11 Ways Your Business Can Prepare
Wired: The Alexa is Conquering the
World. Now Amazon’s Real Challenge
Begins
“In 2017: Companies will continue to explore the
power of intelligent agents to add conversational
interfaces to static self-service content. They will
anticipate needs by context, preferences, and prior
queries and will deliver proactive alerts, relevant
offers, or content..” Forbes Top Trends For Customer
Service In 2017: Operations Become Smarter And More
Strategic
15Feb2017 Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017 (External Version)
9. Note: This report is based on internal IBM analysis and is not meant to be a statement of direction by IBM nor is IBM committing to any particular technology or solution.
More Insights on Technology Trends are Available
9
Other slide decks in this 2017 Trend Report series have been posted to Slideshare
You are also invited to check out the following IBM websites and resources
– IBM Academy of Technology
– IBM Institute for Business Value
– IBM Research and Research News and 5 in 5
– IBM’s THINK blog
– IBM Think Academy on YouTube
15Feb2017 Conversational Services and Chatbots Trend Report, 2017 (External Version)