Voice-based digital assistants like Apple Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa have been reserved for home use, wearable, and smartphones for the longest time. The trend is likely to change in the next few years as more businesses adopt the technology.  Annette Jump, in her recently published report titled ‘Emerging Technologies: Natural Language Processing Patent Growth Insights,’ explains there’s bound to be an explosion in virtual assistants. She calls this expansion as VxA to mean virtual assistants that will substitute almost any job or task. A 2019 survey conducted by 451 Research found that digital assistants and voice UIs will be the most disruptive technologies for enterprises after AI and IoT. The researchers found that four in ten respondents planned to adopt the technology in the next two years. And the good news is that virtual assistants apply to any industry.

Any Job Can Benefit from the Technology

The integration of virtual assistants cuts across all disciplines: customer service, storefront operations, sales, E-commerce, to mention a few. This makes it easy to advance and develop virtual assistants based on the user’s needs. For example, it can be integrated into the education sector to enable students to learn more efficiently. The virtual teaching assistants can be designed to understand students' particular learning challenges and capabilities, thus enhancing learning. Employees also become smarter and can execute routine tasks quickly. As a result, there’s an increasing need for developers to design VAs attuned to specific user needs. Microsoft recently announced that Cortana (now mostly used as a workplace assistant instead of a consumer AI assistant) would integrate its Outlook mobile app. The idea is to enable users to request emails to be read aloud and dictate messages. On the other hand, Google started integrating G Suite calendars in its VA to help users check their schedules using voice commands.

The Virtual Assistant is Not Your Usual Chatbot

The modern virtual assistant hardly resembles a chatbot. There have been significant advancements with essential technologies being replaced or combined with semantic engines, deep learning, and intelligent process modeling. The premise is to design virtual assistants that can perform more tasks and less likely to misunderstand commands. It also explains why technology providers are continuously adding new skills to their VAs.

Increasing Demand and Supply of Virtual Assistants

The current pandemic has not only accelerated digital business but also created an unprecedented demand for virtual assistants. With more companies adopting the remote working trend, virtual agent demand is bound to increase exponentially.

Telemedicine, for example, has skyrocketed given the strict rule on social distancing and remaining indoors. It’s not surprising to find companies developing a plethora of virtual medical assistants to cater to patients during this period. And while the pandemic may disappear, virtual life and digital trends will dominate many work settings.

Are Virtual Assistant Replacing Human Beings

Virtual agents are only designed to assist human beings, not replace them. Additionally, the VA developers have adopted an incremental business model, not an embedded one as in artificial intelligence applications. This means virtual assistants will generate a better revenue stream for developers.