If you’re thinking about adding a chatbot to your website, you’re not alone. The chatbot market is growing at an almost unprecedented rate, with insights firm KPMG estimating that the chatbot industry will be worth a massive $19.6 billion by 2025.
More and more businesses are choosing to implement this exciting new technology…. Except it’s not new at all! Chatbots have been around for much longer than many people think.
The History of Chatbots
It all started way back in 1950, when mathematician Alan Turing theorised that it would be possible to create a machine that, through text, would be indistinguishable from a human. It was 16 years before Turing was proven right, but he was.
The proof came with MIT’s Eliza in 1966, closely followed by Parry in 1972. But neither resemble the type of technology we have at our fingertips today. Neither incorporated any aspect of AI. Instead, the bots were based on decision trees, following a ‘if this, then this’ process.
Introducing AI
AI — to a very basic extent — entered into the chatbot world in 1988 with Jabberwacky, which was considered an ‘intent recogniser’ and a step up from the basic technology that had come before it.
While the AI component certainly wasn’t what it is today, Jabberwacky is widely considered to be instrumental in facilitating the chatbot future, becoming the first voice-based system which then gave way to digitised voice bots like Dr Sbaitso and Smarterchild, some of the world’s first dialogue managers.
So, the concept of chatbots has been around for a few decades, but it was only when major global organisations such as IBM, Apple, Google, and Amazon started to invest in their own automated systems — Watson, Siri, Google Now, and Alexa respectively — that chatbot use really started to grow and become common amongst businesses.
Major Growth
AI chatbots for customer service were amongst the earliest widespread systems used by modern businesses, with the IT industry especially being early adopters of the technology.
This is because an AI customer service bot could lower IT support costs, create 24-hour availability for customers, and generate a much quicker initial response to enquiries. All of this helped businesses to deliver an improved service for customers.
From here, uses evolved rapidly, with businesses seeking new ways to deploy the technology across their organisations. Chatbots were integrated into financial analytics, bot marketing entered into everyday processes, HR and recruitment experts welcomed the change, and chatbots have even been used in facilities management in line with the rise in smart buildings.
The technology is now used across practically every sector. It’s one of the best ways to get sales leads, one of the best ways to get finance leads, and even one of the best ways to get plumbing leads!
Think about it. If you shop online, you’ve probably encountered an Amazon chatbot for customer service somewhere along the way. Or perhaps you’ve booked a meeting using an appointment scheduling chatbot?
Today, they’re everywhere, even if we don’t realise it. There are chatbots for real estate, chatbots for stock trading… for everything.
The Future of Chatbots
With research organisation McKinsey reporting that chatbot cost savings could be as much as 5 to 10% within just 2 years, and up to 30% in the long term, it’s not surprising that chatbot use is growing rapidly. Gartner’s VP Analyst Van Baker confirms that, in 2018, there was a huge 160% increase in chatbot interest, and today it’s estimated that more than one third of all service leaders are using artificial intelligence based bots.
According to McKinsey, the future of chatbots all depends on a human willingness to support the technology. This shows that the future of chatbots really is whatever we make it.
ConvertoBot is a leading chatbot website and social media bots platform.
To learn more about how using chatbots can help you to find new sales leads, lower your business costs, and streamline your processes, open a free account today.
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