Paul Pluschkell, CEO & Founder, KandyLooking ahead to 2017, we’ve identified four distinct areas where we see new and continuing opportunities.
Bots is an area where we see significant growth and opportunity in creating a much more personalized content experience for end users. As AI and cognitive technologies mature, integration into the basic fabric of the Bot will enable the delivery of personalized and informative content and when combined with cognitive communications, the conversation can easily escalate and move from ‘automation’ to ‘live support,’ and enhance the end user experience to deliver/route the conversation via the best and most appropriate channel (text, voice, video, etc.).
"Carriers will also have to add new features and services, such as EVS (Enhanced Voices Services), to keep their customer base from switching"
Cognitive technology is another area where we see growth and significant developments. On the back of Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) rapidly entering the business/enterprise environment, employees are now utilizing tools to ensure they have instant access to their content, co-workers and customers. The next logical step is to introduce cognitive technology/solutions into the mix, which will enable the UC&C solution to analyze and interpret, provide personalized recommendations, grow expertise and engage in dialogue.
The Internet of Things continues to expand, with more and more of our ‘everyday life’ functionality becoming mobile enabled. There will be major progress made in the ability to solve problems and create superior user experiences by seamlessly integrating business processes and communications between knowledge workers, AI and bots and people. We expect developments to emerge connecting the expansion of the IoT with real time communications to build a stronger human connection. Without the human element all that we are left with is data and devices. Adding applications (for healthcare, retail, banking, security, etc.) and the human element into the connected solution requires Real Time Communication (RTC) to ensure the content being compiled by these devices is being delivered, understood, and/or acted upon.
Finally, addressing the needs of carriers and keeping the 4G VoLTE momentum rolling is an important focus area in the industry in 2017. As 4G VoLTE is expected to grow to over one billion subscribers by 2020, there will be increasing pressure for carriers to reduce costs while at the same time interwork networks of differing technologies. Carriers will also have to add new features and services, such as EVS (Enhanced Voices Services), to keep their customer base from switching. With EVS, mobile carriers are able to differentiate their service offerings while at the same time realizing network benefits.
