Issue link: https://hub.radisys.com/i/1347691
2 www.radisys.com RADISYS SOLUTION BRIEF | Voice and Video-Enable Your Chatbots The Growth of Conversational Voice-Enabled Customer Engagement Much like how smartphones and apps are revolutionizing when, how, and where people communicate, businesses are turning to voice-enabled digital applications to interact with their customers. Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google's capabilities in smart speakers, automobiles, smartphones, and other intelligent devices are already demonstrating how voice can "control" our digital ecosystems. These platforms listen to our commands and perform everyday tasks like controlling smart home devices, getting answers to questions, finding directions, or ordering food. The evolution in conversational AI and natural language processing is powering new ways of helping people get to the information they seek. Every vertical market that ranges from retail to banking and financial services to healthcare to utilities is exploring how to add conversational voice intelligence to their business applications, especially with the consumers' growing acceptance of voice- enabled services. Challenges for Chatbot and Virtual Assistant Vendors Today's evolving digital communications provide new capabilities that can control and improve the customer experience. Businesses began adopting chatbots as a cost-effective first-tier customer engagement tool that could answer frequently asked questions using a clearly defined decision tree. The programmability of chatbots makes them an excellent tool to scale automated customer engagement. But many consumers are not savvy in using text-based tools to interact with customer support. Or they believe that their problem is "unique," and the only way for them to get answers to their questions is by calling the customer support number. Chatbots empowered with conversational AI-based voice and video capabilities and telephony integration provide richer personalized interactions and extend the reach of chatbots beyond websites and mobile apps, but the costs of doing so can be high. To voice- empower chatbots, the vendors need to implement a Natural Language Processing (NLP) platform to "listen, interpret, and facilitate" conversations, integrate the NLP with speech to text and text to speech services, and add telephony infrastructure. These systems typically require high Capex and Opex and skills in managing the system. The global conversational AI market is projected to grow from $4.2 billion in 2019 to $15.69 billion by 2024, growing at a rate of 30.2%. SOURCE: Conversational AI Global Forecast by Markets & Markets