INTELLIGENT VIRTUAL ASSISTANT MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Challenges And Opportunities

Market Dynamics- Drivers

1. Increasing data explosion is expected to drive growth of the global intelligent virtual assistant market during the forecast period

Production of data is increasing at a rampant pace, owing to switch from analog to digital technologies. According to Coherent Market Insights’ analysis, around 20% of the global population is expected to come online using wireless devices in the near future. The usage of internet is expected to increase from level to high during the forecast period, owing to rising consumer awareness and increase in usage of smartphones. Furthermore, the introduction of the digital era has led to storage of more and more information in the digital medium and displaying them on internet. This is due to varied nature of internet where there are millions of websites with different information and each website differing from the other. This leads to a decrease in user’s interest in surfing the company’s website which in turn leads to potential loss of customers for the company. Therefore, these factors are expected to drive growth of the global intelligent virtual assistant market during the forecast period.

2. Growing emphasis on improving alignment between customers is expected to propel the global intelligent virtual market growth over the forecast period

The major challenge faced by customers who interact with the website of an organization is the inability to find answer to queries. However, organizations are more focused on delivering their core capabilities with little focus on answering customer questions online and guiding them to right products. Virtual assistant helps the organization to serve customers by providing alternative way to interact. Virtual assistants provide guidance to customers on everything related to a particular organization. According to survey conducted by PayPal around 22% of shoppers abandon their shopping carts due to inability to find answers to common support issues during purchasing. Thus, these factors are expected to propel the global intelligent virtual market growth over the forecast period.

Market Dynamics- Restraint

1. High cost and complexity associated with virtual assistant is expected to hamper the global intelligent virtual assistant market growth over the forecast period

Virtual assistants cannot be built with singular technology. As a matter of fact, it is built using a collection of technologies. The primary aim of a virtual assistant is to integrate with various platforms such as fax, email, webchat, video, voice, and social feeds such as Facebook, and Twitter. Customers are expecting a human-like experience. Providing such experiences require significant investment and is extremely complex to make. Therefore, these factors are expected to hamper the global intelligent virtual assistant market growth in the near future.

2. Lack of skilled personnel is expected to restrain growth of the global intelligent virtual assistant market during the forecast period

Building an intelligent virtual assistant is highly complex and skillful procedure. It needs to be programmed in such a way that it could interact with the user and offer adequate information. The virtual assistant needs to understand social situation and context of language when having a conversation. Such complex computer programming requires highly skilled personnel, which are scarcely available. Therefore, these factors are expected to hinder the global intelligent virtual assistant market growth in the near future.

Market Opportunity

1. Growing application area of virtual assistant can provide major business opportunities in the global intelligent virtual assistant market

Artificial intelligence has become mainstream over the years due to increasing application. It has been used in various sectors from users seek information to drivers asking cars to play music and find directions. For instance, in January 2013, Honda Motor Company added Apple’s Siri Eye Free virtual assistant to their cars. This virtual assistant enables drivers to interact with their iPad and iPhone without taking their hands off the steering. Over the period of time, such virtual assistants will be available to patients where the patients can do initial assessment followed by practitioner assessment. This will reduce the time of doctors thereby making healthcare cheaper.

2. Research and development activities by market players can present lucrative growth opportunities in the global intelligent virtual assistant market

Major companies in the market are focused on research and development activities, in order to expand the product portfolio. For instance, in October 2013, Next IT launched a new virtual assistant for the healthcare platform. In September 2013, NextIT launched its next generation of virtual assistants called Alme for Chat. Furthermore, in June 2013, the company launched a new virtual assistant for TAM airlines.