The unexpected revolutions of digitalization

Companies that anticipated the possibilities of bots have immediately started working on gaining a strong competitive advantage

The photo with the most impact during the recent edition of the Mobile World Congress was of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, walking into the auditorium without the attendees noticing because they were focused on Samsung’s new virtual reality headset. This was an excellent advertising campaign that returned the virtual reality technology solution that has been talked about for two decades to center stage.

Although leading manufacturers and service providers are offering virtual reality models and experiences, this is the result of a trend that has been announced and of several years of R&D efforts aimed at aligning technology and consumer needs.

However, certain trends are only developed by those that spend the most resources on anticipating challenges. This is happening with bots, which are computer programs that simulate human behaviors. The most famous is Siri, which has been available in the iPhone since 2011, but in recent weeks there has been an avalanche of new solutions that promise to revolutionize customer service management, one of the services most affected by digital transformation processes.

This rising trend is the result of the convergence of instant messaging and virtual assistants. In other words, if we communicate via WhatsApp and social media, then companies should provide customer service via those tools.

CNN and HP already use bots based on Facebook. Google has Now, and Amazon has Echo. The scope of these solutions will help improve customer experiences and also speed up management processes while making them more efficient. This initial phase has shown that there is much to improve, especially in terms of intellectual capabilities, but the potential is undisputed.

Companies that anticipated the possibilities of bots have immediately started working on gaining a strong competitive advantage.

Digitalization does not consist of evolving towards a new scenario where we think we know everything, but rather of being prepared to identify new opportunities that will be decisive for our business.

Article originally published in Expansión.