Dive Brief:
- Virtual personal assistants (VPAs) are the future of smartphone communication, according to Gartner. By 2019, the research firm predicts 20% of all consumer smartphone interaction will use VPAs.
- In a survey of more than 3,000 consumers across the U.S., U.K. and China, Gartner found VPA use is on the rise. An average of more than 37% of users in the U.S. and U.K. use a VPA at least one time per day, if not more.
- Gartner found that Apple's Siri and Google Now are the most-used smartphone VPAs.
Dive Insight:
Gartner's more VPA-focused future is not that far off. Consumers will more and more rely on smart assistants, such as Siri or Alexa, to interact with their devices. As VPAs become more intelligent and intuitive — not to mention receptive and accustomed to user needs — they will grow into a dominate and seamless form of device interaction.
Eventually the days of Siri saying, "sorry, I didn't catch that," will be over. As consumers start asking more of their devices, companies will have to keep up, providing more intelligent services. "These systems will be able to deliver more complex tasks such as completing a transaction based on past, present and predicted context," according to Gartner.
Soon VPAs will integrate in the business as well, creating a touch-free experience where users can simply ask devices for the information they need, or the messages they want to send. It is up to the enterprise to smartly integrate VPA technology into the workflow to allow for an easy end user experience that allows employees to work more efficiently.
