It's the time of year where customer experience (CX) professionals and pundits dust off their crystal balls as the industry looks toward another year of uncertain opportunities and challenges. Last year raised the bar, as breakout technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent assistants and robotic automation, began to take hold and shift the CX paradigm as we know it. At the same time, CX quality has largely stalled. According to a Forrester Research report, multiple data sources show that customer confidence and spending are up, and expectations are rising as consumers interact with brands more than ever before. But the data also shows that trust in companies has dropped precipitously, which means brands are missing the mark in delivering on their customers' expectations.

Alexa is coming to smart glasses such as these. "Alexa, what is it I'm looking at?" You're used to summoning help from Amazon Alexa, the voice inside Amazon's Echo smart speaker in your kitchen or by your bed. If Amazon has its way, the artificial intelligent-infused Alexa digital assistant will be pretty much at your beck and call everywhere, and that means the bathroom, and even in a product such as the see-through augmented reality glasses that a company called Vuzix will be showcasing this week during the mammoth CES tech show in Las Vegas. More: You can't miss Google at tech's largest trade show this year Spreading Alexa's voice has been Amazon's vision for some time, and was a major theme at last year's CES too, with Alexa starting to infiltrate cars, fridges and other household appliances. This year Amazon, and its partners, are taking Alexa even further, which seems critical since rival Google has similar ambitions for its own Google Assistant, the voice inside Android phones and Google Home speakers.

Earlier this year, Loup Ventures found that Amazon has a early market share lead in the virtual assistant space. Loup reported the Amazon Echo controls about 70 percent of the smart speaker market, while Google Home accounts for 24 percent. A potential wildcard in the space could be the Apple (AAPL) HomePod. The Siri-powered HomePod is expected to be available in early 2018.

AI is finding its way into.

Some of the most popular gadgets over the holiday season were smart speakers with digital assistants from Amazon and Google . Apple is coming out with its own speaker this year; Microsoft and Samsung have partnered on another. As the annual CES gadget show kicks off in Las Vegas this week, manufacturers are expected to unveil even more voice-controlled devices -- speakers and beyond -- as Amazon and Google make their digital assistants available on a wider array of products. If these prove popular, you'll soon be able to order around much more of your house, including kitchen appliances, washing machines and other devices. CES is expected to draw more than 170,000 people, as some 4,000 exhibitors showcase their wares over the equivalent of nearly 50 football fields, or more than 11 New York city blocks.

At the end of 2017, we were not merely discussing what the future of marketing will be like. No longer are artificial intelligence, VR, voice activation and other tech next-generation concepts reserved for big budget brands to play around with. Nor are marketers trapped by the traditional tame, safe, and well-defined brand-consumer relationship. CMOs and marketing leaders across the board are using the future in today's marketing strategies, turning what was once viewed as'radical' into the riveting, ever-changing new version of'conventional.' It's much easier to get a clear view of what's ahead from the top of the mountain. This article is a round-up of the predictions by the industry's most visionary marketing directors, CEOs and chief content strategists.

The further development of intelligent assistants such as Amazon's Alexa has been a hot topic for a while now and, as our infographic illustrates, there is one very clear motivation for Jeff Bezos and his team to improve and expand on this tech - more sales. Based on research by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, the average Amazon user in the U.S. spends $1,000 per year at the site. Moving up the scale, Prime members seem to be justifying their extra monthly subscription costs by splashing out $1,300. But it's once someone becomes so tied into the world of Amazon that they buy and install an Echo in their home that they really start spending. With an average outlay of $1,700 per year, Amazon will really be looking to get Alexa in more homes as soon as they can.

When the engineers had at last finished their work, Eugenia Kuyda opened a console on her laptop and began to type. "This is your digital monument." It had been three months since Roman Mazurenko, Kuyda's closest friend, had died. Kuyda had spent that time gathering up his old text messages, setting aside the ones that felt too personal, and feeding the rest into a neural network built by developers at her artificial intelligence startup. She had struggled with whether she was doing the right thing by bringing him back this way. At times it had even given her nightmares. But ever since Mazurenko's death, Kuyda had wanted one more chance to speak with him. A message blinked onto the screen. "You have one of the most interesting puzzles in the world in your hands," it said. Kuyda promised herself that she would. Born in Belarus in 1981, Roman Mazurenko was the only child of Sergei, an engineer, and Victoria, a landscape architect. They remember him as an unusually serious child; when he was 8 he wrote a letter to his descendents declaring his most cherished values: wisdom and justice. In family photos, Mazurenko roller-skates, sails a boat, and climbs trees.

When Black Mirror first hit the air in 2011, it drew invariable comparisons to The Twilight Zone. Understandably so: Both shows dealt with elements of science fiction and psychological horror, and both functioned as anthology shows, with episodes so distinct from one another that an uninitiated viewer could plunge in at random and be as familiar with a given episode's premise as a seasoned fan. It was a selling point; it made the show easy to recommend to people who might be wary of committing to a complex, serialized narrative. But since its purchase by Netflix in 2015, Black Mirror has begun to chip away at its episodic edges. Technologies introduced in one installation reappear in another; news tickers on characters' TV screens chronicle events from previous episodes; musical cues repeat again and again.

But for many households, smart speaker adoption hasn't been planned. It's also followed a different trajectory than other gadgets like a new tablet or smartwatch, which you may hear about, read a few reviews on, and then decide to purchase yourself. In a survey conducted by Scripps Networks Interactive, many people said they ended up using smart home technology--in particular smart speakers--because they received them as gifts. While Scripps Networks' survey didn't detail the exact percentage of those who were gifted a smart speaker, the item was a hot topic in gift guides and buying guides this holiday season. One publication even called it "the best last minute gift you should buy."