What you missed in Big Data: The chatbots are multiplying

Enterprise technology vendors are rushing to get on the chatbot bandwagon. Last week saw IBM Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. add their names to the list by announcing a partnership to deliver artifical intelligence services for the latter's collaboration software. According to the companies, the development effort will focus primarily on providing "real-time advice and handling tasks". They didn't go into more detail, but offered a few examples of how the upcoming chatbot functionality might come handy. Financial advisors, for instance, could have certain investment recommendations generated automatically when talking with clients via Cisco WebEx.