Raghu Ravinutala is CEO and cofounder of enterprise-grade conversational AI platform Yellow.ai. Globally, conversational AI solutions have seen a significant uptick in the past few years, with Covid-19 being a true inflection point as the technology transitioned from a "good-to-make" to a "must-make" investment. And the demand graph has just continued to soar higher in the following months, bolstered by continued innovations in this space. In fact, according to Report Linker, "The Global Conversational AI Market is expected to grow by $1.14 bn during 2022-2026." While there has been noteworthy progress in the field of conversational AI, there is still room for advancements that can tackle limitations that restrict the true potential of the technology. Manual data training is one such limitation.

Operations in the telecommunications industry is often said to be one of the most complex aspects of the business to run, and the most successful telcos tend to be those that outperform at this task. It requires a simultaneous, coordinated, and dynamic approach across business units, each of which alone would be a giant business to run. In recent years, artificial intelligence has had the potential to simplify the task by optimizing various functions that make up operations. Telcos are only just beginning to utilize that promise, with operators finding success with AI solutions that help optimize service operations journeys, such as the in-store customer experience, call center use, and deployment of employees in stores, call centers, and the field. The intensely challenging economic landscape that telcos have had to navigate in recent years makes the prospect of investment in new solutions daunting.

Recent innovations in technology and the COVID-19 pandemic spurred many organizations to embrace automation. This includes incorporating intelligent automation to streamline their workflows. But while organizations are becoming smarter, consumers are asking for more human interaction. While the latest digital technologies have enabled organizations to thrive by making their operations more efficient, streamlined, and cost-effective, there's still the pressing need to incorporate personalization and humanization into their digital transformation strategies. How can the modern workplace ensure that its employees can adapt to digital transformation challenges?

A long-term fallout of the Covid crisis has been the rise of the contactless enterprise, in which customers, and likely employees, interact with systems to get what they need or request. This means a pronounced role for artificial intelligence and machine learning, or conversational AI, which add the intelligence needed to deliver superior customer or employee experience. Deloitte recently analyzed patents in the area of conversational AI to assess the direction of the market -- and the technology has been developing quickly. "Rapid adoption of conversational AI will likely be underpinned by innovations in the various steps of chatbot development that have the potential to hasten the creation and training of chatbots and enable them to efficiently handle complex requests -- with a personal touch," the analyst team, led by Deloitte's Sherry Comes, writes. Conversational AI is a ground-breaking application for AI, agrees Chris Hausler, director of data science for Zendesk.

Data democratization should be a top concern for every company moving forward. We're approaching a point where the problem of too much data (and too few insights) can't be ignored any longer. Companies are generating more customer, employee and operational data than ever. But that data remains underleveraged and, in some cases, a liability. According to a report from Splunk, 55% of the data in every organization is "dark data," or "all the unknown and untapped data across your organization, generated by systems, devices and interactions."

If 2020 was the year that forced the acceleration of digital transformation, this year will be the year that tests which companies can reimagine the new rules of business and find opportunities to innovate. Atop the list of technologies driving this change are artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, which together enable companies to accelerate productivity and augment customer and employee experiences. While most get that AI and automation are keys to future scale and optimization, many don't realize the potential to reimagine the future of work and business through operational and business model innovation. While some companies are using technology to incrementally make existing systems and processes more efficient, others are finding ways to introduce entirely new customer and employee experiences that unlock new business value. With this vision, businesses can alter their trajectory and explore the art of the possible.

The AI chatbot: almost every organisation should consider designing and deploying one to differentiate themselves to both their customers and employees. The main reason organisations should adopt AI chatbots is because they're available 24/7. Customers and employees (perhaps on a work trip in another time zone) can get a response almost immediately and the technology enables consistent messaging with every interaction. If someone is going through a customer call centre, for example, there's not always a consistent message being delivered for the brand. Indeed, the main use case that Katie Gibbs, head of AI at BJSS -- the privately-owned business and technology consultancy -- has seen is where organisations use an AI chatbot to reduce the strain on their call centres.

Hand an orchestra instruments but no sheet music, and you'll get a cacophony. Create customer and employee experiences without a holistic, user-centered approach and you'll get a technology mishmash that fails to meet user needs. From apps to AR/VR wearables, digital channels are disrupting industries and driving demand from customers and employees for more frictionless, intelligent and personalized experiences. While new innovations can optimize user experience, too often enterprises adopt technologies based on hype instead of taking a deliberate, well-thought approach. This results in busted budgets, undesired services and an inability to meet business objectives.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is penetrating industries from healthcare to advertising, transportation, finance, legal, education, and hospitality. Many of us may have already interacted with a chatbot on platforms like Facebook Messenger, Slack, or We Chat. Chatbots are defined as an automated, yet personalized, conversation between software and human users. The hospitality industry makes heavy use of chatbots to create more compelling customer and employee experiences. Consider Marriott's Chatbotlr, a chatbot that helps customers make service requests from their smartphones.

Mixed Reality and Humanizing Artificial Intelligence: New Accenture Report Highlights the Evolving Role of Design as More Innovative, Responsive and Emotive Than Ever Fjord Trends 2017 takes a provocative look at the digital developments to watch in the year ahead, according to Fjord, design and innovation from Accenture Interactive NEW YORK; Dec. 13, 2016 – If this year has taught us anything, it's that digital technologies and hyper-connectivity are bringing user-led innovation to market faster than ever. Successful organizations today are those that best adapt and respond to unceasing change. Against this backdrop, Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has released Fjord Trends 2017, its tenth and most provocative annual report examining the most significant emergent digital trends expected to disrupt organizations and society in the year ahead. Three meta themes emerged, challenging long-held norms and assumptions. The rise of the autonomous vehicle, smart homes and digital assistants is creating new ecosystems that threaten the smartphone's dominance as the main command center of our lives.