With the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses around the world had to shift to a more remote and hybrid work model very quickly. Many businesses which were digitally updated were well equipped to efficiently engage with their audience, while the ones that were digitally lagging had a difficult time coping up. Businesses that had AI powered virtual assistance in place were able to provide their customers support in a much better manner as compared to those who didn’t.
Chatbots and Voicebots were considered to be a blessing for businesses during the pandemic. Brands were able to reach out to their audience for any query or assistance via conversational assistants in a manner that was immensely effective during the pandemic – when the world had practically shut down.
- With Internet Explorer shutting down we can say that the world has actively entered Web 3.0.
- Web 3.0 is basically the third generation of the world wide web widely known as Web. Web 3.0 brings to us the evolution of internet and world wide web.
- This is the next generation of internet and it gives complete control to individuals to own their data in a way like never before.
- It is decentralized and holds the potential to transform the entire internet experience altogether.
- This new phenomenon (Web 3.0) was created by Gavin Wood in 2014, he is also the founder of Ethereum.
- Web 3.0 gives people a real-life feeling in a virtual set up. It is much more advanced than Web 2.0 and one word closely linked with Web 3.0 is Metaverse.
What is Metaverse
Metaverse typically means – A virtual reality space where people from different parts of the world can connect and interact with computer-generated environments and other participants. This is not a new concept to the world, it was previously seen in an animated series called Jonny Quest in 1964 and a few more. The Metaverse aims to provide people a virtual space to perform day-to-day functions like holding meetings, shopping, hosting events and concerts etc.
According to Gartner’s 2022 research, 25 percent of people will spend at least an hour everyday in the Metaverse by 2026. The research also claims that 30% of businesses will be well equipped with Metaverse ready services and products by 2026.
Innovations which were previously unimaginable are becoming reality, and we are living it. With global brands investing in Metaverse we can say that it is going to be bigger than ever.
Metaverse comes with tons of opportunities for businesses to interact with their audience. With concerts and event beings hosted, goodies in the form of NFTs and collectibles being distributed and virtual fashion shows and shops being set up it is not wrong to say that the world is ready to make the switch from a real to a virtual world experience.
AI Powered Conversational Bots in Metaverse
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to play a very vital role in augmenting the Metaverse by enabling natural and real human-like interactions and conversations in the form of real time chat and voice assistance, avatars, mascots etc. When people are in a virtual set up which is closest to reality, with real life interface, they also expect communication and engagement that resemble their real life. A recent study by Markets and Markets states that speech and voice recognition market size is estimated to grow from $8.3 billion in 2021 to $22 billion in 2026.
Businesses can now leverage the power of Conversational AI and give their audience a consistent and elevated experience in what is said to be the next big platform for B2C interactions – Metaverse. Brands can now revolutionize their customer support channel and effectively communicate with their audience in a much better manner. Many industry experts speculate that the customer support businesses offer will evolve and become a virtual speech-first approach in times to come. This will be a big breakthrough in the way brands communicate with their customers.
With brands shifting to the virtual set up, their primary focus is indeed – providing their audience with the best customer experience. And one of the basic fundamentals of good customer experience is good customer support.
Metaverse means real human-like experience hence the customer support strategies businesses plan to implement on the platform need to do justice too. The conversational speech driven bots need to be developed keeping in mind the emotional aspect humans posses. These AI driven conversational bots must be built to have human like voice intonations, empathize with users, crack jokes, offer advice etc. in a way a human would.
To wrap it up…
The Metaverse is without a doubt an evolution in digital interactions – the way businesses interact with their audience. It is imperative for businesses to consider the adoption of “digital humans” in the form of Conversational AI, which have the potential to have speech driven conversations with real humans. These conversations will resemble real human voice and will hold an accent that is easy to comprehend, while also keeping the emotional aspect of dealing with real humans.
Speech and voice AI is a key element in shaping the customer experience on what is predicted to be the biggest breakthrough in todays world – Metaverse.
