Business is moving in the digital direction more and more, and companies are developing Artificial Intelligence (or AI) programs that can replace people. Future Group has just announced their plan to integrate Virtual Personal Assistant (or VPA) technology with 350 grocery stores, and they have long-term plans to roll out VPA tech in 10,000 stores within five years.

Future Group isn’t the only company with big plans for AI, since IT service companies such as Infosys, Mindtree, and Wipro are making big plans for AI as well. AI is allowing companies to better cater to individual customers based on their interests, which is why several industries will be using them more instead of hiring people.

The retail industry will be integrating VPA technology in order to better cater to individual customers. If a customer likes a certain kind of product, the VPA will be able to figure out which product in the store will be best for that customer. The only teams that will need to be dynamic are the store associates and marketing teams, which will be serving these real-time offers.

VPAs will soon be integrated into manufacturing, in order to track machine performance. VPAs will predict any machine failures and prescribe the type of maintenance that the machines will need. Factory managers will ask VPAs queries in order to figure out the tasks for each machine and to figure out how to reset the machines when the production cycle changes based on changes in the market demand.

Logistics is a huge industry, but it is low on tech and waiting for technological innovation. AI technology will soon disrupt trucking since it will provide predictive maintenance. VPAs will allow truckers to manage the client’s cargo better. They will also be able to explain schedules to warehouse managers and predict the movement of crates based on scheduled ship-ins and ship-outs.

VPAs will be very helpful in the healthcare industry since they can help doctors dynamically understand the histories of their patients. Doctors will be able to get dashboards from VPAs on the various treatments and appointments of their patients. VPAs will be able to tell doctors about their patients’ symptoms, and then create a dashboard of incidents and the remedies or therapies suggested over a period of time.

Banks are using VPAs more and more since they have large staffs with massive amounts of paperwork. VPAs will be able to make banks more efficient by offering virtual options. People will be able to open their accounts with virtual agents, without needing employees to man the centre. Conversational apps will also be able to help people open their accounts, and people will be able to buy insurance policies from bank channels. This will allow bank staffs to be more efficient, without such huge amounts of unneeded paperwork.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

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