Chatbots enter centre-stage 

▪ With messaging apps on the rise, chatbots are increasing in popularity among businesses and consumers alike.

Chatbots are artificial intelligence systems that enable customer engagement via messaging, text, or speech 

▪ Popularity of chatbots is mainly driven by increasing demand for 24/7 customer support at a lower operational cost.

There are continued initiatives to develop self-learning chatbots to deliver a more human-like conversational experience 

▪ The chatbot ecosystem is quickly expanding despite the relatively robust space that currently exists, with examples being companies such as atSpoke, Drift, and Netomi. The underlying technology and platforms for chatbots include deployment channels, third-party chatbots, companies that provide the technology for building chatbots, and native bots 

▪ By 2024, Insider Intelligence predicts that consumer retail spending via chatbots worldwide will reach $142bn – up from just $2.8bn in 2019