The Real Problem with Digital Assistants

Business people all had real assistants, people who helped them. Now, on our mobile devices, we all have digital assistants (i.e. Siri, Alexa, S-Voice etc.) on our mobile devices. They’ve become the virtual assistants of those once vital Girl Friday.

In some ways, it’s an idea whose time has come. Back in the days, we weren’t sending emails. We weren’t writing Word documents. We weren’t copying and pasting documents. Computers changed everything… Now, we work electronically.

Today, having a stenographer show up to do our documents in shorthand in the office wouldn’t make sense. Carbon paper was a big mess, and no one misses those blue or black sheets. As personal computers took over the office, it’s totally understandable that Girl Siri, or Girl Alexa, or Girl S-Voice showed up to take up the slack.

However, the electronic digital assistants on our mobile devices have some limitations as well. They are just some software running in this small mobile device. And, in truth, people relate better to other people than they do to software. It would be better if we could have a digital assistant that could appear looking like a favorite movie star, a handsome stranger, or even a doppelganger. It would be better if they understood the context of everything without us telling it. It would be better if it could proactively look at our calendar and daily habits and anticipate our needs as another person might.

BonziBuddy actually followed the concept of the Microsoft Office Assistant, the character named Clippy that would wake up and ask if you needed help. It was cool because it built an emotional connection with humans.

Here’s a list of must have characteristics for a truly wonderful digital assistant:

• It would have to be someone to whom I could relate, perhaps a hologram.
• I would be able to issue commands and always be understood.
• It would jump across all of my mobile devices independent of operating system.
• It would remember my context and independently remind me of things based on that context.
• It would use context to identify, flag, and highlight critically important tasks proactively.
• It would get more intelligent daily through artificial intelligence.

I would respond better. I think anyone would. Imagine having a similar assistant for your supply chain system or your warehouse management system (WMS). Have you a need for such systems? Would that make your life easier? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.