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Digital Personal Assistants to be the future interface of choice?

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You may have noticed digital personal assistants starting to be mentioned more in the press, but why are they important and why has Samsung acquired Viv (Siri team’s latest start up)?
When we think about the most natural interface for a human, obviously talking with another human is the easiest and most intuitive approach. This is the original and most used interface for humans to communicate with each other, soif you can make a personal assistant interact in this way it can reduce the friction of dealing with a small device or multi-tasking whilst driving, walking, running etc.
However the real value of a personal digital assistant is that once it gets really good at its job (learning your preferences, contacts, calendar, favourite brands, birthdays etc) then it becomes incredibly sticky. Does a consumer want to switch to a new assistant and have to retrain from scratch? If you can also have this knowledge spread across all your devices and apps it starts to get really powerful.
A really well done personal assistant can replace Google for search and become the prime interface to the digital world. For this reason the big players have to take this space very seriously, which is why they are willing to spend significant money on internal projects and making large acquisitions.
While many of these solutions are currently using voice as the mode of interaction, in the future they will be accessible or reach you through, voice, text, email and any other interface you chose. Just like the human equivalent, they will pick the best option for each situation i.e reading texts you receive whilst you are driving.
I believe we are still a generation or two away from really seeing the value these assistants can provide, but you can see the trend and the improvement with each generation. The potential is endless, especially if they can start to automate tasks and provide the user with the information they need, when they need it – like the very best human assistant. When this happens, having the best digital assistant helping you across all modes of digital interaction will become the key differentiator in hardware, software and lead service provider selection. Hence the next critical battlefront for the big internet and device players.

Estimated reading time: 2 min

 

Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.

What are the key risks?

  1. You could lose all the money you invest
    1. If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invested. Most start-up businesses fail.
  2. You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong
    1. Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here.
    2. Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.
  3. You won’t get your money back quickly
    1. Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early.
    2. The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.
    3. If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.
  4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
    1. Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.
    2. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments. https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest
  5. The value of your investment can be reduced
    1. The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.
    2. These new shares could have additional rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

 

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here.