Less than a year ago, a search using the term “Intelligent Assistant” would generate a number of links to the Web sites of individuals who offer to do administrative chores as part of the on-demand economy. Today the first blue link on Google is to a Wikipedia page describing a “software agent” that performs tasks or services for an individual. In the lead paragraph, Wikipedia’s contributors cite a short list of what I would call Mobile Personal Assistants (MPAs): Apple’s Siri, Braina, Google’s Google Now, Amazon Echo, Microsoft’s Cortana, Samsung’s S Voice, LG’s Voice Mate, Blackberry’s Assistant, SILVIA and HTC’s Hidi.

This roster of solutions pays short shrift to the much broader community of solutions and Intelligent Assistance platforms. These resources combine natural language processing, machine learning, semantic search, speech recognition and related technologies to enable to individuals to use the terms that they are comfortable with to take control of their digital lives. They may feel like they run on smartphones, but they can also be the brains behind an automated chat resource on an enterprise’s Web site or the human-like interactive voice response (IVR) system integrated with a customer care contact center.

In the latter case the leading firms which collectively account for hundreds of installations in dozens of countries include: [24]7-Intelliresponse, Aivo (Agentbot), Artificial Solutions, Creative Virtual, IBM Watson, Interactions, Kasisto, Next IT, noHold, Nuance, SmartAction or Verbio. Each offers a flavor of automated platform designed to simplify and accelerate how individuals get their questions answered, reach the right resources, or complete a transaction by using computer power, analytics, knowledge management and related technologies to enable people to take command of their commercial conversations using their own words. Call them “Enterprise Intelligent Assistants” (EIAs)

From an individual’s perspective MPAs feel like local resources. They can be used to take control of the functions and applications on a smartphone. Often they are used for messaging, schedule management, navigation and personal health management. Using Google Now as an example, an MPA can ingest a tremendous amount of personal information from the phone’s calendar and address book, marry it to other metadata, like location, recent search queries or the content of texts or emails and then make suggestions or take actions on the individual’s behalf.

The challenge for the leading MPA platforms (specifically Siri, Google Now and Cortana) is to provide a consistently successful experience for smartphone owners. It is the cyber equivalent of High Noon every time a young gun comes into play. So it was when Hound from SoundHound launched on Android phones and showcased its ability to do rapid-order understanding of natural language commands in multiple contexts.

Meanwhile EIAs are quickly morphing from “assistants” into “advisors.” Informed by decades of FAQs, contents of Web chats and transcripts of contact center recordings, EIA platforms are able to provide human-like emulations of “the best agents” responding to increasingly complex questions or challenges. They benefit from investment in “deep learning” and “predictive analytics” which enable them to anticipate the purpose of a contact, quickly recognize intent and respond in a way successfully helps them complete their tasks. No repeating, single contact, mission accomplished.

MPAs will not be experts in every vertical topic because they have no financial incentive to do so. Instead, they will learn to engage with expert advisors, meaning EIAs, with deep knowledge of their company’s products, services and procedures. Financial services, healthcare, travel and hospitality and consumer technology stand out as areas where EIAs will evolve from “assistants” to “advisors” and, by mimicking the best practices of the best live agents, will be able to march individuals through all stages of digital commerce, from search to discovery to product selection to vendor engagement to purchase.

In addition (and this will be the topic of a forthcoming post), they will involve the advice of or transfer contacts to live agents – by design or by algorithm.