Browser-Free Living

Where Are We Headed?

Messaging will continue to evolve into a ubiquitous platform that powers every point of contact in our daily life. The substitution of WorkBots for websites means that information will come find you in realtime and in context - instead of thrashing around on remote islands of outdated communication systems far away from where employees and customers are gathering.

Messaging platforms like Slack combined with Woobot.io will tie video calls, group chats, tailored notifications, enterprise data, and file sharing into one universe of productivity.

Messaging is the only interface in which the machine communicates with you much the same as the way you communicate with it. - Jonathan Libov

Businesses that solve the problems with the passive browser, while delighting users with unexpected offerings, will become the new competitive advantage.

Messaging Apps Are Eating Our Time

As a new generation enters the workforce, they play by their own rules as messaging apps are becoming the preferred way to communicate with the next generation.

From a statistical standpoint, time spent in social and messaging apps grew by an astounding 394% over the last year.

It's about getting information in the fastest most efficient way possible - woven into the messaging apps we know and love today.

That's the kind of advantage messaging apps have over the traditional browser. Simply ask, and you shall receive.

Bring It On

Information consumption is trending in a way that makes it more personal and relevant to us as individuals - to the extent that the end of the browser as we know it is far from a premature notion.

CMSWire put this into perspective:

In fact, a recent Forrester report found that messaging and social apps capture more user attention than any other type, with 80 percent of a user’s time being spent on just five applications. That means that people not only no longer need browsers to communicate with each other but have less incentive than ever to venture onto the wider web.

Chat apps are dialing-in information by curating what we tell them we want to see.

In his Medium article, Ted Livingston made a fantastic observation:

Chatbots today are where websites were in the mid-1990s. They’re basic, but they have a fundamental friction advantage. And they will get better and better, until they’re indistinguishable from native apps.

All the talk around Machine Learning and AI comes into play here. Suggested responses using AI and ML will continue to reduce friction even further between users and the end goal, whether that be a purchase, an action, or a destination.

In the end, employees and customers will demand that the consumer grade experiences they enjoy today be translated into this new model.

Get ready.