Frost & Sullivan research found the visible market success of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven interactive virtual assistants (IVAs), such as Alexa from Amazon and the Google Assistant, has been matched by specialized IVA deployments in various vertical markets such as financial services, education, and retail. Healthcare has presented opportunities for enterprise-grade IVAs that can support operational and medical workflows as well as provide various information services directly to patients.

This market insight reviews the current market landscape for consumer and healthcare enterprise-grade IVAs. It includes the mass-market brands that have become household members. The healthcare markets are served by several additional participants, including Nuance Dragon, eClinicalWorks Eva, and Alme from Next IT (now part of Verint). The report segments the market into mass-market interactive voice services; healthcare interactive voice services; Voice/speech recognition software and platforms; customer engagement solutions; and AI technology enablers. The input from these segments has benefited patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Major questions this report will answer include:
·     What are the macro trends behind the interest in AI in the mass market and healthcare?
·     Which companies are providing the mix of voice and speech recognition software and platforms?
·     Which workflow tasks can become more efficient by offering voice interfaces?
·     How can physicians benefit from IVAs that are available in an examining room?
·     What are the AI-driven IVA services that will benefit patients?
·     What are the benefits associated with currently available IVAs?
·     What are the strategic imperatives that industry participants must fulfill to ensure ongoing success and market growth?

Frost & Sullivan research predicts that the IVA market will evolve over the short term to improve the patient experience by offering an interface that can make decisions, solve problems, and determine when a patient query must be transferred to a human operator to be fully addressed. Moving forward, one should not be surprised to see virtual assistants performing various functions in the medical establishment that will improve the healthcare experience for patients, families, physicians, nurses, and call center workers.