Meet Your New Digital Personal Assistant

As your business continues to grow, so do your tasks lists and obligations, perhaps you find yourself wishing that you can have your workload better organized and that you can have questions answered in a simple and efficient way. What you are wishing for is the ever improving digital personal assistants. Now mostly hands-free, the busy business people of the world are using their phones and tablets to get a leg up on their workload and reprioritize their lives and schedules. A DPA can assist in both writing messages and emails, organize calendars and alarms, and even skim content in messages and websites for you. You don’t need to have an iPhone to access Siri-like assistance anymore, and you can use them across multiple devices. In this article, we will cover how DPAs can assist you in your everyday work and personal life, different types of applications, and even give you a few recommendations on which products to integrate into for a more managed life.

So first of all, what exactly is a DPA and why is everyone starting to use them? Activated by voice, your DPA is designed through advanced algorithms to help you be more productive in your daily routine. There are four main types of DPA that are commonly used, often referred to as the Fab Four: Siri, Google, Cortana, and Alexa. They are developing away from just voice activated requests into what is now being called an intelligent assistant who can help you predict your needs. Just like a human in person assistant, these apps and devices look at your interests, travel plans, and daily work activities to figure out how to best serve you. While this may seem sci-fi like or even intrusive to some individuals, the advances that Google and Amazon are making into the field of DPAs can help better manage your time by setting alarms for you, assisting in calendaring, and perhaps our favorite feature, reading emails and presenting you with the necessary content. They even keep up with your subscriptions, stay on top of your bills, and remind you of events you wanted to go to. What was once limited to the phone can now connect to a network and work on all your devices. Whether you are on the go in the car, working from your desktop at home or on the move with your phone your DPA can come with you across multiple devices. It’s hard to resist something so handy that takes the burden of small tasks off your hands, especially if it helps carve out an hour for personal time without dropping the ball on any of your commitments.

Then why do some people opt out of DPAs? There is still a lot of innovation happening in this field, and sometimes it seems like there is a new upgraded model to be purchased every day. Some people do not like how quickly the DPA seems to updated and are worried about entrusting older devices with this level of management. Other concerns hint at the intrusiveness of a DPA that has access to your emails, to your contacts, and in some cases even your bank account. On some smartphones the voice command can be faulty at best, leading you to repeat “Siri” or “Ok Google” a dozen times to get the right search or the right alarm set. Other problems are that these devices run off of the assumption that you always have access to Wi-Fi or data of some sort. All voice commands require internet or data., and while for most that does not present a problem, bringing along your DPA on an out of network vacation could leave you frustrated. What is important to know about this digital trend is that a DPA is meant to make your life easier, and while all the kinks have not been worked out of the programs, they continue to grow in recognition to voice and in abilities. While you can voice activate your device to schedule an event, it will keep track of events and items that you manually program as well.

So which DPA should you be choosing from? As we mentioned the Fab four are the perfect place to start on your adventure to organizing your life with a digital personal assistant. It really depends on what you are looking for and the type of technology you currently have or plan on buying. The Alexa, or the Amazon echo, is a computer type device that uses the Echo to work with different devices. It is a stand alone unit you need to purchase and is great for scheduling and even reading your web articles as you go about your busy day. Getting in early on the Echo might be a good idea because it is not limited to a phone and operates on a larger network it’s direction will go towards interconnectivity with other devices, even your oven! However, if you are a long term Apple product user, and are all decked out in Apple products, then learning Siri is perhaps your best option. Siri is considered the original when it comes to DPA devices, and has a strong personality and is more user-friendly. Many people use Siri to do basic functions on their phones, but as Apple advances the technology Siri has also become more advanced. Finally, the Okay, Google for Androids is an excellent application with a built in google browser, perfect for the researcher on the go. This option allows you to use the whole Google database with simple voice commands. Don’t expect a sassy Siri from this particular platform, as it is not quite developed to have a personality.

Regardless on which device you choose to start with, in a few years, the DPAs will be so well tuned that most people will be opting in to using them to better manage their lives. As a goal orientated business person it’s hard to ignore technology geared to make your life more organized, and all without you needing to type. For the entrepreneur on the go, a DPA seems like the perfect fit in developing and expanding your business.