Just as the physical world once relied exclusively on bricks-and-mortar buildings and mail-order catalogs to serve consumers, organizations today—for-profits, nonprofits, governments and NGOs alike—now promote, sell, and deliver most of their products and services via online platforms and mobile apps.
We appreciate the power of this consumer-centric model because we enjoy the freedom and convenience it provides. We can start and end every online session using whatever device and interface we have at our disposal, whenever and wherever we choose.
The pervasive self-service model of smartphones and touchscreens fits the e-commerce model and other digital markets—including social media and self-care—perfectly.
The graphic below shows how this internet + AI model has delivered once-unimaginable value and convenience to consumers of all stripes since the mid-1990s.
Self-service, self-care versus caring for someone else
When it comes to e-caregiving—what we call “e-care”—there’s a problem.
Self-care apps fit today’s self-service consumer model because they enable users to care for themselves, not others. Caring for someone else, however, is the antithesis of caring for oneself.
Self-care is also a singular, transactional customer experience, whereas caregiving is fundamentally a shared activity. Caregivers proactively “give” or share their time and energy to care for another person—a relative, friend, or client.
In short, caregiving—caring for someone else—is the virtual opposite of self-care.
Caregiving done right is holistic and based on a relationship developed between two people over time.
Whereas self-care using the web—or “care-consuming”—is based on repeated transactions between an individual end-user and an app that supports prompt-response interactions, usually via text, about a disease or condition.
Once a self-care session ends, so does the care-receiving—until the user activates the app again.
Today’s caregiving, by contrast, still happens in real-time, in-person or, when caregivers can’t be physically present, via a phone or video call.
And when they can’t connect in-person or via phone, family caregivers don’t stop thinking about their aging relative. Instead, they worry whether their loved one is “ok” and consider whether there are other ways or other people who might help watch over and support their care recipient in their absence.
What if voice chatbots could be configured to be “present” like a human caregiver?
What if a next-gen chatbot could proactively talk with and support someone else on behalf of a caregiver or caregiving team?
The untapped potential of a virtual, configurable presence
For a caregiver to monitor and support an aging loved one who’s two blocks or two states away via a voice-AI agent (VAI), the path is clear:
Set up and configure a VAI to “say” what the caregiver would say if they were physically present, on days and at times that work for both the caregiver and the care recipient.
By now, caregivers should be able to configure VAIs to proactively do this and much more, including:
Converse with a care recipient about a variety of topics
Check in regularly about how they’re feeling and other timely concerns
Help them access and navigate online services (e.g., listen to music) or control smart-home devices (e.g., TVs or door locks) via voice
Remind them to do things that might please or benefit them (e.g., go for a walk, call a friend, take their meds, or stay hydrated)
A caregiver, in other words, should be able to set up and configure a VAI not just for themselves—as we do today—but to serve the needs and wishes of their older parent or, if they’re a paid professional, an aging or chronically ill client.
Tomorrow: The two innovations that will finally make the web work for caregivers and care recipients alike. Stay tuned …