A detailed look at the future of custobots

In the recently published book ‘When machines become customers’, the reader is sucked into a new world. Something big is about to happen: IoT-enabled devices that order their own spare parts and AI-equipped purchasing systems that place purchase orders. Everyone knows they exist but few will have thought about the consequences as thoroughly as the authors of this book. According to them, the transition will take 20 years and will eventually be bigger than e-commerce.

The strength of the book is that the authors are not afraid to go into depth and describe in detail how custobots will develop over the coming years and what kind of ecosystems companies will need to deal with them. Thus, it is not only a visionary book but also a practical one.

‘When machines become customers’ (2023), by Don Scheibenreif and Mark Raskino, Gartner Inc., 233 pages, €25,90 (Amazon)