Every day we seem to talk further and oftener with our devices, regularly blurting out “okay google” or “Hey Siri”, as an immediate means to discovering the information we’re searching for, scheduling a reminder, or playing your favorite tunes. Not only are you speaking to these voice assistants but they are speaking back with human-like understanding, reading words from our favorite texts, informing us how to get to our next destination, and cracking jokes on command. 

With such a continually evolving technology, it’s only inevitable that it will have a direct effect on the business landscapes of the now and the not so distant future. 

Voice Technology Today

A modern marketing trend is the increase of personalization in the manner we connect with brands, our devices, and the world. Nothing is more personal than a voice saying 

“Hey Name, I brought up several articles that match your prior preferences.”

Not merely does it know you but it’s beginning to identify you on a deeper level thanks to the advancement of AI integration. Voice with AI is powerful in learning your preferences, prior behavior, and the data you consume. Resulting in customized experiences for you as the end-user. 

Current voice-powered devices are extensions of the internet giving them a new standard of relevance, with connection to your localized weather, time of day, and more with a few simple spoken phrases. 

Amazon recently filed a patent that would strive to create highly relevant and personal experiences based on gender, age, and even your accent. Just imagine encountering a person for the first time that knows your interest, without having to be told. 

Integrating Voice into your Current Infrastructure

Regardless of your business sector, you can benefit from the adoption of voice technologies. There is an extensive variety of ready to deploy applications on the market already. 

• Text-to-Speech–as your reading this article you will notice that you can click the small speaker at the start of the article. This will chime in a robotic voice that will read this article to you out loud. This function was easy to integrate with a simple on-site code.  
• Voice search is becoming an integral part of how we conduct searches, whether it’s through our assistant device like google home, cellphone, or via google by clicking the little microphone. 
• IVR’s you may have noticed many of the automated answering machines that continually say for sales press one, for etc press 2, have began asking real-time questions based on the information you are providing, giving you an answer directly from your account on their database. Banking has pushed this adoption at a growing rate. 
• Integration with your business apps. Whether it’s scheduling appointments, integration with your internal systems to make locating information quicker, or automating day-to-day commands with voice commands. 
• Intelligent chatbots powered with databases. Sure current bots have limits with conversation, but when merged with massive databases and deep learning bots can become super-powered FAQ systems that can become the ultimate customer service representative who answers questions via your phone system or voice chat. 

This list can go on and on, as the current use cases are growing daily. The biggest players in the battle for voice dominance are Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, with other systems such as IBM Watson providing voice solutions. If you’re interested in learning how to use these platforms, all of them offer free learning materials are found via a simple voice search on google. 

A Personalized Future Powered by Voice 

Ever watched Iron Man? Iron Man has an AI system that interacts with him named Jarvis. Jarvis is the perfect example of what we are striving for with current voice technology. A seamless extension of ourselves that acts like more of a friend, having conversations with us on a personal level. 

These future technologies will expand far from being In your pocket to instead sitting beside you as your little robot friend or virtual avatar, who monitors your health, does simple chores, reads stories to your children, reminds you to take your pills, uses facial recognition to measure your emotions, and connects to all your devices. Following you from your home to your car, and your mobile device like an all-knowing digital presence, who knows you better than yourself. 

You’re probably saying, “this is far off” but we are already seeing the shift. Did you know that Apple hired a therapist to help develop Siri? Why you ask? 

“People have serious conversations with Siri. People talk to Siri about all kinds of things, including when they’re having a stressful day or have something serious on their mind. They turn to Siri in emergencies or when they want guidance on living a healthier life.”

Voice powered AI-enhanced technologies are the evolution of something much larger, that will change the way we live and interact with the world, the ways we do business, how we use our data, and how we merge our personal lives directly with technology. 

https://mashable.com/2017/09/15/apple-wants-programming-therapists-for-siri/?europe=true

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/voice-technology-personalization/

https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/resources/training-resources

https://assistant.google.com/learn/