‘But voice biometrics isn’t new?!’ a colleague commented recently during a discussion about voice artificial intelligence. And it’s true, it’s not new. So why are we so excited about what’s happening in the voice space at the moment?
Voice biometrics can already be used as a means of authentication in contact centres. A customer’s identity can be verified against their pre-recorded voice print whilst they explain why they are calling, avoiding having to go through personal data and passwords. This is a great example of new technology removing friction and reducing fraud at the same time.
But it’s not just in fraud analytics where voice recognition can augment banking services. Soon we may be able to use voice commands to do things like check our balance. In the future, voice-based services will also become more intelligent, knowing when to transfer customers to representatives either at certain points in a process or by sensing emotion, e.g. frustration, without having to re-authenticate the customer. Natural language processing may also enable calls to be analysed and key words identified to complete documentation and digitise journeys.
Many of us use voice-based AI through our mobile phones and in our homes with Alexa, Siri and Google Home. We already ask these voice assistants to do basic tasks like tell us about the weather, play music or set a timer. We expect voice assistants will continue to become smarter, enabling us to do more with voice commands using natural speech patterns, including making appointments and reordering items as well as searching online. Gone will be the days of walking into things whilst looking at screens, voice assistants will allow us to engage with our surroundings whilst getting all the information we need on the go.
In addition, household goods will soon be ‘smart home’ enabled allowing us to integrate our appliances, home security devices, thermostats, etc., with a voice assistant so that we can do even more on command. Also, imagine a workplace where voice AI is used: from ‘Alexa print my spreadsheet’, to scheduling meetings, booking travel and preparing graphs all without typing a word. Voice assistants will also help you safely multi-task whilst driving and even augment your leisure time with voice activated video games.
It’s no great leap from companies using voice AI to augment their services, to using it to support analysis of customer behaviours. Scaled Insights, one of the companies in which Nationwide has invested, uses behavioural AI to analyse a person’s language and determine their personality type, to help us understand how they process information and how this influences their choices. Scaled Insights is working with insurers, financial advisors and health care providers to provide better experiences through tailoring services.
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You may be sceptical about having natural conversations with a device, or think that the idea of transacting with your bank via a personal assistant will never take off. But already younger demographics are demonstrating a much higher level of comfort with voice channels and future generations look likely to accelerate the move to voice-based services. Tech companies recognise this; Google’s latest moves suggest that its vision is to dominate the smart home market through hardware tied in with its Google voice assistant.
So now you see why we’re excited about voice AI. If you are too (or even if you’re not) get in touch, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
By Meredith Scarf