Voice-to-Text Archives

FinovateSpring was a hotbed of future-looking technology. We spoke to Theo Lau, Innovator Technologist and Connector, Unconventional Ventures about why she thinks voice is the next UI.

Although voice may not a solution for all situations, there is no denying that the momentum and interest for voice technology is growing. In the Q3 2017 earnings report, Amazon disclosed that it has sold “tens of millions of Echo units” since the first release in 2015. According to “The Rise of Voice” report by Invoca, the voice opportunity is predicted to be worth more than $18 billion by 2023. Consumers have been using voice assistants from seeking information to playing music and shopping. Accessibility, convenience, and simplicity are some of the main reasons behind the user adoption. For those who cannot read or who may have trouble navigating the menu options on an app or website, ability to speak to a device offers a more intuitive option to obtain real-time information. Voice technology is also life-impacting for those suffering from isolation/loneliness. In all, it has the potential to become a more inclusive technology that can appeal to a board audience and serve a wide purpose.

Recognizing the potential and appeal, financial institutions such as Capital One, USAA, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and Ally Financial have begun experimenting with various use cases. Applications thus far are still fairly rudimentary and focused on basic interactions such as checking balance, paying bill, and tracking spending.

Though voice banking is still at its infancy, the industry is quite bullish on its future. Capgemini predicts that 3 years from now, 40 percent of consumers will use voice assistants rather than website or app, and 31 percent will use a voice device instead of visiting a store or branch. Separately, Medici forecasts that approximately 1.83 billion customers will be using voice assistants by 2021. Financial institutions should leverage insights harnessed from these interactions to adapt the conversation to reflect their brand identity and user’s profile. As suggested by Mark Taylor from Capgemini: “A brand today is an image, a set of colors, something you see on TV, on a website or in a store. With a voice channel, you see nothing, so a brand needs to have an audible image.”

While we might not be at the “promise land” yet where the virtual assistants become truly conversational, we have made great strides. As with any technology, empathy is key. AI and voice technology has the potential to make businesses more human, allowing banks to truly focus on their customers and become their true partners.

The time to start is now.

In all the discussions about mobile banking — will it be text-based, go through a mobile website, or do 225 million U.S. mobile phones all have to download some sort of an app — there is little discussion on an obvious use case, voice to text.

The only person I've heard talking about this publicly is Richard Crone of Crone Consulting, a fixture on the conference circuit, and the keynoter at SourceMedia's Mobile eCommerce conference in June (see our previous coverage here).

Here's what I want my bank, card company, and credit union to offer (assumes my mobile phone is registered with my bank):

Call my bank's 800 number from my mobile phone, then without touching the keypad, simply say "text me" and hang up (or for multiple account holders, "text me checking," "text me credit card," and so on). Or if background noise is bad or the connection isn't clear, let me press a single number on the first VRU tree that triggers the same text message.

Then, the bank sends me an SMS message with my current and available balance and last ten transactions, or whatever else would fit in the 160 character message. Ideally, I could text back to get more transactions or even make a transfer. But I'll take just the simple one-way message for now.

Would I pay for it? No. But I'm not the core market, since I'm online 24/7. But if I'm a a twenty-something, on the go and managing my account to the last $25 every week, a reasonable fee ($0.25) per message would seem fair. Would it decrease overdraft income? Yep, some. But you'd have a happier customer and potentially some decreased call center expenses.

Zillow Example
While I don't know any banks using this approach, Jott, which is a voice-to-text Web 2.0 company, recently used Zillow's API to offer voice-to-text delivery of home values (see Zillow blog post here). After registering with the sites, users can call Jott, say an address, and receive a text message with the estimated home value of the property. While this is not exactly a mainstream app, it's surely valuable for real estate agents, home buyers, and nosy neighbors.

For more information on this topic read our Mobile Banking & Payments Report.

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