Voice technology speaking up for your business

The chances are that you, or someone you know, received an Amazon Alexa for Christmas. If not an Alexa, maybe a Google Assistant, or some other smart speaker. Yes, love them or loathe them, these little boxes of electronic joy are slowly creeping into our lives and it’s approaching the time that we need to ask, should my business be making moves to exploit the potential of voice-based services?

The remote worker or small business is particularly apt to benefit from this new technology. You clearly have a work setting less averse to the chitter chatter of open voice conversation. Moreover, there is ample scope for innovative applications that make working in this environment more pleasurable and productive.

Visualise someone providing technical support, a role well suited to remote working. A bespoke Alexa ‘skill’ linked up to the support database might then provide valuable additional functions to complement conventional ticketing software. This allows the technician to concentrate on the task, using voice to elicit useful information to aid the endeavour. Say, they are logged on remotely to a client’s computer to fix a printer issue. Without having to switch screens, they can ask Alexa ‘describe the problem’, or, ‘has any client experienced similar issues’. When finished they can request ‘mark the problem as solved’.

A voice service can reach into the domestic setting or as a service for the convenience of clients. An Alexa skill could start small and grow with sophistication as you gain experience. In the technical support example, why not let clients ask Alexa for updates on their current issues and even, add brief updates of their own.

Voice tech is like the web of the 90s, not all see the potential but once Alexa and other systems become ubiquitous in all manner of devices, then every business will want a piece of the action. Now is the time to investigate what this new media has to offer.

This is where independent software consultants such as blue tang can help by working with you to create necessary 'skills' to enhance your operations or customer experience. A skill can be as simple as a voice response to questions and answers, or as sophisticated as one that integrates with your website and mobile application.

Read more on the potential of Voice
tech at bit.ly/VoiceTechno