In recent years, voice technology has rapidly advanced and gained huge traction across industries as companies seek to deliver enhanced and convenient services to customers. The technology is set to reach billions of people in years to come, entering individuals’ daily lives. Voice recognition technologies like Alexa, Siri, Google Home and others are already made their presence into today’s lives. Now, the technology is entering the corporate business landscape, transforming the way companies are performing earlier.

From e-commerce to banking services, voice technologies are attracting a lot and businesses are harnessing them with every new piece of software released. As the technology garner more recognition each year, the financial sector is turning to it at an unprecedented rate, becoming among the top beneficiaries of this innovation.

Voice Technology and Banking

Several companies in the financial sector are relentlessly adopting emerging technologies to improve customer experience. Voice-enabled banking is among those making life easier for customers.

According to a report, Siri is used by 75 percent of iPhone owners, and 63 percent of Android owners have communicated with a virtual assistant on their smartphone. The main reason behind the use of this is the ease of use and time savings. In the United States, 8 million consumers have already tried voice technology for payment. Most financial services providers offer this service to their clients.

For instance, Bank of America released its AI-driven digital assistant last year. Reportedly, the AI assistant has already earned more than six million users in the six months since its release, while the bank’s daily client engagement also doubled.

Voice technology is perfect in delivering personalized offerings. Interactions by voice can provide valuable insights into customer needs and behaviors that can enable banks and FinTech companies to offer personalized services with an exceptional brand touch.

While many tech-savvy users adopted virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, the adoption of voice payments and voice banking is a natural evolutionary step for them. Most FinTech leaders are assisting banks and financial businesses in reaping a virtual voice.

Voice Technology Influencing Financial Businesses

While engaging with a brand, customers always look to new convenient options. Thus, this gives opportunities to companies to explore and leverage emerging solutions where they can entice and turn visiting customers into loyal consumers. Voice technology, that leverages machine learning, is able to understand accents, slang, dialects, emphasis, intonation and more. The knowledge of wider communications techniques makes it easier to interact with and faster to get questions answered.

Powered by AI and machine learning, voice recognition technology does not certainly replace human employees. Despite, it serves as an automated support staff that can classify calls, answer questions, and direct customers to the right person. Cognitive Banking Brain from Personetics, for instance, serves over 50 million bank customers in the USA and across Europe and Asia. Conversely, the Royal Bank of Canada, Barclays, and Santander introduced voice recognition payments through Siri in 2017.

Voice technology is also superior in providing security. When it comes to payment via voice technology, voice banking is conquering the financial industry, and FinTech companies are vying to offer more advanced, robust, and secure solutions. Currently, AI is significantly assisting financial institutions to safeguard their consumers and lessen the risk of deceitful behavior. Several tech startups are working towards it and it is expected that banking institutions will also work closely with startups to advance the security behind their AI assistants.

Voice technology will continue to incorporate with the Internet of Things devices to create an effective user experience. Additionally, the advancement of neuro-linguistic programming and voice recognition technologies will make conversations with virtual assistants less mechanical and more natural.