The growth factors

How can such rapid adoption be explained? According to BI Intelligence, three factors are driving this growth: the proliferation on the market of devices with voice-recognition systems, the strong value proposition this payment method offers customers, and improvements in artificial intelligence technologies.

Specifically, advances in two artificial intelligence subcategories have favoured popularisation of this payment form: natural language processing, i.e. the ability of computers to understand speech; and machine learning, which allows machines to learn from the contextual information they already possess. According to BI Intelligence, there will be further improvements in both areas in the next few years, which will lead to a more fluid and intuitive user experience.

Companies are learning how to capitalise on these advances. Google, Apple, and Amazon have already added voice payment to their virtual assistants. Amazon’s device, Echo, orders take-out food or any product from its online store based on commands issued by the user. Recently, Google has reached an agreement with Walmart to integrate the customer accounts of the major stores with Google Express and the Google Home’s voice-activated shopping service, which competes with Echo.

Artificial Intelligence Alexa, Siri or Assistant: artificial intelligence comes home Artificial intelligence is present in the life of anyone with a smartphone. Thanks to voice recognition systems, it is possible to say, “Hi, Siri” or “Okay, Google” and the cellphone will translate the words. This technology hopes to be incorporated in our homes to make our lives easier.

However, Amazon still has the more functionalities and its integration into the Amazon store facilitates payment management. According to eMarketer, 35.6 million Americans will use a voice-activated assistant device at least once a month this year. That’s a increase of 128.9% over last year. Amazon’s Echo speaker will have 70.6% of users. Meanwhile, Google Home will trail far behind with just 23.8% of the market.

Despite Amazon and Google’s efforts to create their own ecosystems for voice payments, BI Intelligence found that the platform users trust the most is Siri. Of those surveyed, 29% trust Siri to make voice payments, whereas those only 17% and 12%, respectively, trust Alexa and the Google assistant to do so. For now, neither Microsoft nor Samsung have integrated voice payments into their respective assistants, Cortana and Bixby.

“MIA, pay this bill”

At the same time, many banks are developing systems compatible with these assistants, or creating their own voice platforms to manage bill payments and other transactions. This is true for Garanti, BBVA’s bank in Turkey, which recently received a prize for innovation from the financial association Efma for development of the virtual assistant MIA (“Mobile Interactive Assistant”), an app that allows users to execute transactions such as transfers, payments, or inquiries via voice.

This example evinces a trend highlighted by Derek White, BBVA’s Global Head of Customer Solutions, at this year’s MoneyConf. He pointed out that the trend toward incorporating artificial intelligence will a major factor in changing the way people interact with their money in the next few years: “We are moving towards an environment of open collaboration, with APIs and ‘hands-free’ interfaces.” As an example, he predicted that, by 2020, 30% of searches on web browsers such as Google will be done via voice commands, i.e. “hands-free”.

The value of “hands-free”

Performing operations without even using one’s hands or touching a screen or a keyboard is a trend that has clear advantages for users, the principal one being that it saves time. According to Business Intelligence, efficiency is the primary reason why users employ voice commands when using devices (54%). Of those surveyed, 50% stated that the reason they chose voice as their method of interaction was ease of use, followed by a desire to try things out (44%), having one’s hands tied up (40%), and finding the method fun (28%).