Three Advances in the Voice Era

Our recent study of firms in APAC and the Middle East found a discernible change in interactions from “touch” to “voice” as a result of the rising demand for contactless. Manish Bahl, a futurist at Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work, offers a three-phased maturity model to assist businesses to stay on track with voice-enabled projects.

Customer habits are known to shift gradually, giving companies plenty of time to catch up. However, the coronavirus instilled dread of illness spreading through touch-based connections, creating a feeling of urgency for contactless interactions. Because of this abrupt shift in consumer behavior, several businesses have embraced voice assistants as a new method of engaging and transacting.

Recognizing an opportunity, forward-thinking businesses in APAC and the Middle East are taking decisive steps to voice-enable their operations. We polled 1,400 marketing and IT professionals to learn more about what motivates their businesses to take the voice plunge and where they are succeeding and failing. The following are some key takeaways:

1. Companies see voice as a critical force to be reckoned with, and they anticipate early adopters to benefit from top-and bottom-line growth.
2. Many brands are preparing to make the necessary investments in the voice-enabled business.
3. A majority of respondents mentioned customer service as a good place to start.
4. Several issues were discovered, with data privacy being at the top of the list.

We created a three-phased maturity model based on our findings to assist businesses in achieving their voice objectives. The infographic below highlights important voice patterns as well as the essence of our methodology.

Written by Kusuma Nara|The Entrepreneurs Diaries is now available on Telegram. Join our telegram channel to get instant updates from TED.